What Music Keeps Me Sane?

Well, the sane part is debatable, but I am definitely drawn to more pop culture pieces. I think it's nice to escape from the classical music world sometimes.

On road trips, I love to listen to upbeat movie soundtracks, especially Cars and She's the Man. They keep me excited to continue traveling the monotonous miles ahead.

Real Gone by Sheryl Crow

Sh-Boom by The Chords

No Sleep Tonight by The Faders

And, I'm not going to lie. I totally dance around to these songs in my room while I use a hairbrush as a microphone. You have those songs, too. Don't judge!

On a more serious note (no pun intended), I have two songs that remind me of my grandmother. The first is Josh Groban's You Raise Me Up. I know, I know. That's corny. But the first time I heard this song, my grandmother had just passed away. The funeral was the next day, and I didn't know how I was going to bear it. Then this song came on the radio, and I remember thinking Grandma had sent this song to me from heaven. For a few moments in all the chaos of death, I felt some peace.

You Raise Me Up by Josh Groban

The other song that reminds me of my grandmother is one that makes me very sad. I feel like this is the song I would sing to my grandmother if I could bring her back to life. You see, my grandmother died fairly suddenly. I was only 10, and I remember my mom leaving to go take care of my grandmother in the hospital. I had this terrible sense of dread, and I kept begging my parents to let me visit. One night, the dread of my grandmother dying was so great that I went and asked my dad, "Is Grandma going to die?" He was so genuinely shocked by my question and so adamant that it was just bronchitis that I ignored my intuition and didn't pray for her. The next morning, my dad walked into my room, and I just burst into tears because I knew. And because I didn't pray for her, I felt really guilty for a long time about not protecting her from death. Leona Lewis' I Will Be encompassed a lot of what I felt, even though it came out two years afterwards. It still chokes me up a little.

I Will Be by Leona Lewis

I'm also a big fan of Rufus Wainwright. He can go a little flat sometimes, but I still love the quality of his voice. He also tends to mix classical elements into his songs, which I like. The one below has a horn solo.

 The Art Teacher by Rufus Wainwright

And last, but most certainly NOT least, there is my favorite instrumental work of all time . . . Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. I am a firm believer that works like ballets and operas must be watched and not just listened to, so I have a clip from the best version ever produced -- The Royal Ballet with Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev.

This is the scene where Romeo must leave Juliet at dawn because he's been exiled. 

And this clip is here just because it's so freaking adorable. (Sorry I cut their heads off.)