My Musical Culture
Hi, my name is Nia Jackson. I’m from Cincinnati Ohio, and my main reason for coming to converse was to be on the Acrobatics and Tumbling team. Other than that I am a part of the Women’s College, and I also plan on being a part of the Black Student Union here at converse.
Although I am not a music student here, music is a big part of my family life at home, even though my parents were never big in the arts. I have three older brothers, who all are pursuing music as a profession. My oldest brother play the drums, and he moved overseas to singapore about 10 years ago to be a part of a band. He also works a lot in production on music as well.
My second oldest brother is a trained opera singer. He has his master in vocal performance, and teaching. At the moment he works at a college in Chicago and teaches private vocal lessons. Aside from that he also has performed in many groups. Next year he will be attending the University of Illinois to get his masters in teaching I believe.
My older brother closest to my age has worked a lot on the guitar and the bass. He is all self taught and used to be in a band when he was in high school. Now he works as a manager at a guitar center and continues to play both instruments.
I have a very hard time sticking to one genre of music, because I believe all music is beautiful. However, this song has been one of my favorites of all time for a while. I like to dream about the future a lot, and when I heard this song for the first time I knew it was going to be the 1st dance song at my wedding, that's what makes it so special to me. I don’t particularly know what category this song would fit into, I would probably say soul mixed with a little soft rock, because of the use of the instruments.
https://youtu.be/nOFCTFXn6xE
This is a 2nd piece of music I find very meaningful. It is my mom's favorite song, and before that it was my mom’s mom’s favorite song. Ever since my grandmother passed it is such a special song to our family, and another contender for my wedding someday. I believe this song fits into its own category, because at the time of its release no one else was doing the type of soul music Aretha Franklin was doing, but if i had to categorize it, it would be Soul.
Although I believe all music is special I have always had a hard time connecting with rap music specifically trap music. I have always been told I have an old soul so I don’t really keep up with new hip pop music, indie is more where my soul stays.
https://youtu.be/mF80AV9pacQ
Even though there are a few songs that I enjoy within the rap genre, I completely understand where you are coming from. This is because I dislike a lot of it myself. For me, I believe it is because many raps songs do not have deep meaningful lyrics behind them, and if they do, half the time you can not understand them. I am curious, other than being an old soul, what is your reason behind not liking it? Is it the same reason as me, or is it for another reason like over-repetition or beat?
ReplyDeleteI think it is so interesting that you are from a family that is so involved with music, and grew up with very musically involved. Although I grew up listening to music a lot around the house, none of my family have much background in music. I believe my dad may have played saxophone in middle school but didn't even continue to high school. I completely agree with your opinion on rap/trap music, although there are some songs I enjoy, I have just never been able to get into it.
ReplyDeleteI agree that trap is not the best version of rap because of its overwhelming feeling you have while listening to it. While the old soul/soul music that you put is the poler opposite of trap in itself, being softer and more calming of music. It is also awesome that you kinda have like a passed down tradition within a song from your mother's mother to your mother to you.
ReplyDeleteI love rap in situations where it like lifts up the mood (sporting event, party, etc.) but I can’t really connect with it on a deep level. It seems to lose the genuine stories and soul behind music, right? I also love the song connection with your mom and her mom. That’s so special :)
ReplyDeleteI also will rarely listen to rap by myself. I'll listen to it when I'm with other people or when I'm playing basketball/working out but other than that I can't get into it. I also come from a musical family on my dad's side so I can appreciate growing up around musical people.
ReplyDeleteHey Nia! I totally agree with you about sticking one genre of music, there's a lot of great music out there and its hard to stay in one place. I think its really cool that music is so present in your life and I think you being in an acappella choir was so cool and impressive. Your music choices were great and I like the songs you showed. Although I disagree about your opinion on rap music, I am also not a big fan of trap music, because I do not enjoy style as much as even other styles of hip hop and rap.
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