Hello World! Welcome to this blog, a commentary on today’s popular music through the eyes (or ears, rather) of me, trisax. Why ‘trisax’? Well, I play three saxophones: the soprano sax, alto sax, and tenor sax. I also dabble in piano. I am fluent in the jazz and pop idioms on all of my instruments. I play sax in a college big band (with a focus on modern jazz), lay down the sax/keys parts in a folk rock group (we are currently in the studio working on our next album), and have a solo project focusing on electronic/indie music. Music has always been a subject that resonated with me, and a great passion of mine since I can remember. Sometimes music relaxes me. Sometimes it inspires. Sometime it gets my blood-pumping. And often music leads me to introspection. I love compiling the soundtrack to my life by the songs I listen to and helping write it through my own compositions. Currently I am pursuing this passion with a jazz studies degree. I have been exploring both the academic and creative sides of music on a daily basis. I am also working towards a Biology degree, for what it’s worth.
I’d like to give you a taste of my musical preference. Some of my favorite jazz artists include John Coltrane, Brian Blade, Vincent Herring, Bill Evans, and Joshua Redman. I highly recommend checking out the music of all of these fine musicians. As for popular music, I enjoy listening to The Dave Matthews Band, Coldplay, and Owl City. I also enjoy listening to hip-hop artists if I’m in the right mood/place such as Jay-Z, Mos Def, and Lupe Fiasco. As I previously mentioned, this is only a taste of my favorite artists. While reading this blog, you will definitely gain a more complete view of my musical taste. But this isn’t all about me--I will not be limiting my discussion of popular music to the music I like. This blog is about popular music whether or not it is popular with me or not.
I love casually listening to as well as critically listening to/dissecting pop music. For clarification purposes, by ‘popular music,’ I am referring to the ‘Top 40’ songs that grace (or plague, depending on the song) the radio. I would like to share my thoughts on the current state of the popular music scene with you via this blog. I aim to provide insight into this scene from a jazz-pop musician’s/scientist’s perspective.
Among other topics, I will discuss the evolution of popular music from the 90s to today, trends in popular song lyrics and how they reflect upon societal ideals, conformity and originality within the industry, current technology being utilized in the industry today, and the future of the industry. Furthermore, I will relate the topics discussed to the music I am involved in creating.
I hope you enjoy reading this blog as much as I am looking forward to composing it throughout the coming weeks.
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