About four years after I graduated from university with my degree in classical music, a friend of mine commented about my music tastes, “Yeah, Brian is stuck in the 18th century.”
I objected: “I am not!”
He looked at me, thought for a moment, and said, “Yeah you are.”
I in turn took a moment, and then thought, He’s right. I am.
That conversation changed my life in a way I’m extremely grateful for. I later asked that friend about how he listened to music, and he told me about how he tried to diversify his listening habits. Often, he systematically listened to the complete works of someone. Additionally, he would afterward read or listen to something that his “natural algorithm” would never find.
That challenge sent me on a journey.
The journey began with Jazz. I asked a jazz player for a few names to get me started (Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Count Basie, etc.). I was off to the races.
Afterward, I requested the book The Other Classical Musics, which I used to explore classical music traditions from disparate cultures around the world.
When I had a follow up conversation with my friend, he jokingly said, “You’re still stuck in the past. You just changed where in the past.”
I couldn’t help but laugh with him.
Eventually it was time to try out truly modern music. I started safe, in the classical music world again. I listened to composers like Philip Glass, Arvo Pärt, and David Bruce. Eventually, though, I knew I needed to branch out into other genres.
So, I dove into pop sensation Stevie Wonder and soul artist Aretha Franklin.
Wow! That blew my world up.
It hit me as a genuine surprise I could enjoy modern music as much as I did when encountering these artists. I discovered that what I loved in music had less to do with a particular style and more to do with whether the music was creative and well-executed.
Of course, I didn’t always like the new music I was listening to. I remember grinding through hours of music I wasn’t enjoying, like Germanic operas I had somehow never heard, or Korean pop such as BTS.
When I told my wife about it, she asked, “If you don’t like it, why don’t you just switch what you’re listening to?”
I told her, “Because I missed out on so much good music by not even giving it a chance. And even if I don’t like it, I can still learn from it.”
My friend’s challenge genuinely transformed my world. For a solid three years afterward, I felt like I had to make up for lost time. But panicked listening aside, these new horizons ultimately made my compositional life much more creative and adventurous. It gave me an openness to new things and an appreciation for artists in a different lane from my own.
I hope you might consider seeking out music (or other art forms) that your “natural algorithm” wouldn’t find. It just might change how you engage your craft.
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