By Marissa Plasencia
Project Description:
Throughout this podcast, I delve into University of Michigan students’ reliance on and love for music. As a student myself, I observe many of my peers constantly listening to music, whether its between passing times, studying, working out, or hanging out with friends. Personally, I love music. It’s a part of my normal, everyday life, and I couldn’t imagine my life without it. From my own experiences and observations, I wanted to discover why everyone else loves it too. During this podcast, I interview a few of my peers, in hopes to understand why they enjoy listening to music as well. Not only do I look into why people listen to music, but I also discuss the inaccessible aspects of music, as well as the expansive and inclusive music community that exists within our society. I hope that you are just as intrigued as I was as you listen to this short project of mine. If you know me, you know that I could go on forever about how much I love music, so please enjoy listening to why other people love it too!
Podcast:
Transcript:
Hi, my name is Marissa Plasencia and today I am going to be talking to you about a topic that I feel very passionate about: music. Personally, I have always been very drawn to music, whether it is listening to playlists that I make, the radio, playing the piano, or even stopping to listen to someone singing or playing on the street. I have always known why I love music, and that is because of the escape that it provides. As a stressed college student, struggling with adapting to an environment where I am completely on my own and forced to constantly go out of my comfort zone, I always find myself resorting back to music, almost as if it is like therapy. Being a student, I notice how often other students rely on music during their everyday lives as well. Just by simply walking through campus during any passing time, you will notice that nearly every student that is walking alone will be listening to something through their headphones.
With that observation, I feel that I am able to make assumptions about my fellow classmates that they too are likely to experience the same stressful feelings of anxiety. From that, I have always wondered why other people feel so reliant on it.
The thing that I love about music is that it’s one of the few things in this world that is, one way or another, accessible to everyone. Regardless of what provider you listen to your music on, it’s simply everywhere in our world. Music does not care who you are or what you look like, and it only brings people together who share some sort of commonality and love for it. Music is accessible to everybody, because you don’t even need words to make music; sounds work just fine.
With that, I would like to test my assumptions and will be interviewing some of my peers, asking what music means to them. Music to me is home. It’s a reminder of good and bad times, with certain songs displaying different times in my life. For example, listening to Noah Kahan reminds me of summer, the good times while driving at night blasting music with my hometown friends, windows down and no cares in the world. Taylor Swift reminds me of all the times I have spent with my freshman year roommate, as she has become my best friend and loves to listen to her music. Music is a part of my everyday life and I can’t imagine what would fill the quiet room or crashing thoughts that come during difficult or exciting times of my life.
One of the main inaccessibilites that comes with music that I have noticed are the financial ones. There are many different music platforms, however, ease and convenience to listening to music is often followed by monthly subscription payments to platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music. In addition to music platforms are the insane costs of attending concerts, which is one of the very popular events that music lovers look forward to going to. Because concerts often cost high prices, attending them is not an easily accessible thing for many people.
With that, in an attempt to fix the financial inaccesibilty aspects of listening to music, live music and free platforms such as youtube or the radio allow for others affected by financial inaccessibilites to enjoy the same experiences.
I will now be interviewing some of my peers and asking them about their music tendencies.
Interview 1:
Me: The first person that I will be speaking with is Caitlin. She is an Economics major here at the University of Michigan. Caitlin, How often do you think that you listen to music, and why do you enjoy listening to it?
Caitlin: I like to listen to music a lot actually. Normally, I enjoy listening to music when I’m really stressed or nervous about a test. So, when I’m walking to class, I’ll listen to calming music and it really helps me to relax and deal with the stress in a better way. However, my all time favorite time to listen to music is when I go out with my friends. At the parties, the DJ will play really loud and upbeat music and everyone will dance and sing along. I think it’s so fun and it’s so nice to see everyone come together and enjoy something collectively.
Me: That’s so awesome and I completely agree with you.
– Next, do you enjoy going to concerts and how often do you go?
Caitlin: I love concerts. Normally, I go to about three or more a year, but I always would love to go to more, but they are just so expensive that I usually miss out on some of the ones that I wanted to go to.
Me: What do you like about the concerts?
Caitlin: l love the overall vibes at concerts the most. Everyone is just so happy, singing along together, similar to how it feels going out to parties at the University of Michigan. Also, I think it is so much better listening to my favorite songs live than it is listening to them through my headphones.
Me: The last question that I have is who is your favorite music artist and what is a memory that comes to mind when you hear that artist?
Caitlin: My favorite artist is Pitbull because it reminds me of hanging out with my friends in the summertime and just having a good time.
Me: Thank you so much. I completely agree with everything you said and I love that you care about music so much!
Interview 2:
Me: I am now speaking with Ava, a freshman studying science on the pre-health track at the University of Michigan– Ava, how often do you listen to music on a weekly basis?
Ava: On average, I listen to music pretty much every day.
Me: When do you think you listen to music the most? Or to put it, do you listen to it when you are more stressed, happy, in need of a distraction, etc?
Ava: I really enjoy listening to music when I am feeling happy. I like it because it makes me smile and I feel like all my worries just drift away. Is just a really nice feeling to have a break from the rest of the stress in my life.
Me: Thank you, I completely agree.
– The next question I have to ask is what platform or platforms do you mainly listen to your music on?
Ava: I used to listen to my music on Spotify, but in the past year or so, I have switched to only listening to my music on Apple Music.
Me: And about how much a month do you pay for apple music?
Ava: I think it’s around 5 or 6 dollars a month, so probably around 70 dollars a year I think.
Me: My last question for you is who is your favorite artist and what reminds you of them when you hear their music?
Ava: My favorite artist is Justin Beiber and everytime I hear his music, I am reminded of my childhood and going to his concerts with my mom as a child.
Me: Thank you very much for your responses!
Another very important inaccessibility associated with music that I would like to briefly touch on affects the deaf community, and that is that those with hearing incapability’s are not able to experience listening to music in the same way that those without the incapability’s do. While most able-hearing people may not even think about this issue, in reality, the deaf are extremely affected. As someone who is not deaf, I am not able to relate to this inaccessibility personally. However, I think that my inability to relate only further proves that not everyone has the same experiences and some simply have privilege over others. Unfortunately, this unfair advantage for the able-hearing divides the already inclusive music community.
While this divide is extremely important, I think that it is even more important to note that there are some alternatives, in an attempt to include everybody. For example, a study through California State University found that one of the most important aspects of music are the physical vibrations that can be felt through instruments and sounds. Thus, those who are unable to hear are able to have as close of an experience as possible through these vibrations. In addition, the inclusion of lyrics and subtitles on songs makes for a larger community to be able to experience music. While this is not the most ideal scenario for those with hearing disabilities, these adaptations allow for music lovers to feel safe and included within the large musical community.
Interview 3:
Me: The last person that I will be talking with is Grace who is a student here at the University of Michigan studying History.
– How often do you listen to music and if so, when do you like to listen to music the most and for what reasons?
Grace: I do not listen to music a ton, but when I do, I mostly like to listen to it when I am completing homework and trying to really focus on my work. I find that listening to upbeat music really motivates me to finish my work and to avoid procrastinating.
Me: Awesome, I think that is a very common thing among many of the students here at the University of Michigan.
– Another question that I have is do you listen to music when you are walking to class and why?
Grace: Yes, I almost always listen to music when I am walking alone to class. I think that it is a nice distraction, especially when I have a long walk and it makes it feel a lot shorter than it actually is. Also, listening to music really helps me to be focused when I do get to class.
Me: I do the exact same thing and I also think that listening to music makes the walk much more enjoyable, especially since classes are so spread out here at the University of Michigan.
– Finally, do you notice others doing a similar thing when walking to class, that is listening to music when walking alone?
Grace: Yes, I feel like almost everybody always has their headphones on and are listening to something.
Me: Perfect, thank you so much for your participation!
As you can see through other students’ observations, as well as my own, University of Michigan students are constantly listening to music. Although my initial observations were mainly based on the fact that students always listen to music alone, whether it is during passing times, studying, or working out at the gym, I have also realized that we also constantly enjoy it together as well. This can be through going to parties with a DJ blasting your favorite songs, as you are dancing with your friends, or even by laying out in the law quad on a nice, sunny day, while someone is playing music on a speaker and everyone is enjoying it together. As you can see, regardless of the daunting inaccessibility’s, music has the power to bring us all together for the better. From this podcast, as well as my own observations and peers’ inputs, I hope that you can see that our world is surrounded by music, including here at the University of Michigan. Whether it is by walking to classes, studying, or doing homework, music is simply a normal part of our everyday lives. Without it, something would feel extremely off. Although I can not speak for everybody, I think that everyone here at the University of Michigan has something in common with each other, and it is a very comforting feeling that something as positive as music can bring us all together. In reality, I could go on forever about how important music is to me and to this world, and I hope that you have the joy of feeling that from music too.
