Music Over Time
Like most people, my musical tastes has changed a lot over my life. I’ve never been in orchestra or chorus like 70% of my class at Uni has, but that doesn’t stop me from appreciating music from a listening and learning perspective. This outlook has kept me engaged with music and I’m always listening and trying to find more. My dad always played music when I was young whether we were at home, in the car, or outside. There isn’t any specific genre he listens to as it ranges from rock to jazz to rap to music I don’t even know the genre of . As a result of this, I got exposed to many different forms of music to choose from and my brother and I clung to one genre much more than the others: classic rock. Almost all of the music I listened to through elementary school consisted of Guns N Roses, AC/DC, and other heavy rock bands as my brother and I would beg my dad to play in the car.
My interest in classic rock has had the biggest influence on what instruments I have played. Rather than piano or orchestral instruments, our parents let my brother and I learn to play the electric guitar and drums, starting around in 2nd grade. Our basement slowly filled up with guitars, microphones, basses, a drum set, and too many amps to count. We called it our “studio” and it was located in the corner of basement with black carpeted ground and walls covered in Metallica and Black Sabbath posters. Sadly, this phase of classic rock I had didn’t last forever and my musical tastes eventually changed.
Middle school is definitely the period when my music interests evolved the most. Through my brother I discovered rap, and in turn from searching Youtube I stumbled upon songs from rappers such as Lil’ Wayne, Busta Rhymes, and 50 Cent, who I don’t listen to as much today, but vividly remember them as the first rap I listened to. I had listened to some rap, such as Outkast, when I was younger from my dad, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy my cravings, so I had to branch off on my own to find more. This independence, discovering these new songs myself rather than my dad playing it for me is what made this music all the more magical to me.
The aspect of rap itself that initially attracted me most was the lyrics. Lots of people, especially older people, talk about how the lyrics of rap are low quality and hard to understand. However I think anyone who’s a fan of poetry, which is seen as classy and impressive, should be fans of rap. Rap can share the same rhyme schemes, meter, and deeper meanings, even if it just seems as though they’re all rapping about money and women. The timing of my interest for rap may seem random or meaningless but I think there’s a reason behind it. Previously I was too young to appreciate the lyricism, as it’s easier to understand and enjoy notes and rhythms than words when you’re young.
Nowadays I really only listen to rap which has its pros and cons. On one hand it is nice to get to know the intricacies of the genre and a plethora of artists to listen to. It always takes me a while to truly enjoy lots of albums or songs as I really like to get to really get to know the sounds and words or content and I think this holds true for genre also. On the other hand, only listening to rap for years was also possibly bad though because due to my unfamiliarity of other genres, I assumed all music outside of rap was sub-par and uninteresting. Music tastes of mine have changed drastically over the past 10 years, going from Van Halen to Kanye West and a lot in between that I didn’t mention. It’s hard to know what my future in terms of music will hold for me, but I expect I will keep expanding my music collection and having my music tastes widen as I mature further.
My interest in classic rock has had the biggest influence on what instruments I have played. Rather than piano or orchestral instruments, our parents let my brother and I learn to play the electric guitar and drums, starting around in 2nd grade. Our basement slowly filled up with guitars, microphones, basses, a drum set, and too many amps to count. We called it our “studio” and it was located in the corner of basement with black carpeted ground and walls covered in Metallica and Black Sabbath posters. Sadly, this phase of classic rock I had didn’t last forever and my musical tastes eventually changed.
Middle school is definitely the period when my music interests evolved the most. Through my brother I discovered rap, and in turn from searching Youtube I stumbled upon songs from rappers such as Lil’ Wayne, Busta Rhymes, and 50 Cent, who I don’t listen to as much today, but vividly remember them as the first rap I listened to. I had listened to some rap, such as Outkast, when I was younger from my dad, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy my cravings, so I had to branch off on my own to find more. This independence, discovering these new songs myself rather than my dad playing it for me is what made this music all the more magical to me.
The aspect of rap itself that initially attracted me most was the lyrics. Lots of people, especially older people, talk about how the lyrics of rap are low quality and hard to understand. However I think anyone who’s a fan of poetry, which is seen as classy and impressive, should be fans of rap. Rap can share the same rhyme schemes, meter, and deeper meanings, even if it just seems as though they’re all rapping about money and women. The timing of my interest for rap may seem random or meaningless but I think there’s a reason behind it. Previously I was too young to appreciate the lyricism, as it’s easier to understand and enjoy notes and rhythms than words when you’re young.
Nowadays I really only listen to rap which has its pros and cons. On one hand it is nice to get to know the intricacies of the genre and a plethora of artists to listen to. It always takes me a while to truly enjoy lots of albums or songs as I really like to get to really get to know the sounds and words or content and I think this holds true for genre also. On the other hand, only listening to rap for years was also possibly bad though because due to my unfamiliarity of other genres, I assumed all music outside of rap was sub-par and uninteresting. Music tastes of mine have changed drastically over the past 10 years, going from Van Halen to Kanye West and a lot in between that I didn’t mention. It’s hard to know what my future in terms of music will hold for me, but I expect I will keep expanding my music collection and having my music tastes widen as I mature further.
I too have an evolving taste in music, but at a different extreme. I mostly listen to instrumental music, and didn't think highly of rap and heavy rock. After reading this though, I'd be more open to other people's tastes and ideas about rap.
ReplyDeleteAs for the structure of the essay, there's a good amount of reflection combined with narration. It looks a little long though, but I don't see much that doesn't fit in with the rest of the essay.