By OAKLEE FIELDER
Graphic by Janessa Rainville
Music has a wide variety of choices that you can listen to. Students at Northwestern’s music taste is almost just as diverse.
One would think that pop or rock would be what college kids are listening to, but two students answered with something most people are not listening to.
“Frederic Chopin,” Destiny Vaughan said. “He’s a classical musician. I’m currently listening to his ballad number one in G minor.”
Chopin was a Polis composer born on March 1, 1810. Most of Chopin’s works are made for the piano, although he made some works for orchestras. Chopin was given the name “The Poet of the Piano” for his ability to make moving music on the piano.
The piano technique called tempo rubato was invented by Chopin. Tempo rubato is the playing of the accompaniment in a steady pulse while the melody flows and bends rhythmically.
Another student, Allie Cearley, gave another answer that may be unexpected by college students.
“What I’m listening to is Lin-Manuel Miranda,” Cearley said. “I’m listening to Hamilton. I’m listening to the song “Alexander Hamilton.””
The musical “Hamilton” was released on Jan 20, 2015, and is a biographical on-stage musical about American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton.
The musical was based on a biography written by Ron Chernow in 2004. In 2008, while on vacation, Miranda read the biography and imagined the hip-hop-styled story of the Founding Fathers, specifically Hamilton. Eventually, production started, and Miranda spent years working on it, and now, it is a billion-dollar musical, earning $1.2 billion on Broadway alone.
Shaylin Petty brought country into the mix.
“The artist that I’m listening to the most right now is Blake Tyler,” Petty said. “Specifically the song Cowboy Killer, and Blood Ain’t Thick.”
Tyler is a country artist from Cincinnati, Ohio. Starting in 2021, Tyler has quickly made an impact on the country music scene. Tyler was a college athlete when he started performing and started to gain local fame. Very quickly, he made a name for himself and within a year was singing at major music festivals and events such as the Country Concert in Fort Loramie, Ohio.
Tyler is now appearing with his name next to major country stars such as Morgan Wallen, Carrie Underwood, Lainey Wilson, Jason Aldean and Riley Green. After being an opener for artists like Bailey Zimmerman and Hardy, he is starting to become a solo act and work independently.
The music choices on campus show just how wide of a variety there is to be listened to, and how big the world of music is. People you walk by every day could be listening to music on the other side of the spectrum compared to what you listen to. What makes music beautiful is the fact that you have so many similarities to that person, and you listen to something different.
Even if you aren’t similar to those around you, they are still a Northwestern student, just like you.