Application of Music

February 2, 2008

When I got a new job to which I could commute by bus, I gave myself a reward.

An iPod.

It’s an item I don’t really need — I still listen to CDs. But I also wanted to get an experience of owning an iPod, as a music businessman in the current time.

So I got me a shiny new (well, refurbished, actually — $20 cheaper!) iPod Nano.

And I put some tunes on it, and have been listening to it on my commute.

It’s nice. To have some time to listen to music. Commute is a fantastic occasion to listen to music — you’re doing something, but not something that requires a great deal of attention. I’m riding a bus.

Except, I noticed that most of the music I already own, I don’t feel like listening to in my commute.

Why? Because it’s a very specific setting. I’m either going to or from my job. It’s a transition. And for some reason, I find myself in one of two moods — heroic or melancholy. That’s fine, too — those are two of my favorite states of mind.

But I don’t have enough music that fit the occasion of commuting, on a bus, traveling through the snow-covered world, feeling either heroic or melancholy.

Climate really dictates the kind of music it demands. I said this before. I’ve been living in Texas — and apparently, the music that worked for me in Texas, don’t work for me here.

It makes sense, really. There’s music for different occasions. Holiday music, wedding music, dance music, lullaby. As a music maker, it sometimes help to know the application of music you’re making. Not that you enslave yourself to that purpose, but it can make for a more finely-focused composition.

So I guess I need to save my pennies and go shopping for new music.

The perfect music for commuting on a bus, traveling through the snow-covered world, feeling heroic or melancholy.

Now, how do you do that?

It’s not easy, but it’s not hard. You just do a little research about acts that are coming out of similar situations.

In Flames’ “Come Clarity” is rocking my world like nothing else, for example. A Swedish melodic death metal band. Plenty of snow there, I’m sure. And Dream Theater’s “Octavarium.” They’re from New York. They got the heroic, covered — so now I just need melancholy.

Natalie Walker, perhaps. She’s been on my wish list. Radiohead is also a sure bet.

What’s the application of my music? Well, you can answer that better than I can. But I can tell you a bit about who I am.

A goody two-shoes with lots of pent-up anger and yearning, and a lover of good tragedy. (My wife calls me “tragic romantic.”)

If you can relate, then you may have applications for my music.

But then, even if you aren’t, you may still get some milage out of it. Surprise me.

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