What are you listening to?

In the last few weeks, I have had almost the same conversation with every one of my students regarding what music they are currently listening to. Almost all of them were caught off guard by the question and would usually reply with something along the lines of "A few people." or "You've probably never of them." I even had a student tell me his favorite band was Nickelback.... I shudder at the thought of the rest of his playlist.

A few months ago, I would have struggled to answer the same question. After my hard drive crashed last year, losing over 50GB of music, I had a very limited selection when it came to my personal listening. Then when the CD player in my car and the optical drive on my computer both stopped functioning about the same time, I was left stranded in silence. While I do buy songs from iTunes, a 50GB library is just not going to happen on my budget, especially when I obviously need a new round of technology upgrades. For the longest time I would only listen to the radio in my car, but while Top 40 songs and Classic Rock are enjoyable and at times even desirable, they are lacking in musical depth. For myself, I found that listening to only Top 40 radio music was not as fulfilling and did not move me in the way truly great music has the power to do. So with my limited amount of personal music, I turned to YouTube.

Although I have always listened to music on YouTube, I never took full advantage of this excellent resource. With more and more people uploading their own performances including many recordings that are otherwise unavailable, it should be taken as a very serious resource for listening. What worries me about my students is that they are growing and learning in a world with unlimited music access and not taking advantage of their place in history because they do not know what to type in the search bar.

I think as a performing musician, or just a creative person in general, it important to continually be exposed to different expressions of art. I will post some more videos in the future of music (and other things) I have found particularly interesting as of late, but here is a sample:

Bhimsen Joshi, Indian vocalist in the Hindustani classical tradition. His use of vocal inflection paired with the traditional instruments makes for some pretty interesting music. This was recommended to me by my mentor James Dillon, and I quite like it.

Arvo Part's Magnificat
Although not as popular as some of his other works, this piece is it for me. I find it to be particularly moving, and it has a nice video. 

"The individual is always comparing himself or herself to the mass media, preventing the individual growth of that person..."

A short interview with Laurie Anderson. Wise words...

Hopefully you will hear something for the first time, and whether you like it or not, I invite you to let me know what you think and to share whatever you are listening to!