My Music Culture:

Hallo! I'm Cherelyn. You know, the dorky quiet one that always sits in the back corner and seems like I never have a clue what's going on - which is often close to accurate. A little about me: I'm deaf (so if you think I'm ignoring you, I'm most likely not....my hearing is just shit. Unless I just REALLY don't like you. In that case, I'm probably ignoring you. Just kidding! :) ) That's why Dr. Mrs. V wears a clear mask now when teaching. Next: I use the vibration of music instead of sound. Yes, yes, I am aware that sound is only vibration anyway. But you feel vibration by tickling your inner ear hair, while I need to feel it through the sense of touch. ie: putting my hand on the speaker, or turning the volume up so that it vibrates through the floor. You'll notice I often wear headphones. This is because 1: I am *not* ABSOLUTELY, COMPLETELY, ONE HUNDERED PERCENT deaf. I used to be, but I'm not anymore. So I can hear some things, sometimes. 2: If you put the headphones on your ears and turn the volume really high, you can feel the vibration on top of your ears. 3: If you wear headphones, people generally let you be. I am not a social being, therefore, I feel safe with my headphones. Which is why a good portion of the time, nothing is actually playing. If you're like me, have high anxiety, and want to avoid people, you should try it. It's like a pretty cool magic trick. You'll thank me later. Despite being deaf, I play multiple instruments and love to write music. I love the arts in general and dabble in many forms of art. Another thing about me: I move. A LOT. There is many reasons I don't like to talk much. But this is one. I have so many different accents and they all come out whenever they feel like it. One sentence may have four or five accents. People like to poke fun. I figure I'm weird enough, so I don't need to make it worse. Also: I come from a family of mutts. We have so many different locations in our blood line. I have an uncle who - in his prime - was part of a greatly feared Mexican gang, but my family also owns at least two castles in Scotland. (We used to own more, but I don't remember how many are still in our possession.) Oh, and I can't leave out the French royalty. (Don't ask me why they aren't paying for my college... I'm still asking that myself.) Also: I have very high anxiety and am very socially awkward. Therefore, socializing is very difficult for me. So when I attempt to socialize, it usually results in me sharing very random stories and/or photographs. For most, my stories sound very far-fetched and just sound like tall tales. Example, my best-friend finally decided to call bluff one day on my grandpa being best friends with Walt Disney. Then I showed them a bunch of cool Disney memorabilia that was given to my family by Walt annnnd then she believed me. I'm just crazy enough that if you get to know me, you'll see it's true. I'm often asked "What even is your life??" or told "Your life is literally an action movie." and I can't really argue all that much. Between my pet mountain lion, jumping banisters as houses explode while putting out fires, winning CA state titles in martial arts, and winning matches against fifth degree black belts before I had even earned my first dan...it makes for some great stories. Oh! And my family was best friends with the Capone family. Yes. THE Capone family. In fact, my relatives watched Al grow up. They even babysat him. If you ever have questions or want to hear some good stories, just let me know! Okay, I'm pretty sure this blog sounds self conceited enough, so onto the music-y stuff..!

Okay. The types of music I like: This is pretty much anything. It depends on my mood. But even if I think I don't like something, it usually ends up growing on me. My friend's have this theory that I have an "internal music database" that regularly updates on it's own. They'll play a song and it doesn't matter what it is, when it was written, what it's about, or anything else. I seem to just somehow know the song. And sing along with it. As a kid my family would play a clip of a song that I wouldn't know and have me figure out where the melody was going. More than once they'll play a song and be like "How the ____ do you know this?? It just came out and I know you haven't listened to it!!" or things of those natures. As a result, I end up not minding most things. However, lately I have really enjoyed listening to things that really have a brilliance in their musical composition or a beauty that just speaks to the depths of your soul. For example: Mother Mother just has such complex and brilliant breakdowns to their music. If you stop to analyze it... Woo! It's just great! Where as The Piano Guys - Beethoven's 5 Secrets is just so absolutely beautiful! Something about it just grabs your soul and whispers such beauty through it's breath.

 

Good old quarantine: To be honest, quarantine didn't really change much about my average life at home. So I didn't really get this heavy onset covid-19 depression or this breakthrough discovery to new music. I really didn't listen to anything new throughout the pandemic. And there is no one song, genre, artist, etc. that I have turned to more since it began. I just continue to go about my day listening to whatever music I like, am in the mood for, and want to play.

Finally, a piece I don't connect to: Partita for 8 Voices. It's not that I don't understand this piece. There is a brilliance to it's composition. However, I can't stand the piece. This is due to the fact that anytime it is played, it creates an absolute sensory overload for me. Though I have tried to listen to it more than once, I just can't handle it. That doesn't make the piece bad, and I suggest that you listen to it at least once in your life if you don't have sensory processing disorders or things of the like. But between trying to follow along as multiple people speak (Being deaf, I rely heavy on reading lips. However, I can't do that while multiple people are talking all at once.) but also all of the overlapping voices and such just add to it. And viola! Just like that...sensory overload! It's magic. Works like a charm every time it's played.

 

Okay! I think I covered it all. So that's the musical perspective of the weird kid. You're welcome! :)