Issue #2: Soundtracks
Just to avoid confusion, I'm not talking about soundtracks like Beverly Hills Cop or Top Gun that are filled with songs more than actual orchestral or "classical" music by one composer. Those I'll call "songtracks". Actual "soundtracks" are going to be the works of music where a composer was hired to specifically write music for a particular movie.
The first kind of music that I ever really listened to was a soundtrack. My parents just had a tendency to put anything Star Wars in front of me from the age of about 3 and on. So, naturally, this is how A New Hope wound up in my tape player. At first, I liked it because it was like watching the movie in the car, just with no picture, sound effects, or dialogue. After a while, though, I began to like the music on its own. From grade school and into college, that's all I played. Classical music didn't really phase me that much, though. It's still a mystery to me why you react to some music and not to other types. Eventually, classical grew on me, but it took some maturing and probably some more life experience to appreciate it.
One thing I've discovered is that if I can find the perfect setting to go with a piece of music--whether it be rock, classical, jazz, reggae, etc.--I can usually enjoy the music from that point on, just by remembering the moment where the sound melded with the environment. For instance, I never really liked "Baba O'Riley" before I heard it on the plane as it was in final approach flying into Louisville. I was flying back from seeing my then-girlfriend in Raleigh and as the plane descended over the Ville and southern Indiana, the music just seemed to fit. Then the closer and closer we got to the ground, the music got faster and faster until finally it reached a peak as the tires hit the tarmac and we rolled to a stop. That moment just really opened my mind up to the song and ever since then, not only do I feel that intensity, but I also just hear it for being more than just another rock song from the '70s.
Anyway, soundtracks have been a big part of my life and for about the past decade of my life, I've been in the habit of trying to make the music I listen to sync up with life...or vice versa. I choose music to play during certain situations/events/occurrences to express how I feel and to feel a certain mood, so the music can exacerbate those feelings. Dick Clark once said, "Music is the soundtrack to our lives." Well, I wonder what it means when soundtracks are the soundtrack to your life? My friend Tom would probably say it means I'm a geek. Then he'd mock me in his geek voice and say, "Hi, my name's Dan. I listen to movie soundtracks. Will you be my friend?"
The first kind of music that I ever really listened to was a soundtrack. My parents just had a tendency to put anything Star Wars in front of me from the age of about 3 and on. So, naturally, this is how A New Hope wound up in my tape player. At first, I liked it because it was like watching the movie in the car, just with no picture, sound effects, or dialogue. After a while, though, I began to like the music on its own. From grade school and into college, that's all I played. Classical music didn't really phase me that much, though. It's still a mystery to me why you react to some music and not to other types. Eventually, classical grew on me, but it took some maturing and probably some more life experience to appreciate it.
One thing I've discovered is that if I can find the perfect setting to go with a piece of music--whether it be rock, classical, jazz, reggae, etc.--I can usually enjoy the music from that point on, just by remembering the moment where the sound melded with the environment. For instance, I never really liked "Baba O'Riley" before I heard it on the plane as it was in final approach flying into Louisville. I was flying back from seeing my then-girlfriend in Raleigh and as the plane descended over the Ville and southern Indiana, the music just seemed to fit. Then the closer and closer we got to the ground, the music got faster and faster until finally it reached a peak as the tires hit the tarmac and we rolled to a stop. That moment just really opened my mind up to the song and ever since then, not only do I feel that intensity, but I also just hear it for being more than just another rock song from the '70s.
Anyway, soundtracks have been a big part of my life and for about the past decade of my life, I've been in the habit of trying to make the music I listen to sync up with life...or vice versa. I choose music to play during certain situations/events/occurrences to express how I feel and to feel a certain mood, so the music can exacerbate those feelings. Dick Clark once said, "Music is the soundtrack to our lives." Well, I wonder what it means when soundtracks are the soundtrack to your life? My friend Tom would probably say it means I'm a geek. Then he'd mock me in his geek voice and say, "Hi, my name's Dan. I listen to movie soundtracks. Will you be my friend?"
posted by DapperDanbo @ 4:46 AM
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