I decided to buy a record player…

During the last school holidays I bought a record player…

…we went to Vinnies and scored a bunch of $1 records ranging from 1980s through to refined classical. And my kids are thriving with it. There’s something super nostalgic about putting on my Nora Jones record and having my morning coffee in my rocking chair taking in the moments.

When I was young my Grandma always had the record player on - music was a constant presence in my childhood. Whether it be going to musicals, listening to old time tunes or performing for my grandparents with my cousins.

Music has been central.

Essential.

It is so easy to rush through our day to day, the to-do lists and the never ending laundry pile. BUT, what I am noticing is those little moments we go analogue and hit the pause in presence button. There’s something so soul satiating in being present and mindfully slowing - even if it’s only for a few minutes.

And the record player - the tangible, hold in your hands own it music, turns out - our kids are so into it. Even the fact that we have to turn a record over and listen to the same songs… it’s building something.

It has been so fun to see what they value and which artists and bands they want to have in their collection. It’s also recognising the intangibility of music can be held and intentionally interacted with. Noticing the process, in the artwork and artistry of how a song is birthed, formed and produced. We are counting this as precious and in a world of streaming, I didn’t fully comprehend how that was lost and needed to resurface - and I am here for it.

Music is powerful - it is attached to memory and emotion. And I know in the future when my kids listen to these records or come across a golden oldie they will have fond memories of picking out, saving up and having fun dancing in the lounge room to the tunes that are shaping them now!