Do your music listening habits change by season? If so, I'm curious whether there are certain types of music you gravitate toward in autumn. I'd say I might be likely to listen to heavier, more substantial music in the fall, though I can't claim to have any actual data to support this hypothesis.
Category Archives: Friday Music Day
FMD 9-15-17: False, Etto
So I'm listening to some Mika the other day, and the I turn off that and turn on the radio and Leo Sayer's "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" comes on, and I'm thinking "this is a lot of falsetto all at once", but I was cool with it. So for today, nominate your favorite falsetto songs.
FMD 9-8-17: When Do You Listen
Aquinas turns 8 on Sunday, and I realized that I have exceedingly little music from the past 8 years in my collection - much less than the 8 years before that. Before I had kids, I had time for music. I would seek out new stuff, try different things, discover, etc. I just have so little of that now. It's a big part of why my tastes haven't continued to grow.
Now, maybe once a week, I just plug in my headphones and take a whirl around youtube for a night, clicking on whatever mostly familiar starting point I pick, and going from there. I jump around a lot, but not a ton of new things pop up. (A side note: it seems like all the algorithms (and this is true for Pandora, et. al., too) keep redirecting me to the things I know, not the things I don't know.) It's not really a time for checking out new stuff, because it's my rare chance to ground myself. It's a time of re-centering and recharging, not discovering.
So I don't know when to find time for more new stuff. After the kids leave home, I suppose. Maybe I'll be able to count on them to introduce me to music someday. I put a lot of effort into giving them broad exposure to the music I know, so maybe their tastes will be diverse too, and someday that'll pay off.
Anyway, what are your listening habits? When do you listen? Do you mix in old and new together? Do you find specific time for discovery of the new?
FMD 9-1-17: Jazz Hands!
I enjoy a good musical. Despite the fact that I can barely carry a tune, I was in few of them in high school (minor parts (Winthrop Paroo), and then eventually non-singing parts once the directors figured out how bad I was). I find myself going through phases where I'll pull up favorite musical numbers on youtube and, if I'm alone, I'll often belt them out (again, despite my lack of singing ability). Honestly, there's something about my favorites that makes me wish I could get on a stage and perform. I don't get that itch often, but I'd love to have the chance (and ability) to knock it out of the park as, say, Seymour Krelborn.
Anyway, musical theater has been on the mind lately. What do you think of it? What productions were you a part of (admit it...). What do you sing along to, sheepishly or otherwise (I'm looking at you, Cheaptoy...)?
FMD 8-25-17: Teaching Kids About Music
Over the last few weeks I've had the chance to expose my kids to a good amount of music that they hadn't ever (or at least regularly) heard before. For our trip I burned some CDs (because no ipod/smart phone... a topic for a different forum). One an Oldies Mix and one a Weird Al mix (because fun!). The WGOM was instructive a ways back on the Oldies Mix, so thanks all for that.
I've also had my kids plinking away on the piano a little bit lately. I don't actually know how to play myself, but I know enough about chords and the like that I can point them in a direction here or there. I'm hoping to get Aquinas into piano lessons before too long, but there aren't too many people teaching out our way these days.
Anyway, it's been fun to watch the kids learning about music, making requests about new things, experimenting on the piano, etc. I'm often surprised by what clicks with them, and what they're interested in exploring further.
I'd love to hear more parents' "teaching their kids music" stuff. What should I be throwing their way? What about some of our more seasoned parents... did your kids take after your music tastes? Butt heads? Etc. So there's our topic for the day: teaching kids about music.
FMD 8-18-17: If I had a hammer
It was either that or (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace Love And Understanding? (Hey, another Elvis song with a parenthetical!)
Let's have some "make things better" music today, shall we?
FMD 2017-08-11: 78 RPM
In this morning's daily genealogy email that I receive was a link to an open source project that is archiving recordings from 78rpm records:
Link
I got back into listening to 78s over 15 years ago when listening to Radio Dismuke on Live365. It's not something I can to for long periods of time, but it is a neat change of pace for my listening.
I remember my father had a small collection of 78s -- a few of them were comedies, including I think Cohen on the Telephone.
Do you have any experience with listening to 78s? Whether you have or not, post up your ten here...
2017/08/11 FMD: Great 78s
Per Rhu_Ru, here's a collection of thousands of 78rpm records and cylinder recordings released in the early 20th century. Could be a deep rabbit hole.
On that topic, what are some of your favorite old-timey recordings? I'm guessing CH has a few in mind. Can't say I have a lot myself, though I was always partial to Mississippi John Hurt.
FMD 08/04/2017: Downstream
I must admit, I stream pretty much nothing. I prefer having all of my tunes on hand when I need them. Also, the few times I have messed around with it, I haven't been keen on too many of the suggestions that are thrown at me. Perhaps it's just the way the I get into to new music, but so far the format has just seemed incompatible with me.
Are you a heavy streamer? What are the positive aspects of it for you? How effective is it in getting you into new music? Or conversely, how to you use it to listen to music you're already familiar with? I could never quite figure out how to do that last part either.
FMD 7-28-2017: More Females Please
I figured we should continue the female artists conversation that got started earlier this week, maybe branching away from albums and talking more about songs, particular artists, performances, etc. Just broadening (eh? eh?) the conversation a bit.
I have to confess that I haven't gotten all the way through the list (I started at #1 and worked backward) of top albums by women, but I'm suspecting that two of my favorite artists don't appear: Jenny Lewis and Niko Case. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Both of them were very influential in my introduction to independent music, and so I have a soft spot in my heart for both of them.
I also once wore a t-shirt to a Rilo Kiley concert that said "Jenny, I get married in a week; this is your last chance!" I've worn more effect shirts before.