What music means to me

Last week, I talked about how I have many ideas for my summer student column. Well, this week would be my relationship with music and why it has such a deep meaning to me.

My dad is a music man. Growing up he would always play music ranging from what his parents would play to what he listened to growing up, and even 2000s music. Most often it was eighties and The Beatles.

The Beatles is what I grew up on. They are a really amazing band with such a diverse portfolio of music. It’s amazing to realize just what a band of four members did to the music field.

Some of my favourite songs from The Beatles would be “Octopus’s Garden” from Abbey Road; “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” from The Beatles (The White Album); “I Will,” also The Beatles (The White Album), and “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” from Rubber Soul.

The Beatles named an album The Beatles, but as to not cause confusion, fans called it The White Album because of its pure white cover art.

The White Album, along with Abbey Road and Rubber Soul have to be my favourite Beatles’ albums.

While I sometimes listen to singular songs, I much prefer to listen to full albums. Along with this, instead of having multiple playlists for different moods, I have one long playlist with 798 songs totalling 47 hours and 53 minutes.

Onwards closer to now, I’ve discovered many different genres of music. While I don’t listen to many of their albums, I really like Green Day. Other musicians I enjoy are Weezer, The Offspring, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Muse, Nirvana, Franz Ferdinand, Billy Joel, Jack Stauber, Lovejoy, and recently, Radiohead.

I would say I love the rock genre, punk, and alternative, but I’ve also been enjoying an artist by the name of Laufey. She’s a jazz artist, and I’ve just grown to love her music.

My music taste is all over the place. I like artists who I never thought I would’ve, like Laufey. When I was younger, I thought jazz was weird, but now I find it calming and truly amazing to listen to.

I remember how I found her music. On TikTok, there was this audio that people would use, which was one of her songs. She had a small but passionate fanbase at this point, but after how many people used this sound, she blew up, and I joined the train. I urge other people to listen to her.

I love listening to new music and finding new genres or bands. Recently, I’ve been listening to the ska/punk/rock band Sublime. Their music is interesting because it’s a fusion of many different genres. Ska is a faster reggae beat, similar to jazz. Ska is almost like a clean punk vibe. Clean meaning no distortion.

I don’t just listen to music though - I play and sing. I love singing. Just like listening to The Beatles, I’ve been doing it since I was young. Recently I’ve been playing the guitar too.

It started with my dad’s old acoustic guitar, then my dad’s old electric guitar, and then one fateful Christmas morning I got my own amazing guitar. I love it so much.

At school I was in my school’s rock band in the role of the singer. We performed at my school’s end-of-year concert. This year I would like to rejoin the band, but this time as rhythm guitarist and singer. The bassist was in grade 11 so she won’t be back this year, so my friend is going to play the bass, but that leaves one guitarist.

Music is such a big part of my life. I love to sing, I love to listen. Every song has its own memory to me. I like relating things, and I tie music to memories. I hope more people listen to music, find new artists, new albums, new songs.

Broadening horizons is a way of expressing feelings and relating to people.

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