Calls me higher.

You know, as much as I love music - I don't listen to it as often as I think I do. When I do, I'm very specific about what I choose to listen to. I have hundreds of CDs, but unless I purposefully think to listen to music, I can go an entire day without hearing a note. I do sing to myself pretty much all the time though, so that's probably why I don't find myself missing it.

Despite the great variety of bands, genres and artists in my iTunes library, I always come back to a select few and listen to them over and over and over. I've never been one to go to concerts just to scream and jump around - I've never been good at band worship and I hope I never will be. If I was into pop music, I might enjoy going to a Beyonce or Lady Gaga concert because they're actual shows. No actual live singing is happening, but they're dancing around and putting on a show.

I like the music I like and I have deep respect for musicians. I find it funny when someone asks me if I've heard about this or that band, and most of the time I haven't, and then they look at me wide-eyed and gasp and say, "What?? I can't believe you've never heard ____! I'm gonna have to introduce you. You're missing out." And then they'll proceed to burn me a CD (or download the mp3s onto my itunes library) and prod me over the next couple of weeks asking if I liked the band. I have nothing against this - but I've discovered there are actually only a handful of genres that I absolutely love: Jazz, Classical, Musical Theater, Choral and Folk. Granted, there are bands in practically every genre of music that I like. Except for rap. I just don't get that. 

But music that calls me to a higher state of thinking, emoting and expression is what I love the most. Take, for example, Eric Whitacre. A choral composer with an incredible imagination and talent for dissonant chords, haunting tunes and inspiring melodies perfectly designed to first pluck, then passionately strum the heartstrings. My heart swells whenever I listen to "I Thank You God for Most This Amazing Day," or "Lux Arumque." More recently, Eric composed a techno-opera musical based on John Milton's "Paradise Lost." The opera, entitled "Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings" is absolutely riveting. I saw one of the first preview performances of the show in Pasadena, California. I sat in the front row of the 100-seat auditorium with my brother and mother and was more than once, lifted out of my seat with the most heavenly, haunting, powerful sounds my ears have ever heard. The seamless and innovative composition of techno beats, operatic arias and orchestral music literally made me feel as if I was witnessing a supernatural concert. It was that unreal.

So no, I don't listen to bands that are as obscure as the ones my friends listen to, and I generally like to stick with what I know. When it comes to new musicians, I think I (unfairly) make it their responsibility to impress me. I very rarely will listen to a band just to 'give them a shot.' If I hear a song in a movie soundtrack or on the radio that sticks out to me, I'll make it a point to track them down. Because usually, most contemporary music that gets played in the world around me (i.e. in my friends' cars, on the radio, in the shopping mall) is just white noise to me.

Enclosed is a recording of one of many beautiful trios in Eric Whitacre's "Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings." I hope you listen, and enjoy.