#12 Good Music - Olivia

This may be the first post thus far where words are failing me.  

That's sort of why it's late.

This time last year, I wrote for the Brigham Young University - Idaho newspaper, The Scroll, in the Arts & Entertainment section.  I wrote about all sorts of things, but music is and perhaps will always be my niche.  I felt like I got a name for interviewing bands, describing sounds, assimilating tastes, and casting judgements on music like shuffling cards.  This is of course in my head, but I'm over that fact. 

Telling people why they should listen to something is what I do.  

This topic feels too big almost.  I will, however, outline what it is I like about music so much.  

I like music for basically five reasons. 

Because it sets a scene.

Because it's got my back.

Because I can share it with my friends (or not).

Because I can tell my children about it.

Because I can dance to it. 

Soundtracks are invaluable to shaping a film.  Why would I neglect the soundtrack of my life?  Every morning, without fail, I wake up with a song in my head.  The song changes daily, and sometimes it doesn't make it past the shower before it gives way to another groove.  But I submit that it shapes my day completely.  

If you awake to a brisk autumn morning with sunlight streaming through yellow leaves, as I have for the past month, my scene is set.  But the music is key.  Am I particularly reminded of my Appalachian home?  Should I put on some Old Crow Medicine Show or Avett Brothers.   Or is it more of a softer light?  Is the morning more suited to Liszt  or Debussy?  Both variables?  Fleet Foxes then.  Is it Saturday?  That changes everything. 

But luckily, thanks to the technology of today, I have my options.  I love music because I can depend on it.  If not my iPod, then my laptop, or my vinyl record player, or the radio, or me and my guitar.  Or just me.  I sing to myself all the time.  

I sleep soundly at night knowing that if I need the tender sounds of something particular, it can be arranged. If I don't have it, someone does.  And if nobody does, there's always the internet.  

The internet should be used (correctly) anyway for a heightened musical experience.  I can promise you right now that there is music hidden in secret places out there that demands your attention.  This very minute there are songs that would might make you feel better than any other small indulgence might.  I regularly check a detailed list of music blogs, just to sniff out a new beautiful thing.  I also take suggestions.

I love recommendations actually.  Because mostly, music should be shared.  I don't mean this with any kind of legal implication, just that a song listened in warm company resonates differently.   That's why we all sing songs at holidays; it feels magical.  

I grew up with my family feeding me on music like it was nutritionally advised.  My father would quiz me on rock and roll history while I was still probably more inclined to jam out to Raffi.  And when I have children, I want them to know what I was listening to when I was young and retrospectively beautiful.  Music is so soaked into our culture, it gives a different context to my life, my country, my family, and my peers.  Music provides a common ground.  

And if that ground is big enough, there will be dancing.  I hope there will always be dancing.  

Essentially, I want to live in a way in which nothing is wasted.  Like anyone, I want my days to be full and sweet.  I need sounds in my life.  And I encourage you to want the same.

I realize I have completely neglected the "good" part of the blog topic.  That is because we choose our own definitions for such words.  While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, the capacity to identify it increases with exposure.  The more you listen, the more you'll know.  

I don't care if you like something as long as you can legitimately tell me why.  As long as you know why you like something, I'm satisfied. 

And if you can't find any music you like, that's your cue to write some. 

Don responds:

I guess this is one of those posts were my age begins to show.  I have no idea who you are referring to when you mention Liszt  or Debussy.   I'm okay with that.  I've got my music, my cannon of folk, classic rock, bluegrass, R&B, blues, country, and the odd Raffi album that I know well enough that I don't feel the pressure to keep up with what's new.

I guess when your iPod has The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Tom Petty, Steve Earle, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Queen, and The Eagles and all the other great music from "back in my day," then I guess I don't feel the constant yearning to find the next great thing.

Now, don't get me wrong.  I like a lot of the current music.  I put the Avett Brothers, Arcade Fire, The Black Keys, and The Decemberists in the same category of "Great Music" as I file my old stuff.  It's just that I don't feel the burning need to keep up with it all.  I think I'll go listen to some Beach Boys.  Now,  name one current band that has that type of singular Rock Vision, and perhaps I'll change my mind.