Because We all have one. 🙂
Hello, Katie here. At the youthful age of 21, I happen to have at least a small amount of musical encounters that I can be proud of. I grew up in Spartanburg, South Carolina around a community of rednecks. I’m talking about the ‘shooting riffles just to shoot riffles’ types of rednecks. Because of this, I grew up listening to a lot of country music. It wasn’t until High School that I started to listen to other genres of music. It was around this time that I discovered Spanish dance music.
Throughout my High School career, I was able to travel to other parts of the United States through the Marching Band. I’m very lucky and very thankful to have been able to have those experiences. When I was in 10th Grade, I visited New Orleans with the Marching Band.
I had an amazing time in New Orleans. We were able to march in the Mardi Gras Parade (though it was pouring rain and freezing temperatures) and able to experience the culture of New Orleans. We had free time to explore the streets where I experienced some of the most amazing, talented musicians. The streets of New Orleans have everything from jazz to electronic type music…and it was just a blast.
In 12th Grade I was able to go to Orlando Florida. There, we went to Make A Wish Foundation and got to play stands tunes for the children there. For those that don’t know, the community that we were at was for children who were soon to be on Death’s door and this was one of their last wishes (to be with their family and have fun). It was very moving and emotion and I’m so glad I had a chance to be there for those kids to enjoy.
On the brighter side of things, we were able to experience a lot of Disney music over the trip. I think by the time the trip ended, I could just about tell you what key each piece was in and what key they transitioned to.
From my Marching band career, I also have a lot of instrumental band music in my repertoire. The amount of times I’ve had to learn John Philip Sousa or other known band composers is tied with the amount of times I’ve woken up in the mornings. That being said, I enjoyed every minute of it.
As I’ve gone through my college career, I have found that I really love folk music. This has caused me to branch out to folk songs from Ireland, Britain, France, Bulgaria, and many other places. Below are a few of my favorites. 🙂
For the past couple of years, I have found that I absolutely love acapella music as well! It’s just so beautiful that I can hardly stay still when listening to it.
Through my own curiosity, I have discovered loads of music that I normally wouldn’t listen to. Youtube is amazing in everything that it can show us. I’ve discovered folk songs from all over the world, musicals in other countries, traditional instruments related to different regions of a country, and so much more. I know that I can never know EVERYTHING in the world of music…but I hope to be able to try to keep learning about it and trying to reach that goal.
Music is Universal 
Omg, that is so cool that you went to New Orleans. I really want to go there because of the music and I really want to see their culture.
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Hi Katie!
You may have just made me fall in love with Folk music as well! My family history shows that I have Ireland ancestors, so I definitely want to also learn about the music. I also saw that you pointed out a-Capella groups. Penatonix is definitely my favorite. I love all the different genres of music they sing. It adds something completely different when you only have your voice as an instrument. Its amazing what the human voice can accomplish.
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So you’ve written about of types of music here, which is awesome. Oddly enough, what catches my attention the most is your post of “Elvira.” You see, I’m old enough to remember when the actual Oak Ridge Boys sang that song (and the Oak Ridge Boys cover band that used to play at our middle school Girl Scout jamborees….)–I actually had it on a cassette. And what I really loved was the 4-part harmony–I’d never really heard that in a popular music setting before. Over time, I noticed that sort of music would occasionally–rarely–pop up on the radio, and it captivated me every time. And now, here I am in choir, singing 4-part nearly every week. It took awhile, but I eventually got there 🙂
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So you’ve written about a wide variety of musical experiences here, which is awesome. What really catches me, though, is your “Elvira” video. You see, I’m old enough to actually remember when the Oak Ridge Boys first recorded it back in the 80s–I had the actual cassette, and there was a local Oak Ridge Boys cover band that would sing at our Girl Scout jamborees. And what I loved about “Elvira” was the 4-part harmony, which I hadn’t really heard in pop music before. It just really grabbed my attention. To this day, if a pop song includes a section with 4-part harmony (especially a cappella) it grabs my ear.
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