WishListening

Sunday, January 2, 2011

New Year, New Madness!

Hello again! It has been ages since I first set up this blog and started posting. Since that time, I have taken countless moments to consider why I lacked the motivation/focus/energy/time/(excuses, excuses) to continue posting on a regular basis. Thankfully, I feel like I have reached some important conclusions:

It is far too easy to get obsessed with music, when you are a music teacher.
Given #1, I am extremely opposed to pigeon-holing myself into a particular genre-based blog. Sure, I could focus solely on one genre, but I feel like I would be missing out on so much more.
#2 presents a few formatting problems, namely, where to begin, and how to hold it all together.
Perceived solipsism begets guilt. I really don't want this blog to become an all-about-me page. Music is about community, shared passions and visions, and artistic expression. It is also about math, science, language, history, and culture. To ignore any of the above would be irresponsible and BORING.

There are, of course, solutions to everything presented above. In short, I refuse to apologize for wanting to explore music as thoroughly as I can. I do need to find a springboard though, some place to start my dive into the deep end. I've decided to streamline my blogging process by focusing on a weekly theme, daily posts on that theme, and end-of-the-week reflections. The formatting should become more obvious and organic, as I continue to add content. To solve the "ME ME ME" (mi mi mi?) dilemma, the solution is a simple one: get over it. Like any writer, I need to start somewhere, and it doesn't much matter where Somewhere is located. Music writing -- and especially music criticism -- is subjective by nature. In fact, I am fairly certain that true objectivity is impossible, where human beings are concerned. So, where is Somewhere located, these days? I am jumping on the New Year's bandwagon, and this week's posts will focus on the "new." Take that any way you would like. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post, with an updated playlist!

Current track: Auld Lang Syne -- The Real McKenzies

Labels: 2011, beginnings, January

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3:52 PM

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Beginnings

Important moments in our lives deserve their own soundtracks. We all have songs that trigger vivid memories or visceral reactions. Music isn't really about nostalgia, though. Listening only takes place in the present. Every time that we engage in active listening--as opposed to merely "hearing" something--we have the opportunity to reinvent ourselves. We can reflect, project, analyze, and judge in real time. (Just try to listen to some of your favorite tracks from childhood, and you'll see what I mean.)

Last Christmas, I got a single gift from someone who usually supplies piles of them, and inside that box was a pair of Bose headphones. I practically live in them. (I certainly fall asleep wearing them, often enough!) Since then, I have heard things that I must have missed a thousand times, and in doing so, I feel like I am rewriting my own history.

This is a place for those stories--mine, yours--to grow. You can expect to see & hear music reviews, news, humor, etc...all filtered through a highly personal lens. (Right now, I am toying around with the idea of themed entries/weeks as an organizational method, because I don't want to limit myself to any one, particular genre.)

Please feel free to contribute! Share your stories in the "Comments" section for each post. Click the tabs on my notebook to take a look at my Feeds, listen to my stations on Pandora (in development), link to my profiles on other music-related sites, or read my other blogs. There is a tagboard (on the Feeds tab) available for general comments/suggestions/chat. You can also subscribe directly to this blog via Feedburner (link at the bottom of this page).

Hope to see you again soon!

Labels: beginnings

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5:12 PM