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re_alisma
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Dallas XXXXXXX, Age 20
January 30, 1996
Transcribed January 30, 1996
A: Amy XXXXXXXX
D: Dallas XXXXXXXX
A: What kind of music do you like to listen to?
D: I like to listen to music that other people don't play for me. So like, music that I sort of have to go get myself. Stuff that other people don't listen to enough. So then I end up listening to stuff that isn't on the radio. So I don't listen to stuff that's on the radio, and if I hear it on the radio then I don't listen to it anymore. I guess that's because I tend to not listen to it because other people like it. That wasn't very specific.
A: What do you think it is about a person's taste in music that tells you about that person?
D: Well, sort of that music that they listen to, sort of shows how much thought they put into things, you know? There's lots of music that's sort of just designed to be in the background. And a certain kind of people say, 'Yeah, this is the sort of music that I listen to," and it's like 'All right." So then there's some other sorts of music that people listen to that take a little more attention and patience, and they probably have the sort of personality that has a lot of attention and patience in their thoughts and stuff.
A: Ok, have you ever performed any kind of music?
D: Well, some friends of mine in high school, we kind of formed what you might call a band.
A: Why do you say that?
D: Well, because some of the people were pretty good musicians, but I wasn't a very good musician. I was the vocalist. Then it sort of started out as kind of a heavy metal band, kind of, with more emphasis on riffs and solos so we moved to more like punk. And then later we started to play more like pop punk. And, we all had fun.
A: What influenced you to play that kind of music.
D: That was the kind of music that we listened to. It was kind of easy to play to. Like it was easier. It's not very difficult to play those things, but the guitarist was pretty good. The bassist had just started playing bass, and I had never sung before, so I would have to do things that weren't that hard to accomplish. The guitarist would have to play solos when we were still learning, like in the beginning.
A: How does music play into your social life?
D: Well, I always tend to want music playing all the time, and I'm very aware of that. My closest friends are people that share common interests in music, and that's what I tend to talk about the most with these people. In high school, especially, I didn't think I could really be friends with somebody that didn't listen to the same music that I didn't listen to. Well, I could be friends with them, but I couldn't really hang out with them on a regular basis because their stuff was kind of hard to listen to.
A: Do you think that people are defined by the kind of music they listen to?
D: Some people, for some people it's not very large factor in their life, and that's sort of how it is a defining characteristic of them, the fact that it isn't. Some people just don't really get into music because it's sort of an extraneous part of life. You know, you could just get into doing things, like doing work and things like that. I don't know. the kind of music that people listen to is important. Not necessarily, but in most cases, probably.
A: Do you like to play music for other people?
D: Yeah, and I tend to be all controlling about it. I seem to always want to have some say in the decision.
A: Is that because you want to listen to it, or you want other people to listen to stuff that you like to listen to?
D: Well, sort of some part of both because I tend to buy a lot of music I kind of want a chance to hear it. If I'm playing it for other people, and other people are over, then I can't ever hear. Also, I like to show people what I have. That's some sort of acknowledgment that I have some sort of taste in music. I don't know, I like to play it for other people.
A: Have you ever tried composing music?
D: Well, I was that band, I guess I would sometimes come up with things and you would call a harmony or something. But, since I didn't play an instrument, then I kind of just had to mouth it to the guitarist. Like, do- do-do-do. And then he would play it because he was a pretty good guitarist. And then I had that computer music class, and more of that was put into making weird noises to put together. Not too much actual musicianship. When you listen to music a lot, it's just kind of hard to make noise, you know? So much thought goes into the musical part of it.
A: Do you think about music a lot?
D: I don't feel like I explicitly think about music a lot, but whenever I'm listening to it I am putting some thought into it. I guess that's one more defining characteristic of it. In general, I don't like music that's exceedingly easy to come up with. Maybe easy to play. There's different kinds of music. Like punk, the music is usually pretty easy to play, but the lyrics are kind of hard to come up with. So it has to have good lyrics. And then you just kind of go with the flow and have all the pieces together. Once it's there, it's usually pretty easy to copy and duplicate.
A: How does the way you think about music differ from the way your parents think about music?
D: My mom doesn't really listen to music that much at all. So, it's not a very large part of her life. And it's a pretty big part of my life so I guess that's pretty different. My dad seems to have a lot of records. I think he used to be really into music. Now he just seems to be content with the radio all the time. I guess it's maybe because he listens to a lot of towards the more popular side of music. Like classic rock kind of stuff. But I really don't know how popular that was. I know it's pretty popular on classic rock radio stations now. But I think he thinks of it- we sort of starting to differ-he still thinks of it as 'good times', just fun or whatever. I've been thinking of it more and more as like an emotional soundtrack. I can get something more out of it than what's there at the forefront. He's been starting to listen to things like Yanni. He seems to like Yanni now. It's kind of weird, I think, but it has some sort of more depth to it.
A: Is there anything else that you would like to say?
D: What was the main question again?
A: What is music about for you?
D: Oh, I think it's very much an important part of a life, you know? It's like art or whatever. Most people classify it as art. And it's pretty much, a good part of it, is it's kind like extraneous-it doesn't have to be a part of your life at all. It gives you something to sort of like fall on and find yourself in. If your by yourself or in a group. It's also, well, making music, or even just playing music. It's just something that you can do for yourself that's really easy. It's just a fundamental thing.
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