Don't Stop the Music

Music has been a big part of my life. Anyone who knows my family, knows that no matter where or what event it is, even a quiet family dinner, there is music playing. I can't even tell you how many times I remember waking up to my dad playing music in the morning. No matter what it was, even cleaning the house, we had music on. One of my uncles was a singer in country band, one is a professional wedding DJ, and my dad dabbled in djing here and there. The first time I ever talked to my husband, we talked about music for almost 2 hours and our love of music and favorite bands. Always music. Even now, when I have people over, I also like to have background music on, I feel that it keeps the mood going and if there ever is any awkward silences, well there's noise. Sometimes I don't understand how people don't have music on when we go over to their house. And I don't mean loud and annoying music, just some nice background music is all it takes.

My musical tastes have narrowed quite a bit in the past 2 years. About 5 years ago, I would listen to anything, go to any shows and just enjoyed being around music. Now, however, I cringe at the thought of going to see a band that I barely know. If I don't know at least 1 entire album by a band, I have no interest in seeing them. If I am familiar with the "hits" then its a big waste of my time, because I have to sit and listen to all those other songs they sing, that I really dont care about. I just really only like that 1 song! I can't even tell you how many concerts/shows I have gone to and been in that situation. I think that was for a few reasons: 1) I was easily swayed by what others listened to and what others thought and did 2) I hadn't really formed by own tastes in music yet. Only recently, have I begun to say "no, I don't really care to see them" when people ask. Although, I think it was good for me for awhile. After emerging from that I was really able to know what I disliked and liked in music and felt pretty confident in my musical choices. I mean, I had been exposed to ALL forms of music and had seen a wide variety of bands play live. I felt like I was making educated musical decisions.

Eventually, though, I found myself narrowing my tastes down and I became very particular about the shows I chose to go to. Even now, listening to music in the car, I really only listen to my top 5 bands, and I am completely content with that! I REALLY enjoy their music, I can sing along to all the songs, and it makes me happy. What else would I need? At work, I made a nice "work" playlist on itunes and listened to that almost every day for 6 months at least. And once again, completely content. Then one day, I got a bit sick of it. And I had heard of Pandora and how it could play songs you like based off what artists you put in. So I thought I would give it a try. As a result, I now listen to Pandora everyday and have grown leaps and bounds in my musical tastes. I FINALLY found more bands that sound just like my top 5 bands, and that is amazing! But once again, my old "rut" ways continued, and I pretty much only listen to the 1 radio station everyday. And anyone who knows how Pandora works, if you do that for too long, you find that they just play the same songs. Which is fine with me. I am able to continue my musical narrowness while also expanding it. Quite the oxymoron. But once again, I am completely content. I no longer feel that need to expand in my musical tastes and know every band thats out there. If someone recommends a band, great, I will take a listen. But it has to really move me for me to continue listening to it. Actually, right now there is 1 band that I have pretty much been listening to non-stop for over a year. Prior to that, I had heard them countless times. My friends were listening to them in 2004 and then my husband started really listening to them in 2006. I even went and saw them 3 times with my husband and some friends and wasn't even phased by it. It wasn't until about end of 2007 for me to start to say "wow, I really like them, made me a cd for my car" (no ipod here). Since then, I have flown to Chicago twice to see them play and they are playing about 7 shows along the west coast in November, and I have tickets to 4 of them, one every night Friday - Monday. They are without a doubt, one of, if not my favorite band. At least for right now, anyway. But as you can see, it look a long time for me to really appreciate the music, due to my narrowmindedness. Yet, I came around. Lesson learned: Continue growing in my musical tastes while also staying true to what music I actually like, and not just doing it because other people like them. Music is art in the form of sound, and should always be about enjoying oneself.

As usual, here is a random picture for some random enjoyment (from our class graduation this weekend)