My Music Patterns

Since my last post on music, I started to became aware of a pattern in the way I listen to music that I thought I'd share in hopes that maybe some of you would share your own patterns because what, when, where, and how we listen to music these days is just fascinating.

Just yesterday I was remembering back when I was in Junior High and how we had to sit in front of the radio, waiting for our song to come on so that we could his the record button on the cassette tape! We were making these mix tapes of our favorite songs, which included all the DJ intros and outros for each song. Do you remember that!? Did you ever do that? So, you never actually heard the whole song because there was always some voice at the beginning and the end. It was a mess but it's all we had. The invention of the single download option was revolutionary indeed!

I find these days that if I listen to music at certain times of the day that I am prone to certain tendencies as to what I listen to. It seems that the time of the day governs what I listen to, or don't listen to, for that matter.

In the early morning I want silence. Always. No exceptions. Well, okay, maybe a few exceptions. I get up before everyone else, which tends to make this possible, although not always because of our little gremlin children, but I try.

In the mid morning, if I listen to music, I listen to "Olafur Arnalds" radio on Pandora. It's kind of a contemplative, simplistic, wordless sound governed mostly by the cello and violin. From this starting point, Pandora finds me a good blend of other similar artists. I'm typically in my office at the church when I listen to this.

In the mid afternoon, if I listen to music, I listen to "Probe" radio. My wife makes fun of me for this, but because of the steady, rhythmic electronic beats of this mix, I find a new kind of head space that helps me stay focused because let's be honest, it's tough sometimes to work after lunch and I'm not too contemplative in the afternoons. I'm either in my office or at a coffee shop when I listen to this. The social atmosphere works well for me in the afternoon.

In the evenings, if I listen to music, I listen to "Abdullah Ibrahim" radio. His piano playing is soft, crisp, and deeply simple, and it leads into the world of John Coltrane and company. I'm not typically working at this point of the day, which makes this music great to have on as you slip from evening into night, with dishes to sort and kids to play with. Any worry about your work for the day subsides, finding its proper place in the cosmos.

What about you? How do you listen to music? What do you listen to? When do you listen to it? Where do you listen to it? How does Spotify change all of this?  :)

Also, feel free to respond to my previous post on music where I put my iPod/iTunes on shuffle and recorded the first ten songs that came up.

*And by the way, the art featured above is called "Transition" by Suzanne Cheryl Gardner