I put the above paragraph in quotes because, as at least one reader will have noticed, those are NOT my words. I repeat: NOT. MY. WORDS. I stole them for three reasons.
1. To promote my friend's awesome blog. Check it out! (shelbyeckhardt.blogspot.com)
A. I am promoting her blog because she motivated me to start blogging at a more consistent pace!
2. To scare Shelby, making her think that I was plagiarizing.
3. To make a statement that I will be trying to, like Shelby, post every Thursday. (Sorry Shelby, I know that's your thing, but it's really convenient for me too!) Recently, I had declared I would be making one post a day. Quickly, I realized that was unrealistic, and it would simply make for a slew of ramblesome, dull posts with many incoherent conclusions and made up words (such as ramblesome).
So, without further ado, I begin my first Thursday post!
The past few nights, I have had a little bit of down time. By down time, I mean that I am too lazy to read a book as short as The Christmas Carol, simply because I know I have questions to answer about it for my summer reading assignment shortly after. Because of this, I have been able to do a little bit of hobby-ing, if you can call it that - that is, I've been listening to and discovering music ad nauseam.
Anyone who meets me quickly discovers my knack for listening to some "odd" music. In fact, when including fun trivia about myself when doing ice breakers in FFA, I almost always mention my affinity for Icelandic music. But it doesn't stop there. The music I listen to most often is likely to be the genres of folk and Americana, as well as all of their derivatives (The Tallest Man on Earth, Fleet Foxes, Shakey Graves, First Aid Kit, Brett Detar, Caravan of Thieves, Civil Wars... just to name a few). I could listen to my beloved post-rock albums from such bands as Mogwai, A Silver Mt. Zion, and Explosions in the Sky on a loop for hours. At night, I will often fall asleep to classical music (my favorites are Gymnopedie and Adagio for Strings). Many times, I even wake up with my headphones wrapped around my neck lightly. Hazardous? Nah... Dedication! Then, there are those artists who I don't really even know how to classify - the tribal sounds of Sorne and Dead Can Dance; the strangely good, out of this world music of Captain Beefheart; the apocalyptic-but-hopeful sounds that burst forth from 20+ minute songs from Godspeed You Black Emperor!; the operatic rap-not-rap of CocoRosie - the list goes on. Of course, this musical name dropping would be incomplete if I did not include some of my Icelandic favorites! Sigur Ros, Mum, Bjork, Olaf Arnalds (not to be confused with Olafur Arnalds), Emiliana Torrini, Of Monsters and Men, Steindor Andersen, Amiina, etc., etc., etc.
My favorite musician of all time, however, may be Tom Waits. (Ask me again later... It will change.) By saying this, I'm forced to answer this VERY difficult question... What does he sound like? Now, though largely unknown by the "mainstream" (I promise, I am NOT a hipster), he is, in fact, in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and is regarded by many as one of the best songwriters of the 20th and 21st century. That being said, his music is DEFINITELY an acquired taste; not only is his instrumentation very off the wall in many songs, but his voice isn't conventionally great. But then again, neither was Johnny Cash's, nor is Win Butler's (of Arcade Fire). But I'm getting off on a tangent now. If you want a great explanation of his voice, look at this picture below!
Where was I going with this post.... Oh yeah!
Music, for me, is more than just sound. It's more than just something to listen to in the background and listen to now and then. No. For me, music is something that inspires, influences, and motivates. I honestly believe you can tell a lot about a person by what music they listen to. Not saying that you are any better or worse a person by listening to some music; just that every kind of iPod playlist tells a little bit about you.
I cannot put into words what music has done for me, but I believe that my love for music is a great example of how you can use your hobby to fortify your passion. As a leader, I gain a lot of influence from the music I listen to. Mostly, through the sound, development, and instrumentation. How an artist chooses to arrange a song takes a lot of careful thought, and I think those who take a risk sound a lot better than those who go with what has been done before. Lyrics do a lot for me, too. Take the song I'm listening to right now, for example: "Everything You Can Think Of" by Tom Waits. One line states that "We're fighting our way up dreamland's spine." This is basically saying that we are all striving to make our dreams come true. And that's just one example.
In short, when I listen to music, I feel like it seeps into my veins (weird, I know) and becomes and inherent part of who I am as a leader, and as a person. It inspires me to go my own path, and lead my own way, and be my own me. It gets me back on the right path when I feel like I may be getting lazy, or when I get too tired, or uninspired. My hobby has become a life-source, and it has helped me become who I am today. I believe that when two people listen to the same song, they hear something completely different. That is, if they let the music enter.
I hope that wasn't too much of a ramble! I'll leave you with a quote (or three) from the one and only Tom Waits. I think he has the best quotes.
"Everything is a potential instrument, it depends on how you use it. I remember I was doing Swordfishtrombones (one of his albums) and somebody took a stool - a metal stool - and started dragging it across the studio floor to move it out of the way. It sounded like bus brakes on a big city bus. So I like things that fall out of the spectrum of what we consider traditional instruments and acceptable sound. I love all that."
"If you get far enough away, you'll be on your way back home."
"You know I do field trips now. Well, I drive on field trips. I don't know, the children seem to like me as a driver. I have a lot of room in the car and I take the turns really fast. The radio's on full blast. They just scream and they love that. Well you know the most interesting one was, we took all these kids. I took about 30 kids to a music store. And I figured: "Well, okay I'll drive on that". And we got there and I'm kinda standing over by the pianos and I'm thinking well eh: "I'm gonna be recognized any minute now." Then I decided to move over by the percussion. And I found an interesting lighting situation. I'm ready. I'm ready for: "Aren't you that guy?". Nothing. I went over by the guitars and I waited. Nothing. I was a little let down. A week later they asked me to drive on another field trip. This time they are going to the dump. Well it's recycling and all that? Twelve guys surrounded my car! Go figure! Everybody knows me.. at the dump!"
Tell me, what are your hobbies? How do they affect your life?
Oh, and who are your favorite musicians? I'm always hungry for more!
No comments:
Post a Comment