Do you remember the first time you really clicked with music? I remember being on a family vacation at 9 or 10, getting some sort of random Beatles “Hits” cassette tape at whatever gas station, and playing it nonstop in my off-brand Walkman. That was the first time I really felt music in my bones, and to this day few things are as exciting as finding a new song to love.
This definitely feels a little embarrassing, but we’re all strangers. It would have been late middle school, I just got a philips mp3 player from church and loaded some albums on it. My gf broke up with me at some point and Bullet For My Valentine’s Scream Aim Fire and Panic! At The Disco’s Pretty. Odd. kept me company. I have 2 music degrees now I am constantly having aesthetic reactions to music.
I listened to hair bands (Motley Crue, Poison, Warrant) at that age so I certainly can’t judge anyone!
What kind of music degrees? What exactly do you mean by aesthetic reactions?
I have 2 music Ed degrees! An aesthetic response is essentially an emotional connection. The idea is that a person’s brain reacts to parts of music (dynamic, timbre, tempo, melody, etc.) in a way that generates that emotional response.