Is It Choice or Is It Resonance?

 

      Well. I have been exhausted and have been posting videos that tell stories. I have another one planned in case this work week wears me out as well as the last two.  I was thinking about how man moved from random sounds being made by hitting things, and then on to whistling?  But what struck me, is who sat down and thought of the first violin? I am sure I could research it and blog about it, but that is not my thing. 
       I have wondered often, "how can they like that?"  Well, how indeed?  My Brother listens to music that is minimal on the instruments because he is tone deaf, and can not distinguish the instruments from one another and it sounds like white noise to him.  So he picks music that tells a story and the music is just salt and pepper on the meal, so to speak.  He has a reason why he listens to that kind of music.  But in his state of hearing, he has come to appreciate the stories that can be found in songs. So it went from necessity to his "thing."
       I simply can not listen to "gangsta rap."  There is nothing there that resonates with me. I didn't grow up where they grew up, I didn't have to hit the deck to try and live through the random gunshots, (I did later, but not on the scale often written about in music). I never had dreams to drive cars that only the "elite" drive. I didn't have dreams that involved dollar signs, period.  I could give a flip about money, it's just something mankind is a slave to, and then we die.
       Being a solitary person, I think a lot. A LOT!  I do actually ponder what makes a person prefer a certain kind of music over another.  I might have shined a flashlight across this subject in my previous text blog, although I have referred back to it, and drafted and redrafted so much, I am unsure now.  I think my musical tastes stem from those of my parents to being “things”. Then from there, my own tastes kicked in.
      I still choose music of my childhood over other music, if given a choice.  I was born in '65. I was listening to the new releases of the time from Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Moody Blues, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin. Not to mention Jefferson Airplane, and the Beatles.  Later it slid into Neil Diamond, The Carpenters, and anything else my Daddy had us listen to in the car, as he controlled that when we were out and about.
     My Momma was late to learn how to drive, as she had been in numerous accidents. One while she was pregnant with my Brother, Sidney. She went through the windshield of a Volkswagon Beetle.  Not cool.  How do you fit for one, and WTF?!!  But when she could drive we would listen to her musical tastes, which was in 8-track LOL!!  But she had Kenny Rogers, ABBA, and I have no idea what else, because I usually asked for those two, I guess because I could tolerate them better than whatever else she had in there.  (How kind of me??(really??)).
       I listened to the radio from the time they got me one, until they got me all of the replacements, because I was rough on them. I took them everywhere I went, and ultimately, the antenna was the first thing to go, then I lost the ability to tune into a lot of channels, so then I would ask for another radio.   They saved and would get me another one.  I pretty much got to where I could not NOT listen to music. I preferred it to the television.  I remember a childhood neighbor kid saying, "I have to go in now, the Muppets are on."  I was like, what are the Muppets?  I asked my Mom and she showed me, and I was like, "eh."  I would go on to appreciate them once I was an adult. Yeah it took that long.
       I listened to the radio at night while I slept. I would wake up sometimes and listen and sing to a song, not realizing that everyone was light sleepers, and heard me. Not only was I sorry for waking them, I was mortified that they heard me singing whatever.   Occasionally a song my Daddy liked would come on, the radio was AM only, the song was Wigwam. It was written by Bob Dylan, but the version he liked was by Caravelli. (Enter my appreciation for Muzak).  If it came on in the middle of the night, it would wake me up and I would turn it up for my Daddy to hear it.
      He was a hard person to talk to as a child. But if you found music he loved and you shared it with him, or later, as I found out, if you shared music you loved and he ended up loving it, it created a wordless bond with him.  When my Momma died, my brother and I sat and shared one another's music, his on his phone, and mine on my iPod. I played Wigwam for him and it made him cry, so I turned it off. Some of it is still too hard. He gets sad, and I get comforted. But I have been around more death than he.
       My Grams liked Big Band, she was born in 1925.  So I guess she was listening to the stuff from her "era."  Daddy also liked that music, it was after all, what his parents listened to as well. I can only say that I like Benny Goodman, and Glenn Miller, and I guess they might have shown up later? I am not sure. But there is one more thing on my list you can add that I like.   He could listen to bluegrass, and mountain music, and old country.  Then he would crank up Jimi Hendrix, or Led Zeppelin.  Later I introduced him to Rush, Alan Parson's Project, Stevie Nicks, and Metallica.  We listened together to Pink Floyd, which I appreciated, and still appreciate. I never get sick of Pink Floyd. My favorite album by them is ANIMALS.  Well many of them are number one on my list, but for their own merits.
       I have a CD of an album by the BeeGees. It's before Barry thought using his falsetto was a good idea.(NEGATIVE, hate it)  I honestly feel Barry thought the Brothers Gibb were his back up group for his "fabulousness," much along the same lines as Diana Ross and the Supremes.  How could anyone really take that falsetto seriously, especially in love songs??? (How Deep Is Your Love?) *gag*  It'd be a lovely song if he wasn't polluting it.  I still prefer that particular CD over any of their other music.
       Someone else that I and my Uncle Tommy interested my Daddy in, was Electric Light Orchestra. I only like two of their albums. I like songs from other albums, but there are only two that I can listen to the whole things back to back.  A New World Record, and Out Of The Blue.  I love the songs, Night Rider, Strange Magic, and Can't Get It Out Of My Head, but don't care for the rest of the music on the albums these songs come from. At least I didn't when I was younger, which makes me think, maybe I should give them another think.
        When I was a teenager, Journey was big to me. My best friend(now deceased) loved Steve Perry's voice.   Since I lost her, Journey is hard for me to listen to, although, when I miss her, I do listen to them.   She used to sing "Lights" at karaoke.   She saw a video of herself singing, and asked me why I didn't pull her from the stage, because she was so bad.  Well, I wanted her to do her thing.  She sang it later, and it was much improved and then I understood what she meant.  I just didn't critique her singing. I enjoyed watching her do something she loved.
        My parent's musical tastes had me watching movies about Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynne, Buddy Holly, and later on my own, La Bamba about Richie Valens. Who died in a plane crash with Buddy Holly. The day the music died, as Don McLean sang later. Speaking of McLean. He sang a song about Van Gogh, called "Vincent."  Both of my parents would listen to this song, and hold hands and sing part of it together. I love the painting Starry Night that Vincent did, although my favorite is Sunflowers, but I guess on some level Vincent connects us all. I'll take it.
         I stick to what I know, and I do venture outward a bit because of my Spotify.  I have basic, free Spotify, so I can only reach so far. But when I choose a band I like, it will suggest bands that are along the same lines as the group I chose. So what I have started doing is putting random words in Spotify's search and seeing if I like any of the music of the random bands that show up.  It has been interesting to say the least.  Another thing I have been doing recently is watching reaction video's on youtube.  I will see voice coaches and others reacting to people, and I check out those video's.  I have not found a band I like that way.(yet)
        I like to watch a certain channel that has kids on it reacting to various genre's of music. I forget what it's called, but the children are growing up, and it's funny what they have to say about older music.  The kids are pretty eclectic, their tastes vary. Some of them love the music chosen, and some of them are just plain "yuck" about it.   So I guess you could say my interest in music is a bit beyond just listening.  I am fascinated by what makes people like what they like and hate what they hate.   I used to laugh at opera, and now I can actually enjoy it, if it is subtitled. I want to know what they are singing, while enjoying their gifted voices.
         I am not much a writer in the continuity sense, or the flow sense.  But I try.  I am more of a poet. I haven't written poetry in years. I might dig one out if I can find them. I have one I wrote that is nothing but the lyrics of songs put together as a poem. It's something I did one day when I had nothing better to do. It's pages long. I also wrote a poem to a song from the soundtrack Somewhere In Time. Not sure if I can find that. My poetry got separated through moves, and I haven't take the time to gather it and reassemble as it were.  Maybe you will appreciate a babble about music, maybe not. But glad you stopped by either way.

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