music appreciation

I like quite a few genres of music. My musical taste and education began with a fundamental Classic Rock submersion. Excluding any music heard in the Jewish Renewal Synagogue, my dad's large collection of CDs and the radio in the car crafted my early perception of what music was. Modern Rock/Pop genre in the 90s remained part of my diet well into the 2000s as well as the classic rock which I still listen to today.

As I began gradeschool, I was introduced to more bubbly, girly pop. The boy bands and Britney Spears influenced singers of the age I took a liking to, and I remained in this phase for quite awhile.

In 4th grade I took up viola in the school orchestra; although I am sure this did not give me much real classical music learning and appreciation until much later, after years of playing the instrument, when I had the skill to play famous and interesting pieces (as opposed to "Fiddles on Fire").

Late 6th grade and early 7th grade, I gave into peer pressure and attempted to get into R&B popular at the time. This, thankfully, was a very short phase.

I quickly turned to emo and whiny Alternative Rock, seeming as the only flow of new music despite the mainstream genre I had just rejected. It was a nice change of pace, but it was lacking something; something meaningful and substantial.

I got into Jazz. How? I have no idea. My father had always praised Blues for it's predictable and lovable chord progression, and Jazz is the next step up. I was tired of seeking depth of music solely in lyrics. Pop annoyed me with its relentless 4/4 time and major keys. The utter simplicity of melody and predictability of arrangement bored me to death.

Along the way, through all of the music discovery, I have also enjoyed listening to genres such as Reggae, Electronic, Latin, Folk, Disco, Funk, and Techno, in addition to the main diet. For the novelty but still enjoyment, I have listened to things such as Jpop, Celtic, Trance, Medieval, New Age, Surf, and Polka.

I appreciate music because it is something other than language that expresses meaning and feeling. And there are a few aspects of Rock and Pop that all of my favorites seem to have in common. Some things that when hear I want to jump up and down and say "Yes! Yes! Good song!"

• many parts and melodies, so that I am able to focus in and out on specific parts

• a verse melody that can be used simultaneously with the chorus melody and sound intricate and complimentary
  

• an opening riff that "tricks" you about what key the song is in with an accidental. In other words, making the song sound as if it were going to be minor and really ending up major, or vice versa.
  

• changes of chord between melodic phrases, so that we can hear the shift in feeling rather than being consumed by the melody and lyrics wholly
  

• a verse and chorus and bridge that blend into each other so well that you can barely decipher if or when one ends and one begins. Flow and ease of music is important, and making it seem as though it was not manufactured or constructed in a formulaic manner, but thought of and written.
  

• changes of sets of chords with unchanging melody. This gives a different feel to the same idea of the song, and it is impressive to make notes fit into chords in different ways.

• melody which is uncomplicated but covers a wide range of notes in an interesting way
  

• melody that does not adhere to the rhythm of the chords. Phrasing being overlapped through the bars, or being spared with interesting (but not unsettling) choice of beats.

• change in dynamics