Piece of Me

Did you realize that if I had done 1 more post last year, it would have made 100? I'm glad you enjoyed that random fact. Life has been very good for me lately. I've been thinking a lot about music and have determined some things about myself and my relationship with music. These thoughts started after I took a self-evaluation regarding learning styles, or the most effective ways I can learn. I scored very high in musical intelligence. According to the test this means that I think musically and therefore learn well through music related methods. Around this same time I began to become interested in making my own music and started writing some lyrics. I've never written lyrics before, but lately they have just started running through my head and I have to sit down and start typing them out before they're gone. Sometimes I will think of a whole song together, others it's just concept ideas or short hooks. I've been enjoying working on the lyrics and hopefully someday, I'll have the chance to put some to music.
Throughout my life I have had the ability to understand lyrics in almost any piece of music. I can usually learn at least the chorus and a few lines from the verses after hearing a song once. I've also always been very picky about music for as long as I remember. I think one of the reasons for this is because I have a very strong emotional response to music. If a rap song is cheapening women in some way (as they often do), I will start to feel the effects of that and feel so uncomfortable and devalued. A sweet and moving symphonic piece has the power to make me cry. A good beat will almost always make some part of me move. When I'm shopping I'll sing along to even the cheesiest music and I always hear what is playing on the overhead speakers. I think of songs while I'm doing things and my life definitely has a soundtrack. It didn't really occur to me that some people do not respond to music in this way until recently. I think I finally realized it when my friend said something like, "Sometimes, I just forget to turn music on". That has never happened to me that I can remember. If music is not on it's because I have made the conscious choice to leave it off. Some people have the ability to hear music as background noise. They may not recognize the lyrics in a song. The beat won't make them feel like dancing. They won't be able to recall the songs they were listening to if asked later. This is not me.
Lately I have been very interested in the psychology of music... especially when used for marketing purposes. I've started to be able to tell the class of a store based on the music coming from the speakers overhead. If the music is relevant to the store products, aimed at a specific costumer base and tasteful this means the company has considered the importance of musical psychology and hired someone who makes the big bucks to create their play lists. I was in Victoria's Secret and I noticed that all the songs were about desire or temptation or something like that. They didn't sound sleazy up front, but let's just say that the lyrics were very pertinent to the products in the store. I'm not saying I like that sort of music, but it made sense to me that they would play it. Most of the little shops in the mall are like this. They play specific music for their main customer base. On the other hand, some stores just play whatever. I know this shouldn't bother me, but every time I go to Fry's I hear that song about some Rio dancer dancing on the sand or "She Blinded me With Science" and wonder WHY? How do these songs encourage people to buy (or even want to stay) in their store. It gets even worse at places like DollarTree or Saver's. I actually heard a song with the words, "Driving that train, high on cocaine..." at DollarTree yesterday. Wow. I would have to say that not a lot of thought went into that play list. I wonder if this trend that I have noticed actually matters? How much of musical marketing goes on to affect the bottom line? I would be interested in finding out.
Anyway, I'm starting to lose my point in writing this post, but I think it is that my life would cease to exists as I know it without music. If suddenly all the music was turned off, I would notice it in a major way and I'm sure I would feel as if a part of me was gone. For better or for worse music will always be a huge influence in my life and a vital piece of me.