Words and music did not come into sharper focus for me till I started listening to top 40 radio in grade 5 (1959) and started paying attention to song lyrics.
The lyrics of folk songs and folk songs from 1964-1972 (notably Bob Dylan‘s, Simon and Garfunkle’s, Phil Ochs’ and Gordon Lightfoot’s) increased my attention to words as did a grade 11 unit on Robert Frost and a poetry unit in grade 12 which featured some of the greatest English poets (Wordsworth, Keats, notably) and poems.
My music got more serious with my own initial performances in high school musicals coupled with listening to folk rock and music by The Beatles and the British Invasion. The public performances continued and increased from 1968 to 1975, though, afterward, I formed and played in many teacher groups during my high-school teaching career. I also wrote and recorded 25 of my own songs. (I will also add that many of my own heightened experiences with words and music have come from listening to poetic songs and songwriters; there is a maximal hybrid effect/affect from that unique art.)
The many literature courses in university heightened my sense and appreciation of The Word as did teaching senior-high English for 30 years. By 1978, I was beginning my textbook career and learning to write good prose (including two writing handbooks) all the way through to 2010 (50 plus texts and guides that sold over 1 million books, reaching 5 million kids) in that medium. After 2010, I created two blogs and have written for the main one for 10 years now.
Another ‘career’ has been as a poet and I started writing poems steadily from 1980 on up to the present. Individual poems have been published about 150 times, I’ve won and judged contests, and I’ve done several chapbooks of my own work.
In conclusion, my experiences with The Word have maxed and continue; I also have collected spoken word LPs, cassettes, and CDs by numerous famous poets and writers. And I still continue to listen to a lot of music each day, having long branched out into jazz and classical.
Looking back, I’d have to say that words and music have chiefly defined and enlarged my life. They are both at the core of who I am.