Right now the music conference is few in number, but here's a topic I can make broad enough for everyone. Let's talk about how you learned to play your music-- and I'm including everyone from band buddies to those who can only play a radio. From stereophile to the owner of a mere WALKMAN, from music educator to self-taught musician, from DJ to car audio freak-- everyone has a different way of getting their music fix. How was it that you first started appreciating music? When was it? What role does music play in your life?50 responses total.
Now for me, I guess I have always had a love of singing. My folks got me into the practice of singing along with the radio when I was little. My father sang us kids guitar lullabies, and I just recently started learning the guitar. I had one of those great Fisher-Price xylophones when I was a tot too. My mother played the piano, and so I started lessons when I was 8. I was lucky enough to get in band when I was in the fourth grade, and I continued until about the middle of my freshman year in college. I have been playing for church since I was 12 (I'm now 22), and I also learned to play organ along the way. I'm self-taught in guitar and valved brass instruments, but as I said, I was classically trained in piano. I got interested in audio when a friend of mine started getting into car stereo systems. He's one of the best consultants I have-- he is a major competitor in my area, ranked at about #2. I'm thinking about becoming an elementary music teacher, so I'm interested about what attract people (esp. kids of course) to music, and more importantly, what encourages them to create their own. Why can some kids sing and others can't? The answer seems to be that really anyone can learn to sing. It should be obvious now that music is a huge part of my life. It's in the blood.
I listen to music constantly. The only times I don't listen to music is while I'm in class at school, or when I'm sleeping. After school, I listen to music on the bus, and from then on until really late. I hate the sound of silence.
I have always liked music, but hadn't really gotten into it until a few years ago. Though I can recall a 45 rpm recording of "The Battle of New Orleans" that I was *fascinated* with when I was two or three. And I *loved* singing folk songs in choir in school, particularly any that were identifiably old/British. I was lucky enough that we still did Christmas songs in school, so I learned a lot of Olde English carols. As I got older, I listened to radio, but wasn't terribly interested in popular music as she was in the late sixties, early seventies. (And gag me with a spoon if I ever hear disco again! Blah.) I collected a few 45 rpm records and an album or two, even an eight-track or five, but I wasn't really *into* anything. Lo and behold, I heard folk music about two years into college. Taht really got me hooked, and I bought several Steeleye Span recordings, some Horslips, and a filk recording by Lesley Fish, and those seemed to keep my musical tastes going for quite a while. Again, I really didn't get into it as a living thing, I had my artifacts, and I liked them. Then, seventeen years ago, God help me, I got my current job. Copy editing. The only way to concentrate -- at least according to my office-mates -- was by getting a walkman and listening to music. All of a sudden, I was listening to music eight hours a day. One or two records weren't enough anymore. I started buying it. I started *listening* closely. I started going to Schoolkids. And thence leads the way to perdition. I now have a rather largish collection of tapes and CDs, though not in the thousands like some people I know -- I do have several hundred. I listen to them -- still -- about eight hours a day, and then there's the radio at night, and on the weekends. So....that's my tale.
Lets see... I duno when i got hooked! I have always been hooked i guess! I guess it could be due to the lack of mind sucking television in Germany for 10 years, and the great antics of my father (My dad was soooo darn funny when he did Flight of the BubbleBees) I also played flute and piccilo for about 4 years and that was a great influuence as well. And being in a children's symph/ orchetra was way great! I dunno... its a lot better than tv most of the times anywyas! music is the foundation of civilization (Only my opinion though)
I got a clock radio for Christmas when i was about 9 years old, and that thing was on literally 24 hours a day for the next 8 years or so.
i started out the same way.. i got a clock radio for 8$ when i was 7 (amazing i still member the price) and from then on, i used that thing constantly, until i got a "boom box" a few years later, when i passed teh clock radio to my sister, who still has it, 9 years later.
Ok, we've heard a lot so far from the commercial music junkies-- any DJs, car/home audiophiles, music educators out there? What instrument does your father play, Jen?
i'd really be interested in becoming a DJ, or any type of job dealing with the playing of music... these days i don't get most of my music from the radio (what i was assuming you meant by commercial music), one of my favorite compilations of music is a tape that a friend of mine got from a friend of hers in england.. i tend to like quite a bit of british music. A lot of times i just take a risk on a cd and end up loving it... I've become a big bob Marley junkie for that reason, the same with Phish, David Bowie, and a few more obscure things. Lately i've been dissatisfied with radio around the ann arbor/detroit area, stations just aren't playing what i'd like to hear, but hey, you take what you can get.. and i'll take my cds thankyouverymuch
I was brought up with pop music in the house and did not get interested - until I heard Beethoven's 6th Symphony (had to leave home to do that). I played it so much I can still recognize it from hearing a couple of bars from it anywhere. From there, I moved back..to Mozart, Bach, Vivaldi... That's where I still dwell.
I don't know if I could give a real 'starting point'. My parents tell me that when I was a little bean ( I don't know how little, exactly, but I belive infant rather than toddler), I saw some opera on TV and was fascinated. One of my earliest memories is the picture on the back of the Abbey Road album case (the thing with the wall). I grew up with an *amazing* variety of music--The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Raitt, Ray Charles, Bach, Stravinski, Bill Staines, Paul Simon, Gilbert and Sullivan...the list goes on. I guess if I had to pick a real starting point it would be when I started taking piano lessons in second or third grade, or perhaps in about fifth grade when I started taking music composition lessons. I had been making up little tunes and whatnot for a while, and so my parents found a student at the U of M patient enough to put up with the stuff. Now, eight years after I started playing piano, and five after I started taking composition, I'm still at it. For quite a while, through about sixth grade maybe, I really didn't listen to much in the way of popular music. In seventh or eighth grade, though, the local radio stations went through a brief wave of good taste, and I fell in love. I'm surprised by the detail in which I remember the songs that were on the radio that year--even the bad ones, I know some of their lyrics. And now, local radio is back to being tasteless, but I'm still a fan of a lot of the bands I first found that year.
My Dad is a music type, having been a bassist, churh organist, etc. So we had music around the house a decent amount. My (older) brother was pretty heavily into music, so I had opportunities to get at stuff. We all had piano lessons, which didn't last, and orchestra which lasted for my brother and me, but my sister dropped out. What is interesting is that my brother was in bands all thru high school, college, and a couple years professionally, while I played a lot but ended up into computers. Now we both work in computers, and I'm getting more involved in making music now than he is. Unlike some of the others here, I *don't* like having music on all the time. I tend to listen too critically and get distracted from what I am really trying to do. Silence is also music.
I tought myself Power chord guitar, that's about all I know. I'm not very good
I was never into music as a small child, except for what was played on the car radio, which was country and western. At home, my mother would play her records mostly classical, and more country mixed in, not to mention the piano and organ that she played. At 16, I was given my first "boombox" for my 16th birthday. It was an AM-FM 8-track portable (this was 1976, folks), and through that I primarily listened to CKLW, and WDRQ, both of which were playing Top-40 formats. Through that, I turned onto Elton John, Chicago, and Bob Seger, mostly. I took up the clarinet, and the bass clarinet in high school, which I played for 3 yrs, but gave up because the dog's suicide notes were starting to sound really serious ;) I still love to hear trumpet music of any kind, preferably Al Hirt, Herb Alpert, Maynard Ferguson, and Doc Severenson, whom I consider to be an absolute master of his instrument. Nowadays, my CD collection is an eclectic mix of jazz (Lionel Hampton), Classical (Bach is my favorite, Chopin, Mozart, Rimsky-Korsakov and Strauss's waltzes), Stevie Ray Vaughan is a recent discovery, and I am really mad that I missed the time that he was with us, but I have swore that I will buy everyone of SRV's CD's. I cannot say enough about how much of a master he was, and what a loss his death really was. I also have various country artists, like Chet Atkins, Flatt and Scruggs, Randy Travis and George Strait. I don't believe that there is any music that is bad, but there is some terrible music out there. I never liked Metal, or Hard Rock simply because there was hardly any melody, and hardly any lyrics that can be understood, but an old Aerosmith or Van Halen will bring a sense of deja vu. I am going through a revolution of sorts with the radio. I had been stuck on the oldies and make no mistake about them, there was some great music from that era like Rosie and the Originals, Duane Eddy, and Buddy Holly whom I consider the real king of rock and roll. I now listening to Q95.5, and it's OK, but I still miss the oldies. ;)
I've DJ'd once or twice.. It's kinda interesting.. I've been on both ends of
the music type thing.. Both as a listener and performer.. He's a breakdown..
My mother is a former music teacher.. So she *attempted* bless her heart..
To teach me the piano..(she failed..<shrug>) And my Dad played the tuba from
his youth into college for the concert and marching Bands at Morningside
College in Sioux City Iowa (yes there is cool stuff in Iowa ;))
Now to me..I started in fourth grade. I rented a Sax from Carty's Music
in Ypsi.. Played that for a few months, got disgusted because it sounded like
a bleated Moose..I switch to Trumpet which I played up until about 8th grade
when I got my braces and switched to the Tuba.. Since then I've played it and
am ranked second in our schools Symph Band. So presently I've been playing
the tuba for about three and a half years.. I plan on going on to college and
play in the marching band there.. (wherever I may wind up).
oh. One final thing.. I just though I'd mention that our band in our
recent tour to Heritage National Band and Choral Festival in Orlando florida
we took first place overall out of over the fifty bands from the fifty states
during three days worth of competition. GO BRAVES!
This area certainly has impressive bands. Our orchestra also took first in a nationwide competition, and our Band's been cutting edge for years. Seems like a phenomenon.
yeah.. same as huron.. we're lucky..
comes with having a large college alum population to bolster the pocketbooks.
guess so.
Yeah, Ann Arbor has one of the best music programs in the public schools in I've ever seen. . .I feel pretty lucky to have grown up here, especialy since my mother;'s continued presence here has nothing to do with the "U". . .
Orinoco, who was your composition teacher from the U of M five years ago? I wonder if it's anyone I know. I used to take composition classes at the School of Music, and got to know a lot of the Composition majors. How did I get into music? Gee, it's been part of my life since I was born... My father played jazz piano. My mother played French Horn, violin and viola in High School, and got involved with folk music when I was a little kid. We always sang songs on long car trips. We heard lots of jazz and classical music on the stereo. I started flute lessons in 4th grade, piano lessons in 6th grade, and guitar lessons in 7th grade. Sang in about 17 different choirs and choruses over the years. Had about 13 years of piano lessons all together, and about 12 years of voice lessons. I've studied conducting, musicology and opera at the undergrad and graduate levels. This fall I'm going to MSU to get a masters degree in vocal performance. Oh yeah, I like various forms of popular music too... I'll save it for another response.
Interestingly enough, her name was Leslie, thus causing me to do a nice little double take when I heard you were at the UofM back then :)
Wow, Leslie-- I'm impressed-- surprised that you don't comment a bit more often to educate the rest of us (; I can't boast your track record, but I am self-educated in many of my musical expressions (voice, organ, guitar, and percussive 'goodies' are some). Wonder if I'll be studying music that long. btw, I'll bet you've got some helpful hints on how to get through theory (besides just setting aside an extra hour in addition to homework).
Self education is always the best way.
mmm....don't neccessarily agree with you, senna, but that might just be our different musical backgrounds speaking.
self education is beneficial, however, i think that a classical education with exploration can't be too bad.... That is how i got into jazz... I was on the symphony/ orchestra and while i loved it i explored other types of music and such.
The composition professors that I knew (thru taking classes) at U-M from 1975-79 were Mr. Leslie Bassett, William Albright, and William Bolcom, who was really a hoot! :-)
(Dunno Bassett, but Bill Albright and Bill Bolcom are two of my favorite ragtimers.)
Mr Bassett and his wife Anita (also a wonderful composer) go to my church and are acquaintances of mine. He is a Pulitzer prize winner. Some of his stuff is way bizarre.
Re #21: Was her name Leslie Hogan? If so, she was a friend of mine back then. We had the same piano teacher for a year. Ironically, I studied composition at UM with Bolcom, Albright, and Bassett. Took four semesters altogether, just because I thought it was interesting. These days I don't compose at all, though.
Yes, that would be her. Whoa....
I guess I have been exposed to music as long as I can remember. My parents are both big fans of "classical", jazz, and folk music. My parents met in the record store in Chapel Hill, NC that my day was working in. My mother came in and asked my dad if he could order a Four Freshman album. The Four Freshmen happen to be one of his favorite groups. Later, while attending a (I believe) Lena Horne concert, they ran into each other again. And the rest is history. My parents both play piano and recorder, and they were always playing together when I was very young. At a young age, my brother, my sister, and I were given recorders. When I was in 5th grade, I started playing clarinet for the elementary school band. At that time, I also started singing in the choir. I shortly quit the choir (something I've always regretted) because we were always standing up. :) Through 6th and 7th grade, I played clarinet, and in 8th grade, I switched to bass clarinet. This I played during high school, until my senior year when I switched again to contra bass clarinet. Wow! What an instrument! That was 1986, and I've not played clarinet with a group since. In 1991, the year I got out of the navy, I got a job delivering pizza. Well, I still had my old recorder, and I started playing it while I delivered pizzas, and started to get good at steering with my knees. This is something I've continued until today. I now own two soprano clarinets (one for my car and one for my bacpack, so I can play while biking to school) and one alto recorder for playing at home. Oops! Did I say soprano clarinets? Sorry. I meant soprano recorders. heh! Anyway, I've picked up some guitar along the way, as well as a bit of saxophone (my roommate has one), and I'm trying to get back into playing clarinet( I just recently bought one). As far as the development of my musical tastes, I didn't really enjoy the music my parents were playing until much later in my life. There was always a love of certain classical peices that I played in the bands I was in (school orchestras and wind ensembles), but I don't credit the beginning of my own musical tastes until that fateful day in 1979, when I bought my first album, Van Halen's _Van Halen_. Back then I listened to Led Zepplin, Black Sabbath, Boston, AC/DC, Blue Oyster Cult, Kansas, etc. I hadn't really discovered "classic rock". Well, about 1980 or 81, I got my first stereo (a cheesy boombox). It was at that time that I started listening to THE RADIO. Well, seeing as how the airwaves were saturated at that time with Pink Floyd's _Another Brick in the Wall, part 2_, it was just a matter of time before I heard it. It changed my life. All of the sudden, the Boston, Kansas, and Blue Oyster Cult all seemed hollow and lifeless. It wasn't before long that I purchased Pink Floyd's _Dark Side of the Moon_. These days, whenever I hear that album, each song brings back specific memories. From there, I became a classic rock feind. All I listened to was the classic rock station from Baltimore, and the classic rock station from Washington (I lived almost halfway between the two cities). Although I don't listen to classic rock stations anymore (commercial ones anyway), because of the constant playing of Stairway to Hotel CaliFreebird type songs, these kind of stations introduced me to a large variety of excellent groups and musicians. I then had to go and explore these artists' stuff that wasn't being played on the radio. Oddly enough, my history of jazz enjoyment starts out with a single album. Before I had ever(that I was aware of) heard any Davis, Monk, Coltrane, Parker, Brubeck, Getz, Hancock, Mann, or Montgomery, I heard Chuck Mangione's _Feels So Good_. <shudder> At the time, I thought it was the funkiest thing I'd ever heard. About that time I started checking out the public radio stations late at night, and heard some great jazz. My tastes in all of the styles of musicthat I enjoy are still evolving.
Hey-- doesn't Chuck Mangione play fluegelhorn? I thought it was a good album, although, compared to serious jazz, it is cheese. Very much the epitome of 70's pop/easy listening soft jazz or whatever you want to call it. Remember, Bossa Nova was big then, too. But, as I say again, the album is so nice-- it's got a standout cut which name I can't remember for a T.V. show that I can't remember either. Cheesy, but it does feel so good.
Yeah, he plays fluglehorn (sp?) I agree...taken by itself, its not bad. But listen to it right after some more serious jazz, and you can't help but wince slightly. I'm not sure which song you're referring to, but the first song on the album has the same name as the album: _Feels So Good_. The other tunes on the album are: _Maui-Waui_ _Theme From "Side Street"_ (hey, that's probably it ;-> ) _Hide & Seek_ _Last Dance_ _The XIth Commandment_ Hmmm...never heard of a show called _Side Street_.
I don't wince, really-- most jazz doesn't have enough emotional depth and breath for me. Jazz thinks hard and deep. It philosophizes. it contemplates. It explores logic. But I haven't heard much contemporary jazz that goes through the gauntlet of emotions. Granted, this stuff doesn't, either. It reminds me of the stuff I used to play when I had a jazz stint in middle school (and I really haven't done jazz since). But the thing is, it's poppish. It's almost..easy listening, I guess. The theme is the only song I remember or really liked.
Fortunately, our high school jazz band director was strictly a traditional jazz man. We played (well, not me...I played bass and contra bass clarinet in the wind ensemble......but went to all the jazz band shows) mostly cool jazz. I agree that jazz (the good stuff) is sort of intellectual music. That's why its not as popular as .....well, pop music. With pop music, you don't have to think about it. Its right there in your face. No ambiguity. You've got catchy words and phrases to pull you along (not to take away at all from all the excellent vocal jazz out there). With jazz, on the other hand, I think you end up taking in more of the song, than with pop.
And that was my point. Perhaps I see the world through super-emotional glasses, because I can't drench my emotions in jazz. However, the music I listen to isn't purely "poppish"-- pop music, especially as of late, has been all in your face with all hanging out. Also, I'm sure half the problem is that jazz is becoming too wide of a genre to be restricted under one name (regardless of the modern purist movement). I'm also fairly sure that I'm just not as influenced because I didn't grow up with jazz styles. My childhood music was folk rock/folk pop.
Folk pop? You mean something like John Denver? (I've never seen the term folk pop before.)
I'm not sure Jon didn't just invent it on the spot. Folk-pop to me suggests acts like Denver, Peter, Paul & Mary, maybe older groups like the Weavers.. I'm interested in learning what Jon intended to be included in that category.
Ahhhh...the Weavers...haven't thought of them in quite awhile. I believe they sing _Kisses Sweeter Than Wine_. Very beautiful song. Brought tears to my eyes. I've got to get ahold of it again (that song). There aren't too many artists that you could lump together with John, though. I'll agree with that. Would I be totally out of line to put Joan Baez and Bob Dylan in the folk pop category? Maybe so. I think Joan and Bob are more of a bridge between artists like the ones you mentioned, Mike, and artists like Woody Gutherie or Pete Seeger.
Wasn't Pete Seeger a member of the Weavers?
I was thinking also of James Taylor, Gordon Lightfoot, Carole King, Jim Croce, Paul Simon (and Art Garfunkel-- sort of), etc. Anne Murray, Kenny Rogers, and Linda Ronstat are also put into this category. It could be said that Linda Ronstat's later work was more poppy, but _Canciones de Mi Padre_ was definitely a return to her Hispanic musical roots. (Canciones de Mi Padre= Songs of My Father)
Hey, bruin...you're right! I just looked on a Peete Seeger page on WWW. Well, shows what I know. ;-> Now, I'm going to have to go research the subject. Jon, okay, I can see those artists grouped together in the pop-folk category, up to Anne Murray. Anne, Kenny, and Linda, are all three almost completely unfamiliar (musically) to me. I was unaware that Linda did anything other than (in my humble opinion) cheesy ballads. I wouldn't recognize *one* Anne Murray song. Heh heh heh...I wouldn't even recognize a photo of her. I've just heard her name before. I know two or three Kenny Roger songs that are probably by no means a good indication of his entire body of work. The other five artists (six, if you count Art) I *love*. I think John's right up there with all of them.
I don't know that there are any good definitions for folk-pop, folk-rock, etc. etc. etc.... ((krj wonders if he shouldn't try to jump this over to folk music item, and says the hell with it.)) You start out with two conflicting defintions of folk -- the academic one and the market one. Yes, Pete Seeger was in the Weavers; and before that there was a band called The Almanac Singers, with Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and others. The Weavers occupy a key position, historically; in our culture, they were the first band to sing folk music professionally, and be successful at it. Sometimes I get the feeling that Pete Seeger has some regrets over inventing commercial folk music. Joan Baez started her career singing traditional songs. Lots of revivalists followed her career trajectory, starting with traditional songs and moving towards original material. The original folk-rock band was the Byrds; there is a direct line of influence from the Byrds to the British folk-rock bands, but in the 1970s & 1980s, folk-rock in Britain implied a drawing on traditional sources which was rarely seen in America. And then there is the singer-songwriter swamp...
I was introduced to the types of music I like by my co-worker Ed when I was 15. We both worked at a coney island place, and I would come to his house and listen to all his albums while he studied. He was at UM at the time. Haven't seen him in 17 years; I hear he's an entertainment lawyer in Venice CA.
If you all don't mind hugely (and even if you do) I'm going to bring you
up on my own musical background.
Music, first of all, has always been part of my life, and probably an
integral one. In other words, if some were to take it away from me
(impossable) I would probably not be a very usefull person.
My parents were extreemly musical. My dad used to play the
french-horn for many years, before switching to choral work. As a
singer, he has a certain degree of success. He's the lead soloist at
our church, and he often does many of the solos for 'The Ann Arbor
Cantata Singers', one of the premier (in my oppinion) local choral
groups. He has recently resumed French horn.
My mom also is in choir, and she plays piano quite well. She was a
music major, and a composition wiz (a talent which I pray she will pick
up again upon retirement). My parents, of course, met in collage choir.
I'm not reciting this to brag so much as to give you some idea of
where I'm coming from ('though I AM rather proud of them). There only
major downfall, musically, which I could see, was that they entirely
focused on classical music. At which point I can only say 'thank God
for Avery'. Avery is my brother, and simply put, has one of the best
and most eclectic tastes in music I've ever seen. It was he who
introduced me to progressive rock, for which I can only thank him
eternally.
So what about me, you ask. Well, I've been singing in church choirs
for as long as I can remember, and when I entered fourth grade, I
entered the Ann Arbor Boy Choir, where I first learned to develope my
voice. I've had a couple faux pas at musical instruments (traslation: I
sucked), and I settled with simply voice. I remained with the AABC for
abour four years, at which point my voice changed. When my voice
settled down enough to sing properly again, I immediately began singin
again. Since then, I've been in a variaty of choirs, taken voice
lessons, sung in a jazz band, and started a band of my own.
And that's the story so far, 'cept that I have a cold and can't sing
much of _anything_ at the moment, much to my dismay. <Cricket shuts up:
"stop your blathering"...>
If you've got the same cold I've got, you have my sympathy. (And wouldn't a collage choir involve, say, cutting off the baritone's head and putting it on a soprano's body?)
<laugh>
Dan are you talking about, say, the Kings College choir? I don't care for them much, partly because when I was a little kid I used to view them as rivals (they weren't, being as they were so much better than us as to not even be a fair compairison) and all of there stuff that my parents have is chrismas music. <Cricket clutches his throat and falls dramatically to the floor, gurgling.>
I guess I got into music through listening to my folks music. That mainly consisted of the Beatles, Neil Diamond, Chicago, Kenny Rogers, Elton John, and the Godspell soundtrack. I also watched all of the music based kids shows including The Monkees (still a favorite of mine), the Beatles cartoon, the Jackson 5 cartoon, and Menudo <shudder>. The earliest personal influence that I remember was an early love for classical music. I had a recording of the Nutcracker Suite that I listened to constantly as a kid. I also got this set of classical LPs that were sold as a huge set at Meijers (I think) when I was a kid. At the time, that was the only way I could listen to them. It wasn't until I got a Walkman for Christmas one year that I really got into pop music. Sure I listened to it, but I didn't pay attention to the artists until I could actually buy their music. During high school, I bought a lot of mainstream tapes, especially Genesis and Phil Collins. It wasn't until I got into college that I developed the music tastes I have today. My folks bought me a CD boom box for my B-day one year. I started to buy any CD that grabbed my attention. Eventually, I stumbled into the alternative scene and more unusual stuff like The Residents and Throbbing Gristle. I also developed a taste for female singer/songwriters like Kate Bush and Sarah McLachlan. Thanks to years of late night jobs, I listened to the Liz Copeland show on WDET. Now I listen to a wide range of music including Techno, Ambient, Goth, Reggae, Funk, Punk, Classical, J-pop, Celtic, and World Music. I haven't explored any kind of music to any real depth, but I have tried a wide variety and enjoyed most types of music. This conference has given me many ideas of music I should look for.
I got into it because I used to listen to my parents radio with them. I would spend hours just sitting in front of the speakers listening...what ever was on the radio at the time (Linda Ronstadt, Billy Joel, Phil Collins, Christopher Cross, basically the early 80's version of 103 or the likes. :), plus the stuff that my parents would listen too (KIngston Trio esp! :) From there, I branched out, since I had a little record player that my brother would take from me to listen to his Rush and Supertramp records. I am very much a musical chameleon...If somebody around me is enjoying it, I'll start to usually. I've picked up some really great music that way. :) And if I can't sing to it, then never mind...I have almost no patience for instrumental. Except for a few things....:)
You have several choices: