Music and you?

Music has a PROFOUND effect on me. While I can not play music, it is extremely important to me. I am very genre-specefic, and I closely pay attention to my listining styles and patterns. Nearly all my memories have a song tied to them, and visa-versa. I just feel it, and understand it. Alot of times I want to use music that I listen to as a way to express myself, as the sound conveys much more for what I mean. For me though, the sound is the driving force and important part for me. The lyrics are just an added bonus if I resonate with them. There are really only two bands (Artemis, and Perfume Tree), where I resonate with there lyrics. I can't imagine life without my music.

 

I would have to say that music also has an extremely profound affect on me as well. The differences in myself and what IndigoS said is that I'm not really genre specific. If I like I song/sound, then I just like it, and I don't stick to one style. I also am highly connected to the lyrics, because I'm always looking for different ways to express myself and often I find pieces of that in the particular words from songs. I could definitely not imagine my life without music in it.

 

music is beautifull and i judge how it realates to me on how it makes me feel.
the most amazing feelings i get are off
fade to black-metallica (live)
the beach boys- i can hear music
anyhing off primary colours by the horrors

im still searching for more music that does this to me

 

love love love music! there are genres and artists i am particularly attached to, whether it be for the music itself or the lyrical meaning.

classical music can draw on so many emotional ambiances in me and bring me to tears in inexplicable way. it is the only genre that does this with haunting strength.

like many of you have noted, i too find nostalgic meaning attached to the music i listen to or have listened to during periods of my past. it usually arouses strong memories, some of which only arise when triggered by the music, and allows me to experience that period again in my head with vivid intensity. certain people, sensations, situations, and places enter my conscious awareness again this way simply because i had associated them with a past frame of mind.

 

I can't go one day without music
its my personal diary of sorts ( when i hear certain songs I can see replays of that period of my life in my mind )
it helps awaken me if I am too tired and have gone quite some time without it
It helps me know what I'm feeling and allows me to release that energy when I'm listening to the song. For example, when I'm pissed off, I hear my pissed off songs and it helps me cool off by buring off all the 'pissed off' feeling

 

Discovering and learning about new artists and music consumes a lot of my time. I'm not musically gifted; just a listener. I didn't notice that it took up so much of my time until someone pointed it out to me. I prefer songs for their lyrics; the musical content is iffy. I enjoy mostly 'heavy' music as well.

 

I have a very love-hate relationship with music. Sometimes it helps me pay the bills (I am a preforming musician) and at other times it has cost me jobs because I value a performance over a paycheck. I had considered going school for music. I went through all the audition's at different universities but decided an "education" in music wasn't for me. All the rules and regulations that come with collegiate study in music ruin it too much for me. To me, there shouldn't be rules in music and there most definitely shouldn't be money. Money always ruins things for me. I think music should be free (if only there was a way to live comfortably off of no money). I've never understood how someone can sell their music and emotions out in order to become filthy rich. It seems like a crime against music.


Writing music also seems to be a weakness for me. I always get the urge to write music at the most inappropriate times, such as 3am in the morning when I have to be at work at 6. It becomes almost bothersome and I can't go a second without some sort of melody stuck on repeat, playing constantly in my head. Music keeps me up at night and distracts me while I work.

And for as much as I associate with music, I never have the memories associated with music. It's so strange to me to associate music so strongly with my life and have it missing almost completely from my memories. At times I am jealous of the people who have such vivid musical memories.

So I guess through all this rambling what I was trying to say was that music is my joy and my kryptonite at the same time. It drives me insane but when I'm sitting on the dock over the lake and it's just me and a special someone I couldn't feel more alive. I live through music and performance but for as much as I love and respect it, music has the unhealthy trait of controlling my life.

 

Music and I are inseparable. I really cannot imagine life without it, because it has helped me so much. There were times during high school (and now during college) when I just needed something to express my frustrations, and music was there as an outlet. I play guitar somewhat and that is an amazing outlet, but like someone who posted above, I spend most of my time listening to favorites and discovering more music. Personal favorites of mine right now include Arctic Monkeys, Belle & Sebastian, Rise Against, Saves the Day, In Flames, and AFI. "New Slang" by the Shins, "The Deep South" by the Promise Ring, and "When I Come Around" by Green Day are some of my all-time favorite songs. Also, gotta love the Beatles

 

"Without music, life would be a mistake."

 

Music means a tremendous amount to me. I've pretty much chosen it as a career, and without it I would not be where I am now, have met all the wonderful, creative people I've met, or been to all the places in the world that I've been. Music is like magic, in the way it can instantly cut right through you and touch your soul, and when I'm playing it I feel like I'm casting a magic spell. Sometimes when I'm onstage I can feel it radiating out into the audience. I've also used music as Grey Wolf described, as an emotional release valve, choosing mood appropriate music to help process and release emotional energy.

I'm another one of the people who, like IS, relate more to the sounds in music than the lyrics. Which is kind of ironic because hip-hop is one of my favorite genres. It does take me many listens before I actually "hear" what they're saying though. I guess it's no surprise then that my career is now shifting over slightly into the realm of "sound design." I just love audio, and sonic textures. For me the reason is that it can convey an abstract (and possibly complex) emotion immediately and directly, without the need to go through the conceptual stage of language.

Sound means so much to me that (and I've actually spent time giving this serious thought) I'd choose blindness over deafness hands down any day of the week. I mean, God forbid I should have to choose, and knock-on-wood nothing will ever happen, but without sound I would feel very isolated and cut off from the world, and without vision, life would be a little harder to manage, but I would still be "in" the world, connected to it.

 

Music is like the road map of my life. All of the music I listen too reminds me of the past. I like how you can change your entire mood by just playing music. When I play my guitar and I get into a grove it feels like I am not in the room. It lifts me to a different place and I like the feeling I get when I play. The lyrics and the music mean a lot to me. If either are out of place I notice it right away. I like all music and I do not stick to one type or style. It's really hard to explain just exactly how much I love music. Usually there is a song going threw my head all day long. I usually make up my own music in my head it's what made me want to play guitar.

 

i could not agree more with your stance.

i played music almost professionally as a child and was whisked to piano concerts, competitions, recitals, and lessons all throughout my earlier years. i understand your love-hate relationship with music, but mostly the love you have for music itself regardless of the distractions society imposes upon it. i too experienced that frustration, which drove me away from wanting a career as a pianist as much as music was woven into my life. i couldn't bring myself to complete music theory, though however necessary it may be for that route.

music has such a purity and grace to it, a deeply powerful yet gentle quality that has been quite marred by the media culture (i do respect the wonderful genres that have evolved from it, but not its crudeness, vulgarity, and extreme sexualization). it's almost ironic that i love metal, but on a whole, more for its artistic quality than its violence.

 

Music is important. Sometimes I forget how much, but when it catches me and I remember, I can lose myself in it.

It has been life support, a religion, a hobby, a badge of honour, a collection, a dream.. all of these things, in different ways over my life. I couldn't imagine a world without music - whether bird song, the rain on rooftops, the whistling of a passing tradesman, or sophisticated human instruments. It adds a dimension of meaning to existence.

 

Music is soothing and puts me in a state of catharsis. I enjoy finding new artists and genres to listen to: recently, Jazz and Blues. Most of my memories and favorite songs are intertwined, so, thanks to my musical sensitivity, if you can call it that, i'm selective about what I listen to at times and careful to avoid an unwelcome wave of nostalgia... There's always a song playing in my head to reflect the mood i'm in, as i wake up or during the day.
As for playing music, I used to play the Violin some years ago, and i recently started playing the guitar which is proving to be easier than i thought.

 

This.