Music and Family

 I decided to do my interview with my mother. She is 41, and grew up in South Carolina, in the Lowcountry, as well as some time in Florida. Here is a picture of her for reference (also of some of my dogs) :)

And here is the interview:

Me: What was your favorite music growing up?

Her: Probably Green Day. Green Day stood out the most in my teenage years

Me: Where did you listen to music?

Her: On my Walkman. I would listen in bed or also walk around the neighborhood with my boombox. 

Me: Did you play an instrument or sing in a choir? Did you enjoy it?

Her: Yes I sang in a choir in church and I played the flute in high school and the piano before them. Flute yes, everything else no. 

Me: Did your parents like your music? How did they feel about the music you listened to?

Her: Not during high school because I listened to Bone Thugs and Harmony. Because there were lots of bad words and they couldn't understand them. That's not what they said but that is the polite way of saying it. 

Me: What was the role of music in your life?

Her: It was an escape.

Me: What is the purpose of music?

Her: For me, it is to put words to emotions, to put sound to your emotions. 

Me: Did you go to any concerts?

Her: Yes, I only went to one. Three Doors Down. It was at the Music Barn. It wasn't even like a real concert, like a local gig thing. 

Me: What influenced how you found your music?

Her: What they played on the radio, and what they played on MTV

Me: Did you have any special music at your wedding or other events?

Her: We did not have music because we were not allowed to at the Episcopalian church, it was against the rules. I was a little hating on it, but it was also what we could afford. 

Me: How did your relationship with music change as you got older?

Her: I became more sensitive to loud sounds and like where I used to could listen to techno, but now it hurts my head. It just gets on my nerves. I don't know what it is about it. It's very overstimulating, but I didn't seem to have a problem with it when I dated a guy who listened to it. 

Me: What's your honest opinion of music today?

Her: I think there is, just like always, there is lots of good stuff and a lot of bad stuff. I think its a lot easier to find and get access to music from a lot of different genres and music you had never imagined. And it's coming across from different areas on different services like social media and on the radio. When I was growing up it was kind of who you knew more, to get your music on the radio. But now its easier to make a name for yourself with things like Tik Tok. 

Me: What do you think of the music I listen to?

Her: I think you have wonderful tastes in music, and I commonly listen to songs I like without having to form an actual playlist. And I love how varied it is. It is not very often I hear songs I don't like. 

(she made a side comment about how her plant looks very happy. "Oh you look very very happy mister leaf. This ended up being a perfect Segway into a question I had thought to give her based on her gardening hobby)

Me: Do you think music has any impact on how plants grow, and why?

Her: Yes I do because I have read studies that showed that plants that grew differently based on what kind of music they were around. Like plants that were around classical music thrived more and did better with the same kind of conditions as plants that grew around hard techno music being played. Now, are those legitimate studies, I don't know. They very well could have come from the mind of someone living in a dungeon or basement who is off their rocker. But, in the third grade, I did a science experiment and one had classical music, with both plants getting 5 hours of sun and water and soil, and the plants that listened to music were bushier than the plants that didn't. In Peppermill Elementary. In Miss Collins's class.