Give music you don’t often listen to, or don’t listen to at all, a try. It might have more in common with what you’ve been trying to say with yours more than you think it does.
Music is music is music. Defining genre and style to music will only minimize your learning experience. When you say ‘I don’t like country music’ it might just be that you don’t the word ‘country.’ It is possible. Classical music has similar connotations. It brings to mind suits, monocles, hand fans, and overweight, sweaty singers. Don’t blame you.
But those images are maybe what keeps you from giving classical music a try. If you’re a guitar player, you’d be losing out by only listening to guitar. Guitar is just one voice. There are many other voices that have similar feelings, similar heartache, similar dreams your voice - the guitar - does. Listening to what they have to say just may be what you need…to ’speak’ clearly and have meaning.
Classical music is just music with a three syllable identifier. It reeks of ‘Do Not Trespass’ a sign. Fuck that. Let it introduce itself to you the way it knows best - without human-made definitions and without rules that shouldn’t have been attached to it in the first place. But if you must require a person to introduce you to classical music - music - let it be someone like Ben Zander.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Dee 11.17.08 at 10:43 am
Great post, Emon. I agree with genres and what images come to mind as you think of them. When someone says Country, I immediately think Cowboys. And I still can’t get myself to listen to it. But I’ve managed to get myself to listen to a lot of stuff that I didn’t normally listen to, and I’m really glad I did as I’ve discovered some great music that I now call ‘favorite’.
Chris McCarley 11.18.08 at 8:31 pm
That reminds me of when (years ago) I had the original John Williams orchestral soundtracks for Star Wars and 2001 and listened to them over and over again. It apparently drove my Dad nuts because he finally yelled “You’re just listening to that because it was in a movie!” Well, yeah. But that “hook” resulted in me listening to some music I would have missed out on otherwise.
Chris McCarleys last blog post..Pause To Reflect
emon 11.19.08 at 2:58 am
Dee: I’m more into the classic country stuff and not so much into the current pop/country ones. But what genre did you get into eventually that you hadn’t in the beginning?
Chris: Those are two classic soundtracks! Re: John Williams: anything I can get my hands on written by him, I try to get. Don’t know of many composers whose music you can identify within a few bars.
Dee 11.19.08 at 6:16 pm
When I think what stuff I didn’t listen to before that I now listen to a lot I immediately think Erykah Badu.. or Sade which are R’n'B and Soul I believe? I wouldn’t have listened to them before but I gave them a try and now love them. I also didn’t like Jazz before.. now I’d say it’s my third favorite genre after indie/alter. rock and lo fi.