I wake up almost every morning with an earworm. Some fade quickly, other last for days. Sometimes they make me happy, sometimes they make me doubt my own sanity. They come from all genres. I can rarely know what triggers them. The only thing I do know and that they do without fail is reinforce my belief that all music is connected and good music never goes out of style.
Spring is finally here in the north. It seems like we go to bed one day to dull, dead brown last year’s grass, and wake up the next to flowers, leaves and birds singing.
To celebrate the welcome arrival of colour and birdsong, here are 10 of my favourite popular music songs about spring.
As is the case with all too many things historical, the talent of women composers is underrepresented in the genre of classical music. In spite of the odds being against them women wrote, and continue to write, exceptional classical music that can be enjoyed today. They deserve more exposure, so it feels like a good idea to do my bit to mitigate our cultural musical myopia.
Below are five female classical composers whose works I enjoy, with links to songs for each of them.
I have broad, perhaps somewhat eclectic taste in music. This is by accident rather than design. Most of the genres outside what gets airplay on popular radio I have luckily stumbled upon while on other paths. Our culture doesn’t really expose young people en masse to much more than current popular music, and that’s a shame. I feel like it’s a good idea to do my bit to mitigate our cultural musical myopia.
Below are links to 31 works of classical music by composers you’ll find on my iPod, and two links to works by composers most of us would know – all artists born in May, whose works I have enjoyed.