A Monster...

I have always been into music. I love listening to it, singing it, playing it, just being a part of it in any way I can. It's in my blood, I think. As long as I can remember, music has been an essential part of my family. Everyone in my family sings; my dad and my brother play the drums; my dad and my other brother play rock piano (meaning they play chords, they don't read music); my sister and I play the piano; my brother, my mom, and I play the guitar. We've even had a family band, and yes, we did perform. It was awesome. My brothers actually want to start that up again. We'll see if that ever happens.

So pretty much music is a part of me, and has been my whole life. I've been listening to The Beatles my whole life (literally--probably since the womb), so of course I love them. I love a lot of oldies. I also love Sherwood (they're freaking amazing!), Jimmy Eat World, Snow Patrol, Dashboard Confessional, Peggy Lee, Norah Jones, KT Tunstall, Reign of Kindo, and a whole bunch of other stuff that I really don't have to list here. I'm always on the warpath for new music, because I listen to it all the time.

But the one thing I've never been too into is instrumental music. I like some classical, but I just don't listen to it very often. And I've never really been into movie scores. Until recently. Maren and Jonathan have together effectively created a monster. I had gotten some soundtracks from Maren and Jonathan a few months ago, but I didn't really listen to them much. Then I started my new jobs, and the work that I do is such that silence makes it boring, but instrumental makes it much easier to focus and work. So I started listening to the instrumental that I had, and I quickly found that I absolutely love James Newton Howard.

The soundtrack that really spawned this big love is The Village soundtrack. I love this soundtrack so much! It's the kind of music that as soon as it starts, I feel like I'm going to burst with the beauty of it. I don't quite know how to explain it. It's almost a transcendental experience. Is that too strong? I don't know, but the music elicits such emotion from me that I just can't explain it. I have listened to The Village soundtrack so many times recently that I can listen to a song and name the track. That's pretty crazy, seeing as how they all blend together.


I am now thoroughly obsessed with James Newton Howard. I have eight soundtracks that he composed or helped with, and I just ordered a ninth today. There are at least two more that I know I want. I just absolutely love his use of strings, and how the piano blends right in and often takes the melody. It's beautiful. I have discovered that I love strings, and woodwinds. When it comes to soundtracks, I'm not the biggest fan of a lot of brass, like John Williams. He seems to use a lot of brass, and I get tired of it very quickly.

My love of strings also comes through in my love of the October Sky soundtrack, which is not James Newton Howard, surprisingly enough. It's by Mark Isham. I love the strings in this one. This is another soundtrack that gives me that surreal, transcendental feeling. It's amazing the power that music has over me. It can completely transport me. Maybe that's why I love music so much, and why it is such a big part of me. It's amazing the emotion can can evoke in me, with absolutely no effort on my part. But that also means that music can affect me in a bad way. In my Music 202 class a couple years ago, we studied an opera called Wozzek. That music gave me the worst feeling ever. It was physically repelling, I don't know how to explain it.


Anyway...wow, this is a random post. A long random post. A little insight into my loves, right? Right. And if anyone has any suggestions on new bands that I should listen to, or any amazing movie scores or instrumental in general, give me a holler. I'm always on the lookout for new stuff.