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Music
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?
Re: Being a musician
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