Music and music and music

So, the chance has come up for me to write several columns for a campus paper – on music, especially classical, and what it means to people, what it is really like, and so on.

So, I’ve started to wonder – what does music mean to me?

Most of my life revolves around it – I’m either writing or playing or listening.  Even as I’m writing this I’m taking moments to browse my iTunes and find the next song to get me going.  But given all my years of training and experience, why is the music that I listen to so rarely classical?

[Listening – Ozomatli: Vocal Artillery]
I love classical music – I find it beautiful and fascinating, and it’s been a huge part of my life.  But it doesn’t make me MOVE.  Put on Ozo, or Yerba Buena, or others and my head bobs and shoulders sway.   Put on Solo Bach, and I still move with it, but it’s more of a drive than a groove.

So, if even I don’t really like listening to classical music, how do I instil a love of it in others?

I think the main problem is that classical music is seen as all encompassing.  If you listen to it, it’s supposed to block out the rest of musical life, let you transcend, find high art, all of that.   But it’s still just music, and really ought to be appreciated not on the pedestal, but in the mosh pit with everything else.  

So, I want to bring not only people to music, but MUSIC to music.  Cause it’s all one big tune in the end.