Tuesday 20 March 2012

My Obsession with Piano

Most people can easily name a genre of music that they like, their iPods filled mainly with songs and artists in that category. I can't.

For whatever reason I'm really picky with the songs I add to my library, only enjoying a song or two from any particular artist. I probably add 1 new song to my playlist every month or so. So I thought to myself, what do most of these songs have in common. And then it hit me.

A lot of them contain piano.

Huh, what do you know.

This could stem from piano lessons back when I was a child. I wasn't really any good at it though, that would be my sister.

But due to this piano obsession it results in an interesting medley of songs on my computer. It seriously ranges from dubstep (which I normally dislike) to Korean pop and a lot of video game covers:

The piano starts at 3:30 if you don't want to listen to the whole thing.

My brain likes this song enough for me to download it due to a chunk of piano at the end of it. That strikes me as odd.

But it gets worse. Sometimes, I'll wonder why I'm liking a particular song and then suddenly I'll notice the piano in the background. An example is the next one. My girlfriend loves Korean pop music which I also cannot stand. Except this song:


And when I mentioned that there was piano she and her friends didn't even realize it. They've listened to this song way more than I have and yet after a few play-throughs my brain had picked up on the piano and decided it liked it.

The last example I want to share is from an app. I don't know how many of you play Tiny Tower but I've downloaded it and I was enjoying it.

Then I realized that part of the reason why was because I loved watching the little pixel people yawning.

Oh and the piano in the background music.


There's probably some genres that I lean towards, but for whatever reason adding a touch of piano to it will generally make me like it more.

And I've never found anyone else with a remotely similar taste in music.

58 comments:

  1. All the songs on my iPod are due to my 12 yo son's choices. Fortunately we pretty much have the same taste. :D

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  2. It's weird you struggle to find a specific favourite artist but it's cool you like piano so much that sometimes you like a song without even realising there's piano in it, I find that cool at least!

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  3. Hahha....and I bet you won't (find someone with a similar taste). Very unique!

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  4. Good old Queen used piano in many of their songs, catchy, easy listen with awesomeness all over the place.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E9TyGxxosk

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  5. I am tiny tower obsessed! Just had to share that! As for being obsessed with a certain type of music I cant say that I have the piano addiction. I do enjoy piano in songs but I have my genres for sure. Interesting post nonetheless!

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  6. I love this Skrilley Cover!

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  7. You should listen to the song Piano man by Billy Joel!

    I know what you mean about the piano. I feel that way about songs that have bass in them played like a lead guitar! They're just the best!

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  8. The piano is awesome and I do love to hear it. There is one song I would have to recommend for you if you enjoy piano, and that is End Of This Chapter by Sonata Arctica, you'll love the end of it, even if you don't like the song. Hell I'm putting it on now.

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  9. Interesting observation. Does it hurt you to see a piano burning?
    Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpKT_eeCVNI

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  10. Have you heard that new girl from England, Birdy? She's pretty amazing and does alternative covers on a piano. And her voice DOES NOT sound like a 15 year old.

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  11. I recently deleted a bunch of songs from my iPod and started over because I realized I only listened to like 20 songs.

    But, I too enjoy pianos in music. I particular like pianos in rock along with such other instruments as the xylophone, violin, and didgeridoo.

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  12. I'm totally clueless about popular music - but do love classical piano... you could just listen to that if you wanted ;-)

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  13. same here, except it has to have guitar in it. even thought piano is pretty cool too.

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  14. I can pick out different instruments all over the place. The think I like about old 70s pop is the brass section. (like the band Chicago) I listen to classical music often, and I love love LOVE when I hear a harpsichord in it. Or a French Horn playing some lilting, haunting motif over the rest of the orchestra.

    I, like you, had to take piano lessons. And I, like you, will never be as proficient as my perfect sister. But that's okay. It's colored my taste in music.

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  15. I don't anyone really shares the exact same tastes in music. ...and I see someone beat me to telling you to listen to more Queen. ;)

    Do you like classical music? I ADORE Eric Satie's piano music. And the soundtrack to Amelie (I think the composer's name is Yann Tiersen or something like that) has some really nice piano music.

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    1. Satie? No one composes music for piano like Satie. His stuff is amazing. And he was a totally weird character.

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  16. The dude in the first video. Is he playing his guitar on dubstep mode, or what? AWESOME I NEED HIS GEAR

    Also how can one not notice the subtle piano in the second song?
    Maybe it's just me though, I can quite easily split up a song in different track/instruments by ear.

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  17. That is definitely interesting. I used to play and took lessons for 14 continous years!

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  18. There's a group on facebook that I'm a fan of. They're called the piano guys. Pretty awesome stuff.

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  19. There are some artists that I like most of their stuff, but mostly I just enjoy individual songs from various artists. Except the ones you posted today. Ha! I'm kidding. Kinda. ;-)

    Jay

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  20. I don't consider myself liking a certain genre. I just like songs. That sounds weird lol. I just have to like it or something.

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  21. You like piano specifically, not keyboards right? And according to your examples, you just want it to be a detail in the music.

    Kay, if you want to try something out and let me see if I've got your tastes down, listen to The Dance of Eternity by Dream Theater (which I'm not expecting you to love but you might end up liking.. because of a section of piano) and then give Club Dudua by El Chojin a listen. Spanish rap, but with a big piano base. I'm curious about that one because it's a regular piano, but it kinda repeats and ends up being monotonous.

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  22. Yeah, piano music makes everything a little bit better

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  23. I've developed an affinity for songs with bagpipes in them. You're not too unusual.

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  24. I, too, love the piano.
    And not just "Chopsticks."
    Even though it's the only piece I can PLAY on the piano.

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  25. Interesting!

    I like piano music, too--though I'm not very good at identifying individual instruments when I'm listening to something. :P

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  26. Yeah I am much the same way, I like a few songs from an aritist but not all and I tend to go around and be pretty diverse with my selection as well.

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  27. I'm a fan of the piano also!

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  28. I'm a bit of a music obsessive and have an iphone with 64 GB of stuff I'll never listen to...

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  29. I'm just like you, I'm super picky with my music! I've only added like a song in a month, and I started to get tired with my old music, time to redo my music library!

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  30. I don't like categorizing music that I listen to into genres, if I like it, I'll listen to it.

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  31. I also added music that I love to hear. And I intended to enroll piano lesson way back but music didn't like me. Hehe!

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  32. I love the sound of the piano too! You used to play as child? It takes a lot of practice... lol

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  33. the only thing I can play is a really bad and sloppy Mario bros theme on the piano

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  34. I'm the same way, but with violins!

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  35. Yeah piano in music is awesome :> I like a bunch of kinds of music, but yeah piano in it makes it much better.

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  36. I play the piano and honestly can't find myself stopping any time soon. I love it. I'm also kind of picky with songs and only have something like 250 songs on my ipod right now. Just because I erased everything and decided to start again. Anyway I like anything from pop to rap to rock and roll. Sometimes heavy metal too.

    Tay
    x

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  37. The background music in that game... it's so great... Also I really need to get back to playing the piano...

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  38. I love piano but my fav is rubab .Its sounds so mystic.


    Your new reader :).

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  39. Hmmmm Interesting. I wonder if i have tendencies to pick out certain music as well..

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  40. The piano has such a great sound! A little piano always makes a song better.

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  41. you have a really beutiful piano solo at the beginning of the NIJE LJUBAV STVAR song in my MUSIC GEM section in the left sidebar. It's a gorgeous song which will represent Serbia this year at Eurosong :)

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  42. That's a rather interesting observation, Dwei. I have no idea why I like the music I listen to - well, at least I haven't actually analysed it (yet)

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  43. It's really interesting to me that your ear pulls at the piano in songs! Next time I'm listening to music, I'm going to have to figure out what I'm drawn to.

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  44. I've found a lot of people find my tunes somewhat weird as I can never just have one song from an artist on there. I want to have a whole album. As such, if there are some songs that I love, if the album isn't something I like then they won't end up on my mp3 player. Take Stone Sour for instance: I really like Bother, Through Glass and Say You'll Haunt Me, but I don't have them on my mp3 because I don't like the rest of the songs on their albums.

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  45. I like the piano well enough; but the Korean music I heard not so much.

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  46. I always love the violin parts in songs

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  47. I'm addicted to film soundtracks. I download so many instrumental pieces from films, TV and documentaries so I completely understand! Nothing wrong with the music you like. xxx

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  48. Our varied preferences is what makes us unique. My kids think my choice of music is horrendous...LOL

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  49. Tiny Towers awesome! James Blakes 'Limit to your love' is pretty piano heavy and amazing!

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  50. strange, I don't have an obsession with a specific instrument

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  51. That's great you love piano music. I am the same way... Most if not all my music on my iPod has piano in it.... If you get a chance... Check out my YouTube channel. JuliePianist. I am a new piano composer!

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  52. I have the same obsession too !! Try listening: DJ Okawari -Bluebird Story and also DJ Okawari - One For U. I highly recommend you do so :)

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