Music

[wispfox]

My mind was wandering while waiting for some of the things I'm working on to finish, so I thought I'd write about it.

I was thinking about a combination of:

-where people tend to learn about new songs or bands
-what kind of musical upbringing people have

In terms of myself, I grew up learning various musical instruments (violin, piano, and oboe), none of which I still play. I think at least part of the reason for the instruments is because it helps with hand-eye coordination... as well as because it's just useful. I still remember Suzuki (I think this link is what we did).

I also knew of singing/humming/whistling as something people just *did*. I grew up with musicals, as my mom really liked them (for the most part, so do I). I took part in various choral/folk groups growing up, both in and out of school. I was in a band (not marching) my first few years in school. I went to band camp. (Really! I did! I also went to CTY, but that relates far less...)

My older brother and sister are the reason I know (and frequently like) what I think of as 'typical' 80s music, as I was not yet particularly interested in the radio at that point. What little I heard of it *not* because of my siblings did not thrill me. And what my peers listened to, more often than not, struck me as nothing more than dumb and annoying. Of course, being homeschooled until 4th grade, and 1 or 2 years younger than my peers probably didn't help. I had things other than pop music that I needed to figure out. And the radio stations near where I grew up tended to be nothing more than irritating.

So, previous to high school, the music I knew tended to fall into a few categories: musicals, some (typical sounding) 80s, religious folk (as one of the things I was part of was the Folk Group of Catholic church I grew up in), things I learned while practicing the instruments I was learning, and stuff my parents listened to. Very little that people in school had any interest in.

Throughout high school and college, my music interests were mostly developed because of what friends (sometimes, teachers) were listening to, or suggested. But, sometime near the end of college, I started to make use of the ability to preview music, both online and at some stores. This made me very happy. I also started listening to more radio, although still sporadically because most of the ones I could find were entirely too repetitive. I also attended a few coffee house-type settings my last year or so of college (I *so* wish I'd been aware of them earlier), and learned about some local artists that way.

Sometime during college, I started to become close with both of my sisters. So I picked up more musical variety that way, as well.

After graduation, I've been steadily moving further south (not entirely intentionally, initially), and thus, closer to Boston. This has tended to improve access to variety in available radio, which makes me happy. So does finding/being introduced to college radio stations (the one at my college tended to annoy me most of the time).

At this point, much of my introduction to new (to me; not necessarily actually *new*) music has been a combination of friends, radio, local performances (some suggested to me, some I investigate on a whim), and (less frequently) trying to find examples of musical genres online. My musical tastes tends to be really random, with a bit of a tendency away from really angry music, although there is even some of that.

I've yet to find rap-type music that I like; possibly because I'm not convinced it's music... I can't think of any other genres in which I've yet to find something I like. Possibly blues... Of course, by no means do I claim to know of all the types of music in existence. Not even close. :)

So.. curious now. Where/how did those who managed to read through this entire ramble develop their musical taste?

Comments

Being a musician

[ccprince.livejournal.com]

Well, back when I was a kid, music was still taught in schools. And in my grade school, it was taken pretty seriously. Fourth grade was the year where you could pick an instrument, get some amount of instruction in school -- though most people just went straight to private teachers -- and play in the band or the orchestra. Thanks to my parents, there was always some sort of music playing in the house -- mostly recorded, though I have fond memories of my father practicing his guitar while my brother and I took our baths -- so it was only natural I'd want to give it a try.

But, they also didn't believe in doing things by halves. So, a year before then, I started taking piano lessons with a neighbor. My piano teacher was also the director of a local church choir, so when she started a childrens' choir, I joined. And then fourth grade came along, and I took up the violin.

Now, I was also a pretty typical kid. I didn't want to practice, and my mother generally had to push me into it. (The upside to that was I got really good at sight-reading on violin, 'cause that's what I'd have to do at my lesson most weeks. To this day, if I can't sight read it, I probably can't play it.) Every couple years, when I'd get frustrated and want to quit, she wouldn't let me. Well, until ... late junior high, I think ... when I got really obnoxious complaining about my violin lessons, and she said that if I wanted to quit, I could, but I had to be the one to call my teacher and say so. I think she was bluffing, but in a display of chutzpah I have never since duplicated, I did it.

Now, I didn't stop playing. Quite the opposite -- I played in the orchestra all four years of high school, the chamber orchestra two or three years of that, in the pits for several musicals, and one year in my college orchestra. And that's just violin. I joined every choir I could in high school, and started taking jazz piano lessons then, too. I pretty much did a music major in high school, had there been such a thing.

Even though I wasn't taking a lot of lessons, it was in high school where I really started to identify myself as "a musician." Now, there were much better performers than I, in every ensemble I was in, but I was always one of the strongest all-around musicians.

So, when I went to college, I did two degrees -- one in math, and one in music composition. And I eliminated from consideration any school in which I couldn't do that. I always knew that I would need to have a non-musical skill to earn a living, but I also knew that I wanted to continue to develop as a musician.

Once I finished the music degree, though, I didn't do much music for several years. Part of that was the rigors of grad school -- though I managed to relate my master's thesis to music! -- and part of it was just losing contact with my fellow musicians.

But then, I left school, got into the real world, fell into theater (still don't think I've sufficiently thanked and/or damned you for that, kightp) and back into musicals and music. My composing had fallen stagnant for a while, because I didn't have ready outlets for it, but again the theater gave me a chance to do that, writing incidental scores for three shows one season, and lately I've even been writing music for ballet classes.

Wow, that's a ramble all on its own. :-)

As for tastes, well, again, I have my parents to blame for that. Any time you have a mother who alternately blasts bagpipe music loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear and sings "Me and Bobby McGee" as a lullaby, you're going to have diverse musical tastes. Any my dad is even more deliberately eclectic. So, while I tend to favor singer/songwriters, I like just about any style of music. No, I don't listen to much rap, or heavy metal, but even those have their moods.

Re: Being a musician

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Wow! That was a very impressive and nifty reply.

Thank you! And welcome to my journal. I'm going to go add you now, based solely on my enjoyment of your reply. :)

Is kightp how you found me?

Re: Being a musician

[ccprince.livejournal.com]

What can I say -- sometimes I just like to talk. Glad you liked to hear it. :-)

Yeah, Pat and I are friends in (gasp) Real Life, and she turned me on to LJ a while back. I don't write much, using this site more for the occasional essay than a daily journal, but I read her friends page, 'cause there are some interesting people there.

BTW -- I'm Charlie. Nice ta meet'cha. :-)

Re: Being a musician

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Nice you meet you, as well. :)