I thought this was going to be easier, but here I am – sitting in front of a screen with the title “Music blog introduction”, 20 minutes in and nothing but emptiness on this OneNote. What is this? Why does it exist? Where is this coming from? Frankly, I don’t know for sure, but let me try and break it down.
What is this (going to be)?
At the onset, The Sound Scribe is going to be a space about music from the perspective of a musical novice. The two primary use cases of this blog in my mind (currently) are music interpretations and music recommendations. In terms of language and genres, I primarily listen to Alt Rock, Country, Indie, Pop music in English and Hindi languages, but wouldn’t be too surprised if I end up posting music belonging to Sufi, soft rock, etc. genres in languages that I don’t completely understand myself (Pahadi music for the win!)
But at a rather fundamental level, I aspire for this blog post to be a collaborative space where I and in turn the readers, can share interpretations of music for I believe the lyricist writes the songs but it is up to the listener to lend their own personal meaning to it, and each listener can have their own meaning attached to the same lyric, stanza, song, or even album.
Why am I doing this?
Short answer – Music recommendations have always been my way of showing affection to my best ones, I am looking to scale that up.
On to the long answer now – I might not know much about music, but it holds a particularly prominent place in my life. Some people seek refuge in rants, solitude, treks, etc. when things aren’t quite right but I, for the longest time, have found music to be a reliable guardian of my vulnerabilities. So, when I listen to good music and feel bliss, it’s more than a mere activity for dopamine – it comforts my mind and helps bring order into my chaos.
To that note, I like to think that when I recommend good music to my dear ones, it comforts them as well and that indirectly, I contribute positively to their lives – albeit in a small way. I adore moments when I share a newfound pearl of a song with my friends, and they tell me it made their day – that makes my week! Seldom do I seem more excitable to my friends than I am while telling them theories about songs I read on the internet (American Pie – Don McLean – you beauty!) – what I think of those interpretations and what the song makes me feel on a personal level. So, the deal is – I want to do this more often, want to impact more people in this little way of mine.
And as far as the question of my technical knowledge of music goes – Nada! I don’t know jack-shit about music theory, I have been trying to learn the Ukulele (I call her Laila, a.k.a Uku-laila) – but mostly go with my intuition than much else. Personally, I don’t think that is going to be a hindrance in accomplishing my objective through the blog – primarily because music is, after all, made for a broader audience than just musicians, and the broader audience, much like me, is not too ear-tuned.
I hope this amateur can make you relate to his point-of-view on musical pieces and if not, would more than love to hear your thoughts on and interpretations of the same pieces.
Now on to the most important question – What is in it for you?
As you would have understood so far, there are a couple of things that lend me an immense amount of satisfaction
1. Discovering and sharing good new music (Case in point – Good People, Mahogany version)
2. Only just noticing the sheer brilliance of the lyrics while listening to a song for the hundredth time (“The dreams in which I am dying are the best I’ve ever had” – Mad World)
I want my readers to experience what I experience; I want to share with them some great music and Eureka moments where I can finally relate to the lyrics of a song. So, if listening to interesting music, figuring out the intent behind obscure yet thought-provoking lyrics excites you – strap on!