Expanding your hobby by expanding love


Let me be a little Zen here. I’ll keep this short.

99% of what we read in magazines and on this forum are about consuming. Like wine tasting.

That’s fine, I enjoy that too.

But I also want to encourage you to consider if you are asking "what do I buy next?" maybe you should ask "how can I contribute to musical culture?"

This can take on many shapes. Supporting local playhouses and orchestras. Supporting local public school music programs. Donating used but working instruments. Taking your grand kids to see a live orchestra doing Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Donating regularly to a local radio station.

Isn’t there a merit badge with the Girl or Boy Scouts of America regarding music you can offer to help with?  Or electronics? 

Above all, this is a great way to expand your love into a verb that connects us with each other outside of the audiophile community, because music is universal.

There will always be things to consume, and new speakers / cables to try out, but time is precious and our connection with others fleeting. Let’s give back, and by doing so gain something entirely more precious.

Best,


E
erik_squires
My sister-in-law, her friend who is a professor of piano, a violin professor mutual friend, my wife and a large group of others successfully assembled a professional symphony for our small, southern, ex-mill city. We had our first concert earlier this month. I had very little to do with it but I’m certainly proud of our little city. As the conductor said at one meeting...at a time when a lot of small symphony orchestras are folding we have started a new one. The organization and the first concert were fully funded. Funding for the final two concerts is almost completely funded...........all from ticket sales (sold out), donations and charitable work.
Buddy Miller is also a mmber of Robert Plant's newest incarnation of Band of Joy.
Fans of Americana already know about Buddy Miller, but for those who don't he's Emmylou Harris' guitarist, bandleader, and harmony singer. He is also a solo artist with a bunch of great albums, and an in-demand producer. Iris Dement is a very special songwriter and singer; I learned of her from Merle Haggard, who covered her incredible song "No Time To Cry" (on her My Life album).
@whart 

There's lots of little known musicians who are fantastic and  could use evangelizing, so get started. :) 


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Erik, I appreciate what you are asking and I appreciate your posts a lot. Sharing what you love is the start. Picking up a musical instrument is another start. If you love something, share it. Thanks for the post. 
I know buying Music Theory 101 Text at U of Minnesota book store many years ago was one of the smarter things I ever did . I did not take class itself .
Allow me to make a recommendation of how to enhance one’s own musical life: take courses in Music Theory (or at least Music Appreciation) and Electronic Engineering. Both will empower one to better understand how music is made and how it is reproduced. One will also then be able to be a more effective musical and hi-fi ambassador.