Music Consumption

My musical consumption beginnings were shaped by my parents’ choices for music. I can remember the sounds of Marvin Gaye and Al Green that graced the radios in the home and car. Wait a minute, I do remember my father having an 8-track player in one of his cars and the radio at home was really a record player. This explains the smooth sound of the music. Although I was too young to understand all the emotion wrapped in these artists’ songs, there was always this special presence that could be felt through the lyrics. This music was great but my interests in music would continuously change.

It was at my grandmother’s home where I discovered gospel; it had the same feel as the Mr. Green’s music but included a spiritual element. Artists such as Mahalia Jackson and Shirley Cesar could redeem any soul and it didn’t have to be on a Sunday. For my grandmother, I wore my little white ruffled socks and clapped my hands like a good girl as if this was the only sacred music I would ever consume.

Finally after many years of listening to music chosen by the adults in my life, I broke away and found ownership in my own choices of music. At around the age of 12, I embarked on a musical journey with my beloved oboe. Yeah, it sounds weird but freedom came via the oboe. An oboe is a double reed instrument that sounds just like a duck. It is the same family with the bassoon, except for a mini version that resembles the clarinet and costs you $12-$15 for a reed. It took me 6 months to acquire a descent melody on the oboe, but when it finally came blasting out, it was beautiful. I became one of top oboist in my district and played many solos until my twelfth grade year in high school. The oboe could only participate in concert settings that consisted of Bach and Mozart and could not take on the pop music being played in marching band. Due to this hindrance, I joined the school’s dance team so I could participate in marching band and pop culture.

During high school into my college undergraduate years, I found listening pleasure in Usher, India Arie, Lauryn Hill NSYNC , light rock, and neo soul. I will never forget how I discovered light rock. It happened during a summer job I had at Cato Fashions. This was the store’s assigned radio station and it played light rock until it had you singing it in your sleep. I can recall being out with friends and hearing a “Cato” song and following along with the lyrics. My friends would always tease me and say I worked at Cato for way to long. In college, I fell in love with India Arie and the guitar she used to produce her beautiful songs that contained authentic life lessons. For a period of time, these were the CDs in the disc changer until I embarked on new musical encounters.

Currently, my musical tastes consist of almost anything available on the radio or downloadable to my MP3 player. Last summer, I had a chance to attend a Maroon 5 concert in which I was taken away by the live performance. I consumed the tastes of the islands with reggae music that I discovered on frequent trips to New York during that summer. At this point, I completely adore the Justin Timberlake and his sensational rhythm and blues sound. The last songs I downloaded as ringers for my cell phone were Leona Lewis’ Bleeding Love and Alicia Keys’ Like You Never See Me Again. Music has functioned as a tool of expression in my life and is continuously changing in relation to my perspectives and personal experiences.