Musings on Music
In case it hadn't dawned on you, the reader, most people associate my music tastes with one band - Nine Inch Nails (or should I say one man - Trent Reznor).
My tastes are actually a lot more eclectic than that. Given the opportunity to list my favorite bands/musicians of all time, I would likely rattle off some combination of Nine Inch Nails, David Bowie, The Beatles, The Eagles, Tupac Shakur, Morphine and many others. You might notice that half of that list is defunct bands. What a shame...
Anyway, my tastes in music actually go a lot further than that even. I was "a musician" (term used in the lightest sense possible) for seven years. It was all through school, but I did it because I enjoyed it, not because I had to or because I needed the credits or anything. Playing music and listening to music became a focal point in my life by the time I graduated from high school.
I list Pachelbel's Canon in D as one of my favorite works of all time by any musician and many of the movements of Orff's Carmina Burana give me chills every time I hear them. I've also got a thing for big band music (Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller anyone?), a little swing (generally as it blends into big band music) and some classic jazz (who doesn't like Louis Armstrong, honestly?). Most of this comes from my exposure to the music through band classes and the people who were in band classes with me (I'll credit my high school girlfriend with getting me into big band music, though my jazz band class and my grandmother were also pretty big reasons).
I spend most of my days now listening to "pop" music - whether its the music being piped into Scott Stadium or JPJ, on the local radio station we usually listen to at the office, or on one of the hundred XM radio channels I get in my car. Sometimes I'll put a new(ish) album on my computer to listen to at work (I always listen to full albums when I can - I really don't like bouncing around through single songs). Currently it's Kanye West's new album Graduation.
I don't have a problem with this situation. I have enough music sources that I can find something that isn't terrible (I turn the station very quickly whenever the oddly critically-acclaimed Umbrella comes on). But it does make me long for some of the other things I used to enjoy.
More recently I've been having extended conversations with a rather musically-inclined friend of mine and it's lead me to be even more desirous of "the old days" of my music exposure. I've spent a lot more time listening to classical music lately. I had forgotten just how much I enjoyed it and how soothing it can be. I've pulled out a few old albums I hadn't listened to in a long time and gave them a spin. It's been a nice trip down memory lane and its actually reinvigorated me and gotten me more motivated in other parts of my life.
I have to give a shout-out to that friend (she knows who she is) for that help. Now if she could just get me to bring my saxophone back from storage and start playing that again...