Exploring New Genres: A Trip Whilst Staying At Home

It is easy for me to envelop myself in my own music taste without the chance of letting my mind explore other areas. It is evident that this behavior is a product of my desire to foster comfort. The current circumstances have allowed me to expose myself to types of music that I often do not think about twice. For myself, as both education and work transform into at-home facilitation, my time online has inevitably increased exponentially. I decided that rather than continuing to loathe the fact that my screen time is incredibly high, I started looking into different music genres in order to increase, and quite frankly, maintain my motivation. Considering as the academic year comes to a close, my self-motivation is dwindling more quickly than I would prefer. 

The first few weeks of the quarantine, I began to dive deeper into classical music, my musical about-face in full-swing. I eased myself into new music through discovering the joys of heavily instrumental string and piano adaptations of somewhat contemporary music I knew I already enjoyed. Initially, I have reason to believe that my subconscious was reluctant to surrender my attention to music I have never heard before. Furthermore, I spent a few days in my comfort zone, listening to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, which can be noted as a college student’s tribute to the end of a quarterー at least for me this is the case. Forthwith, as the weeks of shelter-in-place tumbled on, I jumped back into jazz, with Lady Day permeating into my daily routine has engendered a feeling of empowerment into my psyche. These jazz classics meld well with my favorite contemporary women of jazz; Cecile McLorin Salvant, whose music tells a personal narrative, one rife with emotion, desire, and longing.

I think it is important for us all to take a step out of our comfort zone whenever you are feeling in a rut when it comes to self-motivation. Finals week is inching its way into our lives very soon, and some new music in a different genre might help clear the monotony that sometimes accompanies working from home. Check out Cecile McLorin Salvant’s latest album “The Window” and a playlist I made of some of my favorites by Lady Day. 

• different
• jazz
• music