Writer's Block: A Profound Impact

[packbat]

Who has had a profound musical impact? View other answers

Profound? Mom.

Okay, that was too easy. Let me elaborate.

As a performer, I never payed enough attention (or got good enough at performing, really) to style to recognize my influences. As a singer, I suppose I simply tried to perform it the way I liked it, so there the list would include Judy Collins, Simon & Garfunkel-slash-Paul Simon Graceland era, whatever mix of random stuff that you inevitably hear in a post-audio-recording society, my singing teacher (of course), and my mom (who would sing songs to us at night when we were young). As a pianist, I was pretty much a literalist, so my teacher and my mom were the ones who would have had the most effect on how I played. However, fundamentally, none of the above could really qualify as profoundly influencing my music.

As a listener, I think Joni Mitchell caused the most dramatic change to how I heard music. When I played Clouds for the first time, the only performances of her music I could remember were my mom's (of course) and Judy Collins'.¹ Mitchell's voice is just completely unlike theirs - she swoops, plays the beat so freely, so unlike anyone else I had heard up to that time,² that I couldn't even get into all of it at first. But I listened to it, again and again, and it started falling together, and I think that's what made me willing to fall in love with music, and not always love it from the start.

That really is profound, now that I think of it. I guess I should change my answer.

Profound musical impact? Well, my mother was the one who first formed my musical taste, and that's not minor. But Joni Mitchell was the one who taught it to grow.

1. Yes, I'm finally getting on board with Strunk and White on this. Collins's sounds entirely too Gollum. ^
2. And since, now that I think on it. ^