It’s been a long time since my sister has been out of the house. Although it was so long ago, I still remember how hard the first couple of weeks were, it took a long while to adapt to her absence. Before she left, we had discussed what our main means of communication would be, because we wanted to keep in touch as much as possible. We decided that it would be easy to email each other (this was before the teens with Iphones era). Most of our email chains consisted of asking how we were and what was going on in our lives, but very often, they would be about music.
All my life before she had left my music had come through my sister. I am sure this has to do with my young age, but the influence of older siblings is definitely a large factor. Younger siblings do not realize but older siblings shape their lives in a lot of ways. From clothes, to music, to your relationship with your parents, they’re the ones that carves the path for younger siblings to follow. Now this idea hit me hard when I realized I was on my own to finding good music. The ease of exploring music through platforms like Spotify and Apple Music was not really there back when I began. I remember I used things like Napster, Pandora, and Youtube for my search, but they took a lot of effort. The good thing was I was in middle school without anything better to do. In fact, I enjoyed finding music a lot. Finding new music felt like finding a piece of treasurer.
I still remember the experience of listening to the first album that I had discovered on my own. It was Watch The Throne by Kanye West and Jay-Z. I thought I was so cool finding out the album. I sent an email to my sister saying how good the songs were and how she should check it out. She thought it was cute that I had found the songs on my own and told me to find her more. It was this album that made me grow as a music listener and explorer.
It’s been 6 years and to this day, me and my sister still give each other song recommendations. Although I've gotten used to not having her around the house, I love that we can still share bonds like our music.
This post is really sweet. I like that you start and end with your relationship with your sister, and explore your relationship with music in the middle. It makes for a satisfying sandwich! Although I don't have siblings, I have older cousins who have shared music with me and so I know what you're talking about. I liked the sentences "they’re the ones that carves the path for younger siblings to follow. Now this idea hit me hard when I realized I was on my own to finding good music." I thought that was a really nice, succinct transition from your ideas about siblings to your ideas about your relationship to music.
ReplyDeleteI can totally relate to you about the influence of having an older sister, because when I was younger I used to go through my sister's iTunes playlists and listen to all the songs. However, I didn't really catch onto her zeal for 90s Britney Spears and Madonna. What my sister and I bond over are books. One of the first books she recommended to me was Gone Girl, and now thrillers are our favorite genre.
ReplyDeleteI've had a very similar experience with my older sister. My sister recently graduated and left the house, and it has been comforting to go through her spotify playlist and browse her shallow song selection. Besides the sharing of music which you describe, some of your other points about how older siblings pave the way and influence their younger siblings also rang true.
ReplyDeleteMusic is a universal language, a vehicle for connection, even through the chasm of distance and worst of times. Engrained in the human body and psyche is the wiring that connects our emotions to those vibrations in the air, though they are inherently meaningless in and of themselves. It is quite a shame that in this day and age, music has transformed from a group experience to an individual one, but we can combat that by the conscious sharing of it with our compatriots.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a heartwarming post. I definitely agree that music is a great way to connect and keep in touch with other people. For me and my siblings, we have an agreement that whenever I'm driving them somewhere I let them blast whatever music they want. Even though we don't always have a lot in common we can all enjoy the music together.
ReplyDeleteI think that bond with your sister through music is a fantastic thing to have. Music is always a great way to connect with people. I also remember how exciting it was when I first started experimenting and finding my own music. I love Kanye, but I have to admit I have yet to listen to Watch The Throne... I'll be getting around to that!
ReplyDeleteThe bond that you share with your sister is really special. Music is a very unique way to bond and I found it intriguing that you built this bond by just sharing music with your sister. It's cool to find something that you can really bond over with a sibling.
ReplyDeleteI can totally relate to this! I was the most music aware when my brother was in middle school and he would set the radio stations in our parents' cars to the stations that played his favorite songs. After the radio stopped serving such an important function in his (and therefore my) music exposure, I stopped knowing basically anything about pop music. We then began to go to different schools (he was at Uni then) and we spent less time together. Then, I started at Uni and we were at the same school for a few more years. He started driving to school in the morning after he bought his car. He chose the music of course, and although I didn't really like his taste in music, I guess at least I was having some exposure again. Now that he's in college, I am only starting to figure out what my taste is and how to find music that I like. In this respect, I totally relate to your experience with your sister and music. However, I wish my brother and I still had the same music taste like we did when he was in middle school.
ReplyDeleteThis post is very relatable for me because I also have an older sibling, and I take music from him all the time. I think you're right in that older brothers and sisters affect the younger siblings a lot.
ReplyDeleteBut it's nice that you and your sister still keep in touch through music.
As an older sibling, I definitely agree with the idea that younger siblings, whether they're trying to or not, are significantly influenced by the older sibling's choices and opinions. However, I don't think my brother really took to my taste in music. A few days ago, I saw that he added a bunch of weirdo 80's electronic and rock music to our Apple Music library!
ReplyDeleteDo you and your sister still communicate via email? I stay in touch with my older brother with snapchat and text message; he went to college and we contact each other via phone. I understand how older siblings can shape us (younger siblings), and what its like to have them leave... It kind of feels odd to me, but in a sense not too bad because he is still close (he goes to the U of I). May your bond through music be unbreakable! (I also like your taste in music btw).
ReplyDeleteThis post is really nice, and a good reminder of the times before Spotify and iPhones. I think your comment about how older siblings influence younger siblings is really thought provoking, and I like how you blend that in with you and your sister's song sharing. Love this!
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