I recently stumbled upon a YouTube channel called “My Analog Journal”. The channel is run by a person living in the UK who has a wide variety of world music. The focus is on Turkish funk and rock music from the 70s, with a special love for the Anatolian region. He also spins records from Japan, Africa, and Brazil. I’m mentioning his channel in part because I absolutely love his mixes, and in part because of the focus of this blog: discovery.

Discovering new music isn’t just about hearing new sounds, beats, and instruments. It’s not just about discovering an incredible new style to learn or groove to. It’s about discovering a culture; you can learn a lot about people and an era by learning about their food, their architecture and their music. Music exists in two seemingly contradictory states at once; it is both universal and hyperspecific. You can listen to a song from anywhere and dance to it, or cry to it, even without being able to understand the language it’s sung in, or without knowing the instruments used to play it.

Finding new music is always inspiring to a musician; it gives us a larger palette to work with, new ways of thinking about composition, new songs to practice and perfect. The digital age has made discovering new music seem easy, but in some ways, it’s trickier than it ever has been. Back in the day, you would walk into a record shop and pick something with a cool cover, or maybe you would ask the clerk what they’ve enjoyed recently. Now, there’s so much choice it can be difficult to even know how to begin your search! There are the ever-prominent playlists curated by streaming services, so you can always start there. These services are data-driven, comparing your tastes to others with similar tastes and making recommendations. That can be a great thing, but it can also keep you cemented in your comfort zone. To combat this, speak to people with different musical tastes than you, read up on the popular music of a different country, or try going back into that record shop; you’ll still be able to find great recommendations.

Discovering new music means discovering new ways to play, so enjoy the experience. Listen to how the new songs you hear play with rhythm and melody. Try to figure out the scales and keys the musicians are playing in. Try replicating the songs you’ve heard by ear on your own instrument. There’s hundreds of ways you can immerse yourself into what you’ve listened to; read up on the history of the songs, find other artists who play music in the same genre or who hung out in the same scene. See if you can find other music from a different part of the world, and compare the tracks. What’s similar, what’s different, and why? Having done some or all of this will give you a lot to talk about during your in home music lessons; your instructor will probably be thrilled to hear some new music themselves!