Below is a list I recently made of some of the many reasons why I have been attracted to music over my lifetime…or realized someone else was. There are undoubtedly an infinite number of additional possibilities….
You have been soothed with a lullaby
You have awoken and now have the need to be excited
You are very young and a song calls up an odd emotion you can not name, much like a vegetable that you dislike
An exceptional television theme is worth humming
Your parents’ favorite music produces an ennui you can’t describe; you feel cold and austere like a cloudy day
Someone older than you plays a record at a key moment and you will never forget it
You feel rebellion
You discover a certain music and feel possessive of it
You heard a song when that cute girl/boy agreed to dance with you. You are correct that it was an amazing song to begin with
You have the need to define your identity…and what others are not
New trends and fashions emerge among your friends and disturb you
New trends and fashions emerge among your friends and excite you
You are willing to lead or follow but you will never get out of the way
The singers and/or guitarists of your favorite bands also possess interesting personalities; you like hearing them talk almost as much as you like their music
You have experienced the potential embarrassment of liking the “wrong” socially accepted music
Deep inside you is a message that already exists. An exceptional musician, possibly you, has been preparing to open that message and you are destined to experience it
You don’t know how some musicians do that thing they do. The duration of mystery increases with value over time
You listen to music with an appealing power to offend older people, as well as those your age that don’t get it, (and you don’t want them to)
Appealing to a darker side, you experience a private period of comforting seclusion
You have worked hard at work or school and the need to be entertained is now a quantifiable requirement
Driving a car, feeling the pace and experience of traveling, you find a music that traces the romance of a new place
You guess what will be corny and what will be classic years from now. You compare notes to yourself in 30-40 years
You like hearing music while you work. You choose the station but begin to feel the music on the radio was chosen for you
You play an album or group of songs every single day and then slowly grow out of that ritual
You noticed some time ago that you like music better and more deeply if it takes a little while to discover
You are disheartened to learn that music is so tangible that its dissemination can be directed by simple honesty, commerce or mafia-like violence
A recent sound is more refined than the last thing you enjoyed. You are basically powerless for the next 5 minutes. You then return to your tuna sandwich
A sudden change in context imparts a new listening experience for music with which you are already familiar
Someone plays a song you love rather poorly, and yet for that reason you notice some intrinsic element of excellence that you hadn’t previously appreciated
You like hearing music while you work. There are disputes over what kind of music to work to, so you consider leading the process and then decide to stay out of it
Your mind wanders to slaves in the fields and then Egyptian laborers whose music you will never hear. Why did they choose that rhythm, that melody? It makes perfect sense
Musicians that were oppressed and made to remain silent exist far away from your free world. Perhaps they composed silent songs. Someday someone will imagine and record that music
As an adult you are startled by a young child’s ability to make up a song to a live musician’s spontaneous playing
You feel a sheepishly functional swell of emotion during anthems, both political and non-political
In neighborhoods you do not live in, culture and tradition clash with a new generation. As the fight rages, you are duplicitously grateful for both armies
You enjoy some guilty pleasures, and are pleased nothing is stopping you
You hum a song that everyone loves at that moment, indulging in a simultaneous national or world experience
Curious…where did this new music come from? Tomorrow I might remember it as if it was always familiar
You no longer like hearing music while you work unless you are alone and can enjoy what you really like
You listen to Spiritual and holy music, relishing the need for music in a church you don’t attend
You realize that music can be a conduit to a higher level, perhaps in leaps or very gradual steps
Your long-held opinions are both confirmed and wholly revised by a change in the primary actors of your life
You are comforted by an implied musical message that someone is like you, these are your people, and there are millions like you out there
You are comforted by an implied musical message that you are fairly rare and yet not alone, for this is being heard by at least a few more
You experience a faint but consistent Déjà vu when you hear some type of music that has nothing to do with your race, culture, or time period
You discover that self-described tone-deaf people with no apparent rhythmic abilities and little education can reveal something critically valued about music you didn’t know
As you fall asleep to what is effectively your favorite lullaby, you glimpse what you can never explain
April 28, 2010
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1 comment:
You hear a song that you have loathed for years, performed by a new group, and you sheepishly realize that the song is actually quite good.
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