A wise musician once said, “music is the only thing that can truly display what a person thinks, knows, and feels about the nature of a something.” For anyone wondering, that wise musician is me. As a musician, I wanted to know what is in the ear of SCH, and how did it get there?
The answer is, unsurprisingly, a little bit of everything. Junior Lida Goloveyko said, “I got a rap playlist, a country playlist… I listen to like 1950’s music too, I have a lofi playlist for when I’m studying, I listen to house music a lot…but then I also listen to indie rock or punk rock sometimes.”
A lot of people are like this, listening to a little bit of everything. What determines their choice is usually based on what’s going on. Many of the students I spoke to, including Lida, said something along the lines of, “it depends on the mood I am in, or what I’m doing.”
Social circles, and the culture a person grows up in, are possibly the most defining factors in how people find their taste in music. Junior Kam Waters said, “Growing up in a black family, you hear a lot of R&B from like Lauren Hill and everybody like that. And growing up in Philly, the hip hop point of view growing up in Philly it’s kinda like the streets and everything, and you hear a lot of different types of things from Philly rappers and other known rappers.” The songs our families played us, and what we would hear with friends and neighbors, can become the most defining sounds of our lives.
Similarly, sophomore Maddi Bell says she likes “a lot of musical theater.” This makes sense, as Maddi is one of the young stars of Players, Laurelei, the Pennsylvania Girlchoir. These three communities, but mostly Players, are all places where musical theater numbers are played and practiced often, so it makes sense that she would take an interest in that music.
Sometimes, the simple luck of the draw can be the key influence. Freshman Tomás Hanna says he first found his favorite artist trending on TikTok. He told me, “I found some of his songs trending on TikTok, and looked into it further about a year ago, and figured out I liked his style of rapping and beats he rapped on, and that just sorta resonated with me, so I really like his message and the music he makes.”
Junior Eliot Villasis found his favorite artist through the video game Geometry Dash, a game where players have to jump to the rhythm of certain electronic songs. He’s “big fan of a lot of electronic music,” which often includes interesting and complex beats. Eliot is now the main (and only) beatboxer for the Hilltones.
So yes, on the surface we do all listen to a little bit of everything. But the complex and powerful reasons that we listen to certain music give us our own unique tastes. Maybe you’re like Kam, and you grew up around it, maybe you’re like Maddi and found a genre and surrounded yourself with it, or maybe you’re like Tomás, who was just scrolling TikTok and happened to find his favorite artist. What’s important is that you never stop listening, never fail to find new sounds, and never know what will find your ear.