There is one thing that can lift a spirit, calm it, help it mourn, bring laughter and much more, and that is music. If you ever visit me, you'll find that my music reflects the mood I am in, but there are times I totally throw a strange track or album on because I just need to hear it.

My tastes range from classical to rock, from gospel to blues, from synthesised to a Capella, with just about all stops filled between these.

It is no good someone trying to categorise my tastes as I have such a varied and wistful attitude to music. There are the unstructured and often moody pieces like some early Tangerine Dream, and Ian Boddy. And at the other end of the spectrum are the choral masterpieces with all their harmonies, melodies, and sometimes explosive entries.

From the choral music that has formed a vital part of my life since I was a member of the choir at Hambleden Anglican Church (as a boy, I was a chorister, then deputy, and finally head chorister).

At my high school, Sir William Borlase School, Marlow, U.K., I was also a member of the choir (where I was awarded school colours for music for my contribution to the school and the musical life within it). We sang four times a week, each morning, with a chapel service, plus at least two concerts in the year.

The fact that I am a Christian has not affected my diversity in musical tastes. In some ways I appreciate music even more. There are some things I just cannot stand, but then some of the so called 'faithful' would condemn a fair quantity of my music collection.

It is, in my opinion, narrow minded to dispel music if it is not written by a Christian artist. If that was the case, many of the composers today would have to stop writing, as they take melody excerpts from classical composers who were not Christians, or even worse for many charismatic / fundamentalist groups, gay!

Music is an inspiration, and I think that Garth Brooks put is very well in "We Shall Be Free." He says "when I close my eyes and see what this world will be when we all walk hand in hand" it makes me think of what could be. It's lines like this that makes me want to listen to music more and more.

So what makes me tick with music? Well it brings me so much inspiration. I love working when I have music around me - be it instrumental or vocal. Sometimes the vocals add something to the composition I am working on (be that a web-page, a letter, a set of notes for a lecture, or whatever), when teaching, I like to have light background music to assist the times that students are working on exercises. Music when eating is important to me, as well as those intimate times with my partner.

I love some of the work done by Tangerine Dream, Edgar Froese, Christopher Franke, and Jean-Michel Jarre. Each of them adds their own qualities to synthesised music. Add to that the fact that Froese and Franke were members of Tangerine Dream for a long time, and Franke leaving to follow his solo career, and you see why the first three are important.

Franke is most famous now for his work on Babylon 5 - an excellent science fiction series, and the two albums of music from the series is emotive of the dark undertones that are in the plot, as well as the triumph that is felt by the characters as they become players in a very large field.

Tangerine Dream were introduced to me at high school, and the album Tangram caught my imagination. It is still possibly my favourite album from the band.

I am also very fortunate to know some talented musicians and composers around the world.  One of them is a dear friend of mine, Dana Rowe, who co-wrote "The FIX" with his writing partner John Dempsey. The John and Dana collaboration is exceptions, with qualities that I believe are unique to the duet. The FIX is a tremendous musical that encompasses some of the most difficult materials that any composer and writer can tackle. It looks at drugs, dysfunctional families, sex, the Mafia, and more in one unique show. I leave further comment to the review.

In other music, I have recently purchased my first Bette Midler album, and I wonder why I had not done before. I have grown to play "The Rose" and "To Deserve You" for hours recently. They are very romantic songs, and remind me of my love for God, and for my partner, Gareth. I'm sure you will love them both.

I love classical music as well as rock and synthesised music. I especially love Copeland's "Fanfare for the Common Man", Handel's "Messiah", and the Bach classic "Toccata and Fugue in D minor." I call classical music brain food, it is excellent to have in practical periods in class, and for me well, I listen to it when I am in the mood for something more technical than much of the modern music around.