Day 4 Catch Up: Your Music
Ok. I've put this one off because I am not a music person. I like music. *shrug* But I do not fawn over music.
Because I don't hear music the way other people do. I mean, you hear a song, and you are probably touched by the melody, the lyrics, a particular guitar solo or something. Everyone loves guitar. You like a bands overall sound, you like a particular genre. You learn about the performers themselves and grow rather fond of them. This tends to be how typical people respond to music. Also, a lot of people have one genre that they really really relate to. I grew up listening to country and oldies on the radio, dancing to both classical and Top40, singing in the school and church choirs, watching Disney movies, and seeing multiple musicals a year. I go to the opera on occasion, I go to the symphony at least once a year. We go to all kinds of concerts, but mostly because other people are going and because I love people watching.
I have always been surrounded by music. I like it. I appreciate it. I am not infatuated with it. My iPod has more books on CD and podcasts than music. And the music it does have are songs I have performed or performed to over the years. Because I needed them to rehearse. It is so freaking funny when people grab my iPod to see what's on there. The expressions start with excitement....to curiosity...to confusion...to abject horror. Most often quoted in my car when listening to my iPod: "what the fuck is this???" (Most played: a chapter from HP, a Marine Corp running cadence, and a choir recording of "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho"- which is really a kick-ass spiritual. YouTube it and listen to the performance by the 2010 TMEA TX All-State choir. Gorgeous.)
But me...I don't hear music the way most people hear it. It takes me like 4 or 5 listens before I even hear the lyrics. Much less put the words into context. When I hear music, all I hear is the beat. I love drums. I love bass. All I hear is the undercurrent of a song.
With that being said, I adore drumlines. One of my best guys is in drumline at my first university. I was the only one that could stay in the room with him for an extended period of time while he drummed on his practice pad. It drove everyone crazy; it soothed me. I got goosebumps (and still do) when I would hear the drumline practicing from across the campus. The opening of the song "Sing Sing Sing" absolutely thrills me. Actually, that's my go-to feel good song. I really do adore Big Band music. Not enough to know bands/songs/performers. I learn those things slooooowly. But I have a lot of songs from the 30s/40s in the depths of my iTunes, under all the Jim Dale recitations of Harry Potter.
Oh I almost forgot- I tend to like and remember more things that are sung a capella. And with many voices in unison. There is nothing in this world like hearing 10,000 people in The Muny audience join together to sing the title song as "Meet Me in St. Louis" closes out the season. You will get goosebumps and you will cry.
I have to admit, I do sing, a lot. I like to sing. But I like to sing what sounds good on my voice, by myself or with a few other people harmonizing, without accompaniment. So it's a lot of choral arrangements and hymns. And really really silly songs from camps that are best sung with small children around. And I'd love to learn an instrument. In the meantime, you can often find me humming to myself or tap dancing in the kitchen.
I am such a weirdo.
Because I don't hear music the way other people do. I mean, you hear a song, and you are probably touched by the melody, the lyrics, a particular guitar solo or something. Everyone loves guitar. You like a bands overall sound, you like a particular genre. You learn about the performers themselves and grow rather fond of them. This tends to be how typical people respond to music. Also, a lot of people have one genre that they really really relate to. I grew up listening to country and oldies on the radio, dancing to both classical and Top40, singing in the school and church choirs, watching Disney movies, and seeing multiple musicals a year. I go to the opera on occasion, I go to the symphony at least once a year. We go to all kinds of concerts, but mostly because other people are going and because I love people watching.
I have always been surrounded by music. I like it. I appreciate it. I am not infatuated with it. My iPod has more books on CD and podcasts than music. And the music it does have are songs I have performed or performed to over the years. Because I needed them to rehearse. It is so freaking funny when people grab my iPod to see what's on there. The expressions start with excitement....to curiosity...to confusion...to abject horror. Most often quoted in my car when listening to my iPod: "what the fuck is this???" (Most played: a chapter from HP, a Marine Corp running cadence, and a choir recording of "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho"- which is really a kick-ass spiritual. YouTube it and listen to the performance by the 2010 TMEA TX All-State choir. Gorgeous.)
But me...I don't hear music the way most people hear it. It takes me like 4 or 5 listens before I even hear the lyrics. Much less put the words into context. When I hear music, all I hear is the beat. I love drums. I love bass. All I hear is the undercurrent of a song.
With that being said, I adore drumlines. One of my best guys is in drumline at my first university. I was the only one that could stay in the room with him for an extended period of time while he drummed on his practice pad. It drove everyone crazy; it soothed me. I got goosebumps (and still do) when I would hear the drumline practicing from across the campus. The opening of the song "Sing Sing Sing" absolutely thrills me. Actually, that's my go-to feel good song. I really do adore Big Band music. Not enough to know bands/songs/performers. I learn those things slooooowly. But I have a lot of songs from the 30s/40s in the depths of my iTunes, under all the Jim Dale recitations of Harry Potter.
Oh I almost forgot- I tend to like and remember more things that are sung a capella. And with many voices in unison. There is nothing in this world like hearing 10,000 people in The Muny audience join together to sing the title song as "Meet Me in St. Louis" closes out the season. You will get goosebumps and you will cry.
I have to admit, I do sing, a lot. I like to sing. But I like to sing what sounds good on my voice, by myself or with a few other people harmonizing, without accompaniment. So it's a lot of choral arrangements and hymns. And really really silly songs from camps that are best sung with small children around. And I'd love to learn an instrument. In the meantime, you can often find me humming to myself or tap dancing in the kitchen.
I am such a weirdo.