Media Musings & Meditations

Observations and discussion about technology, culture and spirituality. As new technology developments and trends envelope the Internet and our "wired" culture we all need time to reflect and process the implications on our society, our relationships and our spiritual practices.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

My Soundtrack

Some of my earliest memories are associated with music. I can remember riding in the car with my mom singing to the radio. Usually WABC, NY and the song was usually a Beatles song. In our house growing up Sunday afternoons Dad would put records on the HiFi, usually Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, or Show Tunes (my mom's favorites) and maybe an occasional classical album. Some I liked, some not so much.

Later on when I started earning money doing chores at home I bought an AM/FM Radio & Cassette Player (Sears brand, I think). And I would sit in my room listening to the classic rock station out of Albany or the off-beat college station at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. I would wait to hear my favorite songs and turn it up. But no station had just the right mix. Eventually, I went off to college at Ohio University where I got to DJ on my dorm station and came close to finding just the right mix for me at the time, combining rock, heavy metal, punk and new wave music. Of course I've taped my own combinations of songs and listened to a lot of radio but unlike Goldilocks from the fairy tale I never seemed to find one source that was “just right”. Even now, with Internet radio stations, computer “jukebox” programs, and a multitude of satellite radios stations, I haven't found the source that suits me best.

All this brings me back to an idea I had years ago, probably after reading some Science Fiction books or watching Star Trek. I began to imagine how great it would be if we had a soundtrack to our life like a movie. Of course, sometimes there would be silence and the rest of the time there would be just the right music to fit our mood and the situation. Sometimes in my daydream there might be some kind of button panel somewhere so we could adjust the mood or skip a song. As I watch technology advance, my crazy fantasy inches closer. I can easily see people in the future having some kind of credit card or Flash drive-sized device that they take with them everywhere and plug into the home stereo or computer or car audio which will play just the songs they like, when they like them. Perhaps one day there will even be a biological interface to enable our music device to read our emotions and mood. However, until then, I'm waiting and composing the score for my life soundtrack.

2 Comments:

Blogger Lissa said...

I love the way you think!!

Isn't it crazy, too, how hearing a song can bring back a mood or feelings or thoughts you had some time ago when you heard that same song?!
I remember when I was first moving to Harding and leaving Josh--man was that hard!! We went driving around learning the area and spending one last "fun day" together before he went back home. He was playing Cat Stephens on a cd he had and I remember fighting back tears and feeling anxious b/c we were going to be so far apart and I wouldn't see him much (had nothing at all to do with the music). To this day, I can't listen to Cat Stephens without that anxious sad feeling coming back, and sometimes I even want to cry again! Crazy isn't it?!

8:51 AM  
Blogger Prof Kelly said...

Not crazy, just human. It's part of the way we are made.

9:12 AM  

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