“Specifically Broad” – Thinking about what you listen to and why you listen to it

In my last post, I described the music world as “specifically broad.” In case if you forget the context of this phrase, let me define it for you: There are an incredible amount of artists out there, but we tend to only listen to a select few. This is bound to happen when you have individuals with different opinions running around all over the place. But it isn’t all complete chaos. No two opinions are ever the same, there are a number of sides you can take on something. It is these opinions that orient you in society. Music is an excellent example of this.

Imagine an iAssociate game composed of all the musicians that have ever existed. The lines  represent relationships between the artists, their influences, genres, fans, etc.. In general, the shorter lines indicate that they are in the same genre, this would orient the colossal web so you would have your pop divas, your classical musicians, your rock stars, and your death metal enthusiasts each in their own little sections of the board. Longer lines would indicate things like influences, small and vague aspects of the artists. So now that the board is created, you could then find where you stand in this musical map. Every person has things you listen to specifically and a certain time . For example, if someone just broke your heart, you would listen to Adele and other related artists (Don’t lie guys, we’ve all been there). So each of these regions on this “map” would have a circle around it. So these (Let’s call them spheres of specificity) could show you how broad and open you are to different kinds of music.

Unfortunately, this map of musical relationships does not exist. But it is still possible to examine your opinions on music. For example, you could type in something completely random and foreign to you, something like Danish Lars Kukesh- master flubagoogle player (Mind you, this is just an example, I highly doubt that this person or instrument exists. But if you do exist Lars Kukesh, find this thing called Youtube and post a video. You will become an overnight sensation). Pandora Radio is a good resource for this, as are search engines and Youtube.

Another way to see how broad your tastes are, look at your friends. Music is a key aspect of our society, so it is one of those factors that group people together. So looking at who you hang out with and what they listen to, you can see just how close-minded you are. Of course, this has a particular inaccuracy as music tastes will differ between friends, so ignore the inconsistencies. So when you find what you listen to and decide you want to make a change, broaden you horizons. Find another social group and try to approach them. I have done this before and I discovered a wealth of information about metal, screamo, and music in general.

All this being said, if you are happy with your current music choices as they are, then don’t let it get you down. You musical choices are perfectly fine, despite what those hipsters say.