Okay, so I’ve been messing around with this idea of transcendentalism in modern music, and I gotta say, it’s been a pretty wild ride. I wanted to see if I could actually find some solid examples, and it turned out to be way more interesting than I expected.
First Steps: What Even Is Transcendentalism?
I started by hitting up the internet, just to get a refresher on what transcendentalism actually means. You know, the basics. It’s all about nature, intuition, self-reliance, and this idea that there’s something bigger than us out there. Think Emerson and Thoreau, those guys. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t just making stuff up, so I did some reading to get my head straight.
Digging for Tunes
Next up, I started digging through my music library. And Spotify, of course.I went through some of my play lists, and try to find songs that might fit. I was looking for lyrics about nature, about finding yourself, about questioning the world around you, that kind of vibe. I made a huge list of potential songs, all different genres, from folk to indie rock to even a little bit of hip-hop.
Sorting It Out
Then came the hard part: actually listening to all those songs and figuring out if they fit. I’d play a song, read the lyrics, and think, “Does this feel transcendentalist?” Some were easy – like, a song about hiking in the mountains? Yeah, probably. But others were trickier. It was a lot of listening, pausing, thinking, and taking notes.
My “Aha!” Moment
I put together a list of my top picks. I won’t bore you with the whole thing, I had a lot of fun songs to explore, and try to find out if they fit.I found some really cool stuff that I hadn’t even thought of * made me realize that those old transcendentalist ideas are still kicking around, even in today’s music.
It was all this practical hands on research, and I learned a lot!
