This week, I am grateful for music.

Music has always been there, a backdrop to all the comings and goings of my life. I remember, as a child, Dad giving me his old record player, with an eclectic selection of records, from Jason Donavon’s Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat, to ELO. As I got older, my tastes became somewhat more my own, though still rather varied. I spent hours recording songs off the radio onto cassettes and making mix tapes for friends on CDs.

Robbie Williams’ songs still take me back to my teenage room: the scent of my IKEA pine furniture; the calm of a Devon summer breeze flapping at my floral curtains; the clip-framed collages I made from magazine cuttings and the stacks of favourite books and CDs on my shelves. Similarly, there’s a Dave Matthews Band album that evokes memories of driving along the North Devon coastline in my first car; a Ben Harper album that reminds me of my uni days running in Richmond Park, surrounded by the russet colours of Autumn leaves and deer; a Damien Rice song that makes me think of lavender and sunshine, swimming and salad nicoise in the South of France; songs by Angus and Julia Stone that take me back to marking and prepping in my old classroom in a little village school.

On my 18th birthday, Dad took me to buy an acoustic guitar, a lovely red-brown Ibanez. I never really got past strumming some simple chords and singing along, haphazardly but happily. I still have it now, and still occasionally get it out and strum a bit. On my 21st, my family got me an mp3 player and preloaded it with songs. In my twenties, my husband bought me a beautiful violin. Again, life got in the way of developing any real prowess but, even now, the occasional clumsy rendition of a piece of film music is deeply calming.

Music has had its place in the growth of my faith, too. Like many others, I have known its power to help me connect spiritually with God and other believers. It has been an expression of worship, but also a constant source of healing and hope, with songs (both spiritual and secular) reaching me at just the right time on so many occasions.

Then there is live music: the great sense of fun and freedom you get from listening to a band in the open air with others. There’s something kind of life affirming about having a dance or a slightly raucous sing-along.

So in the spirit of my mix-tape-making days, I cobbled together a YouTube mix to share here.

What songs bring you joy or calm?