Beams of light strike my eye as the cacophony of sound that is my alarm wakes me up for the day. I hop out of bed and head over to the bathroom where I take my morning shower, a daily routine which helps me wake up and prepare for what is in store for me. Once I am all clean, my headphones make their way up to my ears until they are in and the music has taken over. This time, its Madvillain’s Accordion that takes me away to a place where all that concerns me is my music. I crack my knuckles, something I have been doing everyday since I was a kid, and put pencil to paper taking notes and erasing mistakes while listening to lectures. Classes end and I swipe my card to open the door to the stairwell where I make my journey up the stairs to room 509, my humble abode. The needle drops and lets loose the beats of J Dilla, whose music always manages to find its way into my life at just the right time. He has inspired me to go grab my guitar and start my daily jam, something I have been doing since middle school. I get up and go to the bathroom again, but this time to brush my teeth; the sound is only recorded once, but I promise I brush twice a day. I crawl into bed and watch as the Always Sunny in Philadelphia theme brings laughs and entertainment after a long day.
Let the sounds of your daily life take you away, let them show you what they have to offer. While recording my sounds I found that it really made me appreciate all of the seemingly miniscule sounds that I hear every day. Listening to these all made me think of what Schafer described as the “deafness of others” (Schafer p.25) in the sense that these sounds which mean so much to me could literally mean nothing to someone else, or worse, they could just not even hear it. It is all dependent on perspective, and I just find it so interesting how people perceive different sounds so uniquely. At the same I time I feel confused about whether the fact that nobody will ever perceive and enjoy a piece of music the same way that I do is a good thing or a bad thing. It makes me feel lonely to imagine that I am the only person, but at the same time it is a good thing for everybody to have their own experiences with music.
Music is something very near and dear to me and I think that is easy to tell based on the amount of music in my sounds. It is so easy to get lost in music and to find yourself listening for hours on hours, but with regular everyday sounds it isn’t such an easy thing. Why is it that people can’t find the attention span to sit and listen to ordinary sounds? What is it about music that regular sounds don’t have? I think that music gives the listener the chance to release emotions into the music and to really form a connection with it, whereas sounds don’t offer that same deal. It is easy to let the music take over your soul, body, and mind, but the challenge is trying to have that same feeling, that same emotion, with everyday sounds.
Bibliography:
J Dilla. Airworks. J Dilla, 2006. Vinyl recording.
Heinz Kiessling. Temptation Sensation. N.d. MP3.
Madvillain. Accordian. Madlib, 2004. MP3.
Schafer, Murray. “Open Ears.” (n.d.): 25. Web.
I really like that you brought up the “deafness of others” and the fact that interpretation of music and sound is so subjective, as this is something I also grapple with. It is crazy to think that no two people hear the same sound in the same way. I also like the way you question why people can sit and listen to music for hours, yet when it comes to perceived “noises,” one does not think of themselves as sitting and listening to them, even though technically, we do, just without thinking about it and without the massive impact that music often has on people’s moods, lives, ect. P.S. I listened to that album you talked about in class today and I really liked it!
When I heard the sound of you cracking your knuckles, I couldn’t help but laugh because, like you, I’ve been cracking my knuckles for as long as I can remember except, the sound that comes from cracking has never crossed my mind. I also loved your connection to Schafer’s “deafness of others” and the way you explained how what you hear and take in is all dependent on perspective. It’s crazy to think that no one will ever experience the same sounds in the same way that you do and it’s even more crazy to realize that you’ll never experience a set of sounds (for example, on a particular day) twice.
I think you have a clear theme of music being central to your daily life. Your passion for music is also very clear. I also think that its awesome that you have a record player here at school, I wanted to bring mine but I didn’t want it to get damaged. I really liked your analysis of Barthe’s piece about grain. You were very open and your emotions were clear, but you seem to have resolved your personal dilemma about feeling alone fairly well. I also really enjoyed how you questioned the mundane. I think that music offers sounds that can’t be offered in normal life, they are unique, so hearing music is more unique and meaningful than the ordinary sounds of everyday life.
Including music as the main idea of your podcast was really great. When you say, “At the same I time I feel confused about whether the fact that nobody will ever perceive and enjoy a piece of music the same way that I do is a good thing or a bad thing.” I totally can relate. I think the idea of the grain was the most interesting thing to me that we have read about yet. Listening to your music, I personally loved all of the songs. This does not mean that everyone will. Perception of sounds is always such a confusing topic, so I love that you were pretty honest in your feelings about the subject of grain.