Early in 2023 I received an email from my friend Richard Leigh describing a project he had set for himself for the new year:
Hi Peter,
Looking forward to coming up on Saturday. At the start of the year I started a little 2023 side-hobby which I think might be of interest. Maybe you can save your response till Saturday and let me know in person… anyway just another thing to be on the list of things to discuss!Back in January, I became acutely aware that my musical exploration over recent years has been extremely diminished, and it was time to ‘go exploring again’. After all…
music is a chance to CONNECT with people… as you know, Michaela has taught herself Russian and introduced me to this fascinating world of eastern European tunes from historic to modernmusic encodes MEMORIES
and links to past experiences that seem to be unlocked by listening like nothing elsemusic encapsulates CULTURE like no other
and given my lack of physical travel for a very long time, expanding my musical interests will allow me to go exploring the world and its people, places and ideas
As someone who no longer bothers to keep up with popular trends in music, my musical exploration has been reduced to Musicbed and Artlist (‘production music’ libraries for video — these are among the best, but even so)… so sad, especially when the incredible world of music is so readily accessible these days!
There’s a new twist to all this over recent weeks as I’ve learned about the new ‘AI generated’ music - set to dominate popular music and culture in the years ahead – so even more reason to enjoy and celebrate the HUMAN-GENERATED music before we become a dying breed!!
So each week I'll add 7 tracks to a new Spotify playlist called ‘My musical journey through 2023’… and by the end of the year I’ll have 365 new tracks. Every track has a story, and already, as I collect music bower-bird like from everywhere, I’m loving how it’s not only reminding me of things that I’ve been doing but also reminding me of the people I know.
Okay, now we're about a year on from when that email arrived and Richard has compiled a record of his musical adventure on Spotify.
His project included sharing with family members and friends on a two way back and forth basis. He has given me permission to share his list with all our friends on this blog, noting that the privacy of people who contributed so far only includes first names:
INSTRUCTIONS for best viewing:
* Best viewed on a computer, rather than phone or tablet, so you can easily zoom in to read & click
* No need to log in to this dropbox page
* Wait approximately 10-30sec for it to fully load in your browser, then use the ‘zoom in + or -' buttons top right to read details that interest you and navigate with mouse and scroll bar/wheels as you would any webpage
* All IMAGES (of track names) are hyperlinks and will take you to each track denoted
* You can also download the page as a pdf, and the hyperlinks will still work
Richard would be very pleased to receive feedback about this project.
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Thanks Peter. And here's me saying it's "not for public sharing". You are the master of persuasion, hehe. I guess this doesn't count as 'social media', and there's nothing too personal beyond my own reflections. It's been a fun project, and already bringing back memories of the large unwieldy year that was 2023.
ReplyDeleteIt's actually a really huge project Richard, and I think a very bold one! It's all about sharing! That's something I deeply value in this crazy world. Sharing, as we've done now for many years, and especially through this blog. I definitely wish to stay out of "the social media", but we have found our own ways. I congratulate you Richard.
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If I wasn't deaf and hadn't lost so many frequencies that listening to music becomes a joke and I'm left with the music in my mind (fortunately, I had much better hearing when I was young and could enjoy the likes of Tangerine Dream, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Yes, Supertramp, not to mention the classics) then I would most certainly get into this, Richard. But alas...I'm afraid it would sound like 'noise' to me today. I'm left with the music in my head...
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that David. But then, the music in your head is probably well loved and no doubt has its own resonance and fidelity.
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