Life as a new yorker is synonymous with music. Music is part of our environment, from the music blaring from the passing car with the overused base, the music from the storefronts, and the train performers. The city has a soundtrack that was made possible only through innovative technology. The headphones are a New Yorkers’ tool of escapism.

Coming from a large musical family, gathering around music has always been a norm from my grandfather’s old records playing to my uncles’ breakdancing battles with the boombox; if the music was playing, it was a family event; however, with the daily use of headphones gathering around music doesn’t happen as often as Alt points out stating music was primarily a shared experience, but now music is experienced alone. It is possible that the former social experience turned solo has contributed to our new norm of isolation. Although headphones certainly allow us to escape from the overwhelming chaos of the city, they can be dangerous, as Krukowski highlights in the opening of headspace with the woman who was listening to music via headphones and fell off her bike. Innovative technology like the iPhone has evolved our music experience using headphones and access to thousands of song selections. The sound quality of the headphones impacts our experience, especially with noise-canceling headphones like Beats by Dre.

Music has so much to do with ones identity. It is a reflection of past experiences or experiences you wish you want for yourself. It is both a scientific connection with the hormones our body produces when we hear a beat that makes us feel a sense of identity. Dopamine rushes to our brain and makes us feel happy, lively, and a sense of peace because you feel like you belong. In my case when I listen to Colombian salsa, the lyrics sometimes refer to certain places in Colombia that gives me nostalgia, or even talks about a food or a bar that is famous, and in my head, I think to myself, “Hey I went there!” or “Damn that sounds like something I wanna try next time I go.” Although salsa has many difference subsections divided by regions, but the lyrics from Colombian artists, make it their own; with both the beat and lyrics.

Diana Ramlal

07-16-2021     

Blog Post # 2

Technology from day one has made a significant impact on everyone around the world. It has paved a way for us to be more independent and it allows us to experience new cultures. As a teenager I remember getting my first Walkman and how excited I was. It made me feel like a grown up when I was only 12 years old. Growing up I was an only child and was bored most of the time. After I got my Walkman it became my new best friend. I would fall asleep listening to music and wake up with the headphones still attached to my ear. In my neighborhood there were a lot of young people who though that playing loud music in their boom box was hip, but to me it was annoying. Imagine studying or just relaxing after a long day and all you can hear is base from their loudspeakers, and it just wasn’t one person it was like a competition to see who’s was the loudest or had the most bass. To me it was annoying and disturbing. Having a pair of headphones helped me to phase out any unwanted sounds and I was able to listen to what I wanted without being disturbed or disturbing anyone. Matt Alt said “Even prior to extended quarantines, lockdowns, and self-isolation, it was hard to imagine life without the electronic escapes of noise-cancelling earbuds, smartphones, and tablets. Today, it seems impossible”. His quote is in fact true as headphones are necessity for many people in today’s society. Headphones allow a person to listen to music without disturbing others; therefore, people are listening to music all day while they eat, sleep, or work. With the amount of technology, we have in today’s world we even have a wireless headphone where we don’t have to worry about walking around with a devise or worry about getting the wire tangled.

Even though headphones are what today’s kids will call a life saver in reality and what Damon Krukowski wrote about, it can be in fact dangerous to our life. When we have our headphones on it is distracting. It takes use away from the things and people from in front of us to a faraway place. People naturally pay more attention to music they strongly like or dislike, hurting their ability to focus. Listening to music with lyrics while trying to read or write can be a distract by overtaxing verbal-processing regions of the brain. Even though we know it is dangerous, and in the world we live in today with all the noise and distractions all we want to do is put our headphones on and listen to our favorite band and let the music take us away from it all.

Today I finally got my new headphones, the Sony XM4s, and how perfect it is to write about how technology affected my relationship with music. I bought my first MP3 when I was a sophomore in highschool, a refurbished Sandisk mp3 player. Soon after I purchased my first earphones, Sony earbuds that had these large, colorful earclips. Those were popular in my school because they didn’t fall off that easily, and had expressive bright colors. Smartphones started to enter the scene during my senior year, but back then cheaper smartphones didn’t have much storage, and data was more expensive, so I sticked to the mp3.

It wasn’t until freshman year in college that a friend of mine bought a pair of flagship bose active noise cancelling headphones(this was 10 years ago, I took a long break after freshman year of college). I still remember how the same songs I listened to on the regular ear buds sounded like a different song on the big headphones. There were sounds and details that I never noticed was there, it sounded so good I felt like tearing up listening to it.

fast forward to this afternoon, after watching a dozen of youtube reviews, I finally purchased and received my Sony ANC XM4 headphones. The different between these and my previous headphones(also Sony ANCs) wasn’t as big, but it did remind me of the first time I put on a pair of serious headphones. I am extremely grateful of the technological advanced over the years, and I look forward to where it’ll take us in the future.

Another type of dance music that can compare to what Hughes argues in his essay is Ballroom music. They use this type of music for a dance called vogue. Voguing was started around the 80’s and was used for underground ballrooms. Voguing originated in New York and the underground ballrooms were for gays and trans people of color. Hugh in his essay poses a question “Just what is it about Disco music that enables men to dance with each other and so represent their “sexual identity” to society” (Hugh 2). Disco represented a lot of the gay men and that is just like Ballroom music it represented they gays and trans peoples. Disco allowed men to show whatever they wanted to show and how they wanted to represent themselves. Fashion played a big part in Disco. In the underground ballroom before going out to vogue there was a lot of fashion involved, the people would get dressed however they liked, did their makeup however they liked and went out to dance. As this may seem very similar to each other I can see a slight difference because Disco wasn’t specifically for a certain group of people. Ballroom Music/vogue specifically represented the LGBTQ community. I found this essay very interesting because right when Hugh started to explain everything in his essay the first thing that came to my mind was Ballroom music/vogue. I never knew how much history Disco had to it especially since I listened to Disco music. I’ve always loved it. 

Since I am relatively young, I was only around to experience just the iPod and boombox. I remember how fascinated I was having an iPod. Imagine having your music on the go and not disrupt anybody in your current surrounding. I am very conservative and self-conscious, so having my music preference on blast wasn’t something I was very fond of. It also helped cancel any obnoxious noise and pass away time in long travels. I don’t own one, but  I am always surrounded by boom boxes near parties or parks. I despise them for how loud they can be, especially that bass sensation, which makes me feel nauseous. But never in a million years during my childhood, I would have guessed wireless headphones would be a thing. But not just any wireless headphones but ones that have extreme noise cancellation built-in. You can’t hear anything, not even your breath. I own one and it’s incredible how I feel like I’m in my own world.

 The theatrophone mentioned in Krukoski falls in comparison to the current-gen musical devices. Imagine paying a subscription for mere 5 minutes of music, sounds kind of annoying. Especially considering these were only available in public areas I believe. Music right now can be listened to for free anytime you want and whenever you want. All that is required is a phone or laptop. The walkman required you to change cassettes every time to listen to different music which sounds tedious and requires a lot of space to store. Previous music gadgets I would assume from videos, made the music sound crispy while in today’s time, they sound clear and smooth. A huge difference, especially in terms of satisfaction.

In Ellison’s essay “Living with Music”, he started out by saying “In those days it was either live with music or die with noise” (Ellison 1). This means in our life we choose our own way to interpret music, whether we find meaning or not it changed our perception on how we listen to music. Ellison also mentions how music from an early age can have a big impact when we grow up. He grew up with sound and music, living with thin walls in his apartment made him realize how much he was going to miss it when he moved out. It played a big role and based the experience he had in the apartment to connect to his work.

In “A Bolt from the Blue”, Dr. Cicoria out of the sudden had a strong desire to listen to classical music despite not having a strong connection to it from his childhood. After his accident he came to realize the smaller things in life. His way of music has changed, he became more focused on the piano than ever before. He believes it was due to some sort of reincarnation but it could be linked to the brain based on various studies.

Technology has always been a topic for discussion; whether it’s about inventing a time machine, creating clones, or having fly cars and vehicles, there is always a starting point. This is what Matt Alt’s article about the Walkman explored, how technology has drastically changed over the years. The Walkman was the first of its own type, a device where we can only hear our own mix of music in private. My first experience with a device like this would be the IPod, my Dad used to have his Beats headphones so I would steal it to listen to my music. I received my IPod as a christmas gift and was immediately was drawn to how much a small device can do at the time. My parents also had this old radio/ music player box and it played a huge part in our family parties and gatherings. Surprisingly we still have it today and it works fine. In today’s world we can see how much technology and different devices had evolved. Now we have wireless headphones so we don’t worry about headphone wires getting tangled up or having to walk around with it. These early devices had a huge impact with modern technology today, it acted as the blueprint.

Headphones creates our own private space in our heads, we are able to cancel the sounds of the outside world. But it also introduces an issue with them and this is what Damon Krukowski discusses in his essay. When we have our headphones, most of the time we aren’t aware of our surroundings; often distracted by our favorite song that can eventually put us in danger. When I’m using public transportation, my headphones are essential. My mom always tell me to never put my volume up too high or just to keep one headphone on, I could say that her advice really stuck with me. I have no particular reason why, it probably has something to do with listening to my mom. However, living in the city that never sleeps sometimes I just need my headphones to cancel the outside world.