My Music

Cover

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Front Matter

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Contents

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pp. v-vii

Foreword

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pp. ix-xix

A few years ago, a reporter for a national magazine asked the jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim to explain how he first became interested in music. Recognizing the question as a standard opening for interviews with performers, Ibrahim nonetheless refused to answer directly. Instead, he challenged the question’s premises in order to illumine an important ...

Acknowledgments

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pp. xxi-xxiii

In her talk on the importance of acknowledgments at a collaborative learning conference a few years ago, Elaine Maimon made it clear that all knowledge is "acknowledge": receiving, recognizing, owning, admitting, confessing, affirming that every single thing we know comes from outside us, expressing our appreciation and gratitude for other people ...

Introduction

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pp. 1-6

This book began in 1984 when Carol Hadley decided to do an "independent study project" interviewing a few people about music in their lives. Her first report was surprising. What her interviewee had to say about the role of music in her life seemed to be a unique configuration: Bette Midler was at the center of this personal-world-of-music as a kind ...

CHILDREN

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pp. 7-36

Q: What's your name? A: Heather. Q: How old are you? A: (holding up four fingers) Four. Q: Do you like to sing? A: Um hum. The Elephant Show. Care Bears song. Q: Do you like to dancer A: I dance to "Dude Looks Like a Lady." [by Aerosmith] Q: What kind of singers do you like? A: I like some people who play horns and guitars. I like to sec the Elephant Show singers. I like the guy in Labyrinth [David Bowie] who sings. Tina Turner and Bon Jovi. ...

TEENAGERS

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pp. 37-68

Q: Tell me about yourself. A: Well . . . my name is Lisa. My mom's a social worker. My dad's an insurance man. He's a pretty cool dude. I'm also your sister; I've got four brothers and you. I love horses, uh . . . I'm pretty smart and . . . hey, I'm just an all-around person. Q: Great. Okay. And what is music about for you? A: Music . . . music to me is ... it really doesn't have that much meaning in my life. I just turn on the radio and listen to whatever comes on. Maybe a song will come on that I just happen to like. It just doesn't matter to me. ...

YOUNG ADULTS

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pp. 69-108

From sunup to sundown music is always somewhere in the background. It can be annoying when trying to study, sometimes you can't even hear yourself think. Writing down every time I heard a song wasn't hard to do, except when I subconsciously blocked it out, which was hard not to do. Especially at the one point in which three different musics were ...

ADULTS

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pp. 109-154

Q: What does music mean to you? A: Music is just part of life, like air. You live with it all the time, so it's tough to judge what it means to you. For some people, it's a deep emotional thing, for some people, it's casual. I turn on the radio and it's there in the morning; it's there when I drive; it's there when I go out. Q: If it isn't there, do you miss it? A: No. ...

OLDER ADULTS

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pp. 155-188

Q: So, what is music about for you? A: Well, it is a ... I suppose, a kind of tonic or a medication of sorts. It enables me to feel better usually, even if it is a small piece or sad piece. I feel some sort of relief when I'm listening to music. I can be transported or get out of myself or my immediate surroundings and . . . take a journey on the melody. Q: Does music affect your mood? ...

ELDERS

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pp. 189-210

Q: Who arc you? A: I'm just an ordinary citizen now. I'm just one of the boys, I guess. I'm a father, a husband, and I was a family provider up until the time I got the way I am. I'm not able to go out and earn a living anymore, you know, and do the things I want to do, so I put everything on the back burner. Q: So you had a full life? ...

Appendix: Music in Daily Life Guidelines

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pp. 211-214

Index

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pp. 215-218