Part IV-The Grande Finale

The Grande Finale

Well, we’ve seen music from all over the world, and from all sides of the spectrum. Now, I have to ask myself something… Why have I done this? What was the point of it all, and what have I gained?

As for number one: I did this because I love music; it’s that simple. I think it plays an important role in our lives and keeps us moving through all sorts of times. The point was to expand my tastes, to find something that I might not listen to on a normal basis and really get into it. I think that I was wildly successful in those aspects, and even though I didn’t necessarily get as many recommendations as I wanted from my class mates, I still found some great bands to listen to, like Goldfrapp, Freshly Ground, Mago de Oz, and Shoe. I gained even more of an appreciation for different kinds of music, and what other people like as well.


As a society that appreciates art, I think we need to look into what others listen to so we can truly understand them. Music is the driving force behind so many things in peoples’ lives that it could really open some doors for us. Varied music is empathy, I believe, so long as you’re humble about your collection and find more pride in the fact that you’re able to associate your music to social aspects in life rather than boast about the sheer number of songs in your library, it’s a great thing.

If you look at the songs that I reviewed, and think of each one as an individual person, then you can really shape someone just by the sounds that you’re hearing. Hear me out: Let’s look at my review on Freshly Ground. Here we’ve got a mellow, poppy kind of band. Let’s turn that song into a person. Laid back, relaxed, kind of a modern hippie mixed in with an indie kid, mayhap? That’s what I’m getting, at least. So here we’ve got this guy that’s a part of the music, and here we are living the music, understanding it and applying it in a social kind of way; if any of what I said just makes sense, that is.

At the heart of it, understanding music is understanding a part of a person. That guy I described—the Freshly Ground listener—is only one part of another person, a real person, who actually listens to that band. When that song is going through his head, he lets that hippie/indie kid take over him a little bit.

Again, knowing music is knowing people, that’s why it’s important to listen to so many different kinds, and that’s why I wanted to do this. In many cases I was surprised, but I felt that as I adjusted to a certain song, I wasn’t as surprised anymore. I could see how certain music fit into their personality very snuggly.

So here we are, having looked into many different genres, and many different people. You’ve seen pieces of me, and the person I become when I listen to different kinds of music, and you’ve seen pieces of different people as well. With music being such a huge part in society in general, how can we claim to have seen anything different? We are so passionate about it that it has literally woven itself into us, and through music we know and understand each other. We group with each other in little cliques during high school based on our music, and perhaps still do so as adults. It is everything!