I’ve always been surrounded my music. For as long as I can remember, music has been a part of my home and my life. My mother was a singer for years before she met my father, and instead of performing on a jazz stage, she started singing barbershop. Four-part harmony and straw boater hats with red and white bands. I grew up in the world of Sweet Adelines and SPEBSQSA. (For those non-singers, that stands for the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America. Quite a mouthful, but you get the gist of it.) I knew Disney’s Dapper Dans by name from the time I was about seven until I was in my twenties.

I also did musical theatre during my youth. I performed in The Sound of Music so many times, I almost thought I was a Von Trapp kid. Peter Pan, The King and I and others that have drifted from memory. I was even cast as the lead in our elementary school’s performance of La Boheme, to which I still have a friend who will occasionally refer to me as “Screaming Mimi.”

Yet, I never thought I was a good singer. I was a hack compared to my mother and besides, I much preferred to dance. I was far too hyper as a child to do well with standing still and just singing. I had to move, and leap, and jump around, and pound my feet on the floor. I was about four when I had my first official dance class. It was tap and I was in love. I had my little shiny black patent leather shoes with the huge bows. I cherished those shoes and couldn’t wait until the next time I got to wear them. As all beginning tappers, I’m sure I wore them to the store and even begged a time or two to wear them to church. I was a tapper and proud of it.

Now, tap wasn’t the only dance style I was learning at a young age. I loved jazz dance and even took several hula and Polynesian classes. We used all different kinds of music in these classes, all played on scratchy records and uneven turntables.

During my “rebellious” teenage years, I took a break from dancing. I remember my mom asking me, several times, if I was sure. Yes, I proudly proclaimed. I’m done with dance, I told her. It has ruled my life, all the classes and rehearsals, the leotards and tights. Nope, I was done and ready to move on to something new.

I was going to be a part of…the drill team and color guard auxiliary units. (Can you tell I wasn’t the most adventurous kid?) Yup, I traded in dance rehearsals for parade and halftime show rehearsals. And still, music was a driving force in my world, only this time, the music was coming from about 75 of my closest friends. We performed all year long, competing with other auxiliary units throughout the region and even for the basketball halftime shows. Those were fun since we used *gasp* taped music. Yes, I do mean taped. This is before the days of the CD and everything was on cassette.

Once I made it to college, guess what my first classes were? You guessed it. DANCE. So much for moving on. But during those years, I rediscovered something I had forgotten. It was about the movement, yes, but more importantly, it was the music. Dance was my way of expressing the music surrounding my life. Live, recorded, punk, classical, heavy metal or New Wave. And yes, even barbershop. I even majored in Musical Theatre for a while, along with Psychology, Dance, English, Theatre, and finally escaped college with a degree in Liberal Arts and designs on becoming a teacher.

I actually joined the chorus with my mom after I graduated from college. Those were great years. I still didn’t think I was very good at singing. But seeing the smile of Mom’s face when we traveled to performances was more than worth my self-doubt.

Oddly enough, it was music that drew me to my next passion. Irish dancing. Now, you’d think since I am Irish, I would have studied this as a child. But my family didn’t know about any Irish dance teachers in the area, so into tap and jazz I went. The music called to my soul and soon after that fateful evening when I followed my ears into an open studio inhabited by fiddlers, an accordion player and dancers of all shapes and sizes, I hung up my vocals for more dance. I competed at a National level for nearly twenty years before I retired, my knees opting for a much needed rest.

Did that stop me, or the music? Never. During the years of competitive Irish step dancing, I got a dream job. Teaching dance at a performing arts high school. Over the years, I have taught nearly every dance style possible. I even began to study hip-hop dancing, and still feel rather silly even as I love it.

At the heart of it all is music. It drives my spirit and guides my soul. To me, silence is strangling and stifling. Whether I’m listening or participating, music has shaped my life and I am certain, more will fill the rest of my days.