Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to upgrade your background music. If you're listening
Speaker 1: to your favorite podcast or album while you're driving or
Speaker 1: making dinner, by all means continue, But if you're just
Speaker 1: listening to something to listen to something, consider starting a
Speaker 1: listening project to make this time feel a little more satisfying.
Speaker 1: So longtime listeners know that each year I undertake a major,
Speaker 1: year long project. Normally it's been a reading project, like
Speaker 1: all the works of Jane Austen, but this year I
Speaker 1: decided to do something a little different. I am listening
Speaker 1: to all the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. I love
Speaker 1: box music, and he was prolific. So this winds up
Speaker 1: working out to about thirty to forty minutes of listening
Speaker 1: each day. I started on January first, and a few
Speaker 1: weeks in, I can tell you it has been amazing.
Speaker 1: I'll be making a kid toast in the morning and
Speaker 1: listening to an intricate organ fugue. I am stretching out
Speaker 1: tight muscles after running, and I'm listening to a soprano
Speaker 1: trill her way through an almost operatic aria in a cantata.
Speaker 1: Let's just say that this elevates the experience of daily
Speaker 1: life tremendously, and it's been pretty easy. There are recordings
Speaker 1: of basically all of Bach available on YouTube, so I
Speaker 1: just find one hit, play and go about my day.
Speaker 1: If you are a Bach fan too, maybe you'd like
Speaker 1: to start listening in the car while waiting for your
Speaker 1: plane to board. When I began this project, I quickly
Speaker 1: realized that I had a lot of potential listening time
Speaker 1: in my day. Most days, I've been able to listen
Speaker 1: to all of my assigned Boch before it's even nine am.
Speaker 1: But whether you are into Bach or not, you might
Speaker 1: choose something else that would let you listen with purpose.
Speaker 1: There are lots of other composers. Beethoven comes to mind.
Speaker 1: You could listen to all of Wagner's operas. You could
Speaker 1: listen to all of Gershwin's works, or Stephen Sondheim's musicals.
Speaker 1: A performer like Duke Ellington would be fantastic, or the Beatles,
Speaker 1: you know, their greatest hits. But maybe it's worth listening
Speaker 1: to everything, the good and the more run of the
Speaker 1: mill stuff that shows you how they whoelm their way
Speaker 1: to the great stuff. Or Hey, maybe you're going to
Speaker 1: a Tailor Swift concert and you want to listen to
Speaker 1: everything before you go. You might explore a genre you've
Speaker 1: heard of but know little about. I'd certainly like to
Speaker 1: learn more about jazz now that a couple of my
Speaker 1: kids are in a jazz band. Or maybe it's the
Speaker 1: music of Brazil or indigenous music from a certain part
Speaker 1: of the world. There are a ton of possibilities. Maybe
Speaker 1: think about a place you are visiting or would like
Speaker 1: to visit, or think about a historical character who fascinated you,
Speaker 1: and listen to music from that time. The beautiful thing
Speaker 1: about the Internet, plus the various streaming services, is that
Speaker 1: you can find pretty much anything. I remember as a
Speaker 1: kid going to the library and checking out various CDs
Speaker 1: of say, traditional Brazilian music in my hunt to find
Speaker 1: interesting material. But I had to get someone to drive
Speaker 1: me there, and I had to rely on what my
Speaker 1: local librarian elected to add to the collection. These days,
Speaker 1: you just need to look on your phone. I think
Speaker 1: all time is valuable. We have a lot of time
Speaker 1: in life that we spend in transition or not really
Speaker 1: doing all that much Upgrading your background music is one
Speaker 1: way to make this time feel more rich and full.
Speaker 1: I am so excited to be listening to Bach instead
Speaker 1: of what is randomly on the radio. I bet you
Speaker 1: would enjoy this life upgrade too. In the meantime, this
Speaker 1: is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
Speaker 1: most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.
Speaker 1: If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach
Speaker 1: me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,
Speaker 1: please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.