Interview #1 - Edward Brenton
Edward (or Ed) is a 3rd year economics exchange student from United Kingdom. I interviewed ed For this assignment because he is a undergrad student that is not a music major and I felt he would have interesting answers to my questions based on the fact that he is an exchange student.
Listening Habits;
Ed finds himself listening to music every single day for a couple hours every day, something that is playing in the background while he is doing other things, going to the gym, walking, cooking basically any activity where he can listen to music. Ed listens to a lot of different genres, mostly pop. He attends live performances of music really rarely, a couple times a year if that.
Role of Music;
He described the role of music in his life not really being at the forefront of his life, for him it is a comforting pass time in the background. Ed says the biggest significance of music in his life is when he listens to a song it will remind him of a memory from a couple years back. He thinks that music brings memories because you associate it with something that you experienced and what you hear becomes a trigger in that song that reminds you of that event or thing.
Influence of Others;
His friends have an influence on the music he listens too as well as his brothers music tastes. His parents were extremely influential on music in his life by encouraged him to take up music by enrolling him in lessons and ensembles. Ed sings and previously played drums and flute, his brother plays the double bass and the guitar. His grandfather was a big singer when he was young. The people around Ed influence music in his life.
Studies of Music;
Ed studied music through private lessons, he chose to study drums because he thought that they were cool but his parents thought that he should take up a ‘proper’ instrument like flute. When he was in grade 7 he decided to start singing just because he really enjoyed it but nothing prompted him towards it. He played drums and flute starting in elementary/middle school and stopped in grade 12. Ed also began singing in elementary/middle school but continues to do that now. He thinks that he stopped playing the drums and flute because private lessons crush your creative choice, they don’t teach you to enjoy an instrument. It’s in the same way that in high school courses your taught how to pass an exam and your not allowed any creative freedom, the right answer is the right answer.
Ed never experienced music in high school where you actually learn how to play an instrument, his music classes were more about music history, no performance aspect.
Interview #2 - Sohum Kulkarni
Sohum is a 2nd year Health Sciences student that was a residence soph on my floor in Delaware hall but was then promoted to a residence staff position. He happily agreed to have an interview about his experience with music in his life.
Listening Habits;
Sohum listens to music a lot, and he picks different genres to listen to depending on what he is doing. He listens to rap, alternative rock, and for studying he chooses to listen to classical music or movie soundtracks. He sees live performances of music rarely maybe once or twice a year. In the past he has attended a star wars episode 4 live in concert with orchestra and he says it was one of the greatest experiences that he has ever had.
The Role of Music;
When asking about the role of music in his life it was hard to find an answer, but that is why I start this section with that question, I wanted to see where people would lead the conversation form such an open ended question. I prompted him by asking him how he experiences music in his life. He said that a lot of his memories are attached to certain albums or certain songs, they will take him back to a vivid memory. These memories can be quite enjoyable or sometimes sad memories are associated with music. Usually day to day, music is a nice thing to have while doing other things like walking etc. He thinks that his memories are associated with music because of the time when he would first experience a song (ie. a sad song doesn't necessarily bring back a sad memory, just a memory associated with hearing that song in general.)
Influence of Others;
His friends do seem to have an influence on the music he listens to, they happen to have a similar taste in music. They will sometimes share different artists or albums to each other. His family also has an influence, his mother was the one who signed him up for Indian classical singing. He says she noticed that he really enjoyed music and would enjoy these lessons, which he did. He studied this for 8 or 9 years, his mother pushed him to pursue his interest in music. None of Sohums family members play any instruments or sings other than himself.
Study of Music;
When he studied music they were formal lessons for an hour each week, learning indian classical music. He took exams by a university in india who would send someone to Canada to give the exams, he sang three of these exams before. When he started indian classical singing he did not know what it was but when he began he really enjoyed it and it has had a positive impact on other things in his life. Sohum was 8 when he began lessons
In elementary and high school education he played trumpet with the band but then when he got to upper years he fell out of playing because he wanted to take other high school courses. At that point he was still doing singing, there was no real reason he just found other interests. He is glad that he still had musical education through his singing outside of high school.
Interview #3 - Marilyn Ayres, Grandma to me
Marilyn is my grandma, my mother's mother, and was kind enough to let me video interview her for this project. Her adorable cat interrupted a few times but we got through it and I know more about music in my grandmas life, it was interesting to hear the differences between a students answers and an adults answers to my questions.
Listening habits;
My grandma listens to music when she is driving and she also leaves the stereo in her kitchen on all the time. She is constantly listening to music. She likes to listen to new country and “not the old folky stuff” as she puts it. She doesn't often attend performances of live music, she does like to go concerts but does not get the opportunity to go very often. She does like to attend performances at the pub that my parents own, mentioning the one she is going to see there the coming Friday.
Role of Music;
She says that music plays a big role in her life because it brings back memories and places and people, events. She is not sure why music brings back memories, it just does. He friends and family don’t have an influence on her taste in music. She says that she listens to what she listens to and they just have to deal with it.
Influence of Others;
Her parents used to listen to big band music like Glenn Miller, one of her mothers favourites. They also listened to folky country music and her mother’s favourite song was ‘you are my sunshine’. No one in her family was really a musician (other than me of course), her grandmother on her mum’s side played the piano and the organ at the local church.
Study of Music;
My grandmother has never studied music formally but her sister Cathey learned and studied the guitar. She says that she never really learned how to play an instrument just because of life in general, she had my uncle at a very young age and looked after him and then 2 more children (one being my mother). Overall she says that it has just been a busy life but learning how to play the guitar is on her bucket list. She wants to learn how to play it because she loves the way that the guitar sounds, she says that it is very soothing and relaxing. She loves the variety of things that you can do with a guitar. She did not really study music through school but her friend in school pushed her into joining the schools choir. She was about 10 or 11 when she was in the choir, they went to different schools to sing and she said it was exciting. She stopped singing because school ended and it was a school activity.
Written by Jessalyn Shein
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