Friday, November 4, 2016

Whistle While You Work - Off the Wall Friday

Working today in my studio, it struck me that I have a distinct routine that I have upon entering.  I first go in and turn on all the lights (and I have several different - with several different switches) and then I pick out the music for the day.  I love music while I work and I am an eclectic listener.  It just depends on the mood I'm in with what I'll be listening to.
Rani Arbo and Daisy Mayhem

And boy, these days we have a lot of choices!!    With the innovation of the internet, you literally have an abundant  number of choices.  First you gotta decide what you're going to use to listen.  Lately I've been frequenting Pandora.  I love how you can make up your stations from the artists you love the most and build on that collection from there.  You can also build a station by genre of music, like Soft Rock.  My second favorite is Amazon Prime Music.  I love that first I can access it easily from my kindle and secondly they have some pretty great play lists already made up.  The editors frequently are tweaking and adding to the playlists too.

Of course, my music centered family has a Napster/Rhapsody account (they keep changing their name back and forth over the last 20 yrs) and my teen swears by Spotify which carries more indie music.  We do have an extensive cd collection compiled mostly before 2000 but since I don't have a cd player in my studio I don't usually listen to those anymore.  My husband does listen to the cd's a lot but also frequents Youtube for most of his playlists.  Of course all of these can be hooked up to the speakers that are already  place strategically in my studio.


And what can you hear from my studio of late? I can recommend. . . .
  • Alex De Grassi ( Instrumental Acoustic Guitar)
  •  Delta Rae (Indie Modern Folk, with a nice blues vibe)
  • Ingrid Michaelson (Indie Pop)
  • Jack Johnson (Modern Folk)
  • Rani Arbo and Daisy Mayhem (Americana Eclectic)
  • The High Kings (Irish Folk)
  • The Black Keys (Rock with a strong blue influence)
  • Mercy Me, Third Day, TobyMac etc  (Contemporary Christian)
and of course  anything by  Bob Dylan - grin!

So what do you listen to while you're working - any recommendations?

And of course,What Have Been doing Creatively Lately?

4 comments:

Muv said...

Hello Nina Marie,

I'm totally with you about having a varied playlist and playing music to match the work you are doing.

The little quilt I have made this week is for a baby that is due very soon, and I shall be going to Ireland in a few days' time and delivering the quilt to the mum and dad. While quilting it the obvious choice was How The West Was Won by De Dannan, which includes their version of Bob Dylan's Restless Farewell.

Last week I was doing more subtle work, shading colours for a stitched landscape, and the music that works is anything orchestral by Vaughan Williams.

YouTube is a treasure trove - do a search for Santiago de Murcia, Lucas Ruiz de Ribayaz and Gaspar Sanz and you will unearth gems of the Spanish Baroque. Or take a trip to 1950s Ecuador with Julio Jaramillo. Or Heaven with Greek Orthodox chant in Arabic by the Mount Lebanon Choir.

Eclectic is the only way.

quiltedfabricart said...

Thank you so much for the music artist list! I have wanting to get something new in my music playlist and haven't heard of most of these. I will definitely be checking them out.

pdfrench said...

Thank you for the great music list, will check them out for sure. I also love Pandora, have 100 stations.
Current favorites:
Nils Frahm
Thumbprint
Amy Winehouse
Joni Mitchell
Little People
Melody Gardot
Pat Metheny
Twice
Zero 7

Margaret said...

For music -- generally CBC Radio 2 (FM), when it's playing either classical music or jazz. Sometimes CKUA (FM), an Alberta-based station, and sometimes "The Road Home" on my computer -- a mix of music and spoken word (poetry) at roadhome.fm. Alternatively, I sometimes watch/listen to The Quilt Show or OnBeing, also on my computer. :-)