"Sharing" music used to mean something different.

A couple of days ago I saw a TV news story on 23-year-old jazz singer Samara Joy #samarajoy. After finding her on Apple Music, I sent the link to my wife Kathy. She hasn't listened yet but I think Kathy is going to like the young singer. (Joy won the 2023 Grammy Award for Best New Artist after I started this post.)

When I was Samara Joy's age - back in the 20th Century - we had ways of sharing music that was much more organic.

For example, my brother Peter, a rabid Beatles fan, brought home a new vinyl LP release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. (I believe he preordered the album and picked it up from the music store on Day 1 of its release.) He put it on his record-playing turntable and we listened together. To the whole album. There are 71 people on the album cover. We studied to see who we could identify. It was the first rock LP to include the lyrics on the back cover. So with the 1 square foot album cover in hand, we studied it until all of the words were memorized.

Impromptu, album-listening sessions were not unusual occurrences. It was quite normal to visit friends and listen to albums together. We were very keen to read the liner notes to learn who played what. When cassettes and cassette players in cars went mainstream in the 1970s, album listening went mobile. It was a friendship-building, communal experience.

Not so much these days. We mostly listen solo. Don't get me wrong. I'm still amazed at instant access. I can listen to practically any song, album, artist, or even genre by saying, "Hey, Siri, play 'Feelin' Alright?' by Traffic". A second later Dave Mason's distinctive voice breaks through with, "Seems I've got to have a change of scene.... "

Last year I took a course at WestConn called "Rock & Roll Discography". The class met on Monday nights from 5:30 to 8:00! Each week, 5 or 6 students would share the stories and music of various rock acts from the 1960s to the present. Also every week, our professor, Dr. Kevin Isaacs, would share excerpts from a different album by The Beatles. Amazingly, he owns multiple copies of each album - at least the UK and US versions. Additionally, he has other foreign-release versions.

While more structured than the impromptu listening sessions of my youth, "Rock & Roll Discography" was a welcome return to music-sharing in person. The 150 minutes flew by quickly. There was laughter, singing, and a few groans. Obligatory snarky comments were made. (Think 80s hair bands). But it was approaching music the way it was meant to be enjoyed. In community.

Not counting background music during dinner or conversation, do you ever just listen to music intentionally with at least one other person? Please leave a comment.