Wheather: A Personal Analysis

Mu·sic (ˈmyo͞ozik): vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion. This definition of music, provided by Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is relevant to millions of people around the world; one of those people being me. For me, music is not just simply art or sound, it is a form of expression of self being as well as an assumation of my personality as a whole. Music rules not only the way I feel and express feelings, but also associates with the actions I carry out day to day. Wheather I need inspiration to carry out my day, whether feeling homesick and need a coping mechanism, or wheater I just want to sit back and relax by myself, music is always there. With that

being said, there is something to say about the way that I organize my music. That’s where the role of genre comes in. Genre is more practically decribed as a category of artistic composition characterized by similarities in subject matter. For me, Genre is a tool.

A tool that organizes my emotions, actions, and personality in the form of music. Genre is used every day in my life to organize my moods through the process of listening for music. To express this, I will take you through my daily interaction with music and how it effects me. I wake up every day to a blaring alarm, reluctant to move even an inch from my sleeping position. When I grab my phone to turn off the alarm, I unlock it and go to my music. I then immediately open a playlist titled “Ready”. The “Ready” playlist consists entirely of modern hip-hop that, after I listen to for a few minutes, completely changes my mood to ready to conquer the day. I get dressed and pop in headphones and continue to listen throughout my school day. Once I finish classes and return back to my dorm, the headphones come out and I connect to my Bluetooth speaker while simultaneously switching my playlist from “Ready” to “Study”. The “Study” playlist is entirely comprised of low-fi hip-hop and jazz instrumentals. Once this playlist comes on, my head is cleared and I exert laser focus on my studies. Once homework is done, I then turn to the “Chill” playlist consisting of Indie artists like Mac

Demarco. On occasion, I’ll get homesick and turn to the “Miss” playlist.

This is made of songs that I grew up on that my Mom played when I was a kid. This features rock, soft rock, and rock pop artists like Billie Joel, Elton John and the Beatles. This playlist lets me get out all my sadness and reminisce on old memories I had back home and with my family. At the end of the day, I turn on my “Doom” playlist. This is a special one. It consists of the entire discography of my favorite artist of all time: MF Doom. The “Doom” playlist includes dozens of hip-hop instrumentals and my favorite album of all time, Madvillainy. Madvillainly is a social critique on humanities lack of empathy and the dichotomy between good and evil. This playlist is significant to me because it initiated my love for music entirely. With its deep concepts and ideas, this playlist allows me to reflect on my day and remember my roots of music appreciation. I then fall asleep, and repeat the cycle day after

day.
In all, genre to me is the organization of music into separate playlists that dictate my emotions, mood and actions on a daily basis. I don’t see music’s importance and impact in my life as something that will fade away anytime soon. I look forward to learning more about the function and application of music in history and society in this class, as well as being more informed about other genres and eras of music throughout the past few decades. As new music emerges, I will continually add songs to the variety of different playlists that guide both my day and myself as a person.