[dropcap]I[/dropcap] love music more than any other type of media. I play keyboard at church each Sunday, listen to iTunes, Pandora, and Spotify each day while writing, and never go on a drive without the sound of some good Switchfoot or Two Steps From Hell tracks playing in the background. Today I've decided to change that.
It's going to be a temporary thing, maybe a chance to refocus. Since I'm used to doing more than one thing at a time, it will be a challenge. I took a break just like this last July for a week, right before I went to a music festival. To me it seemed like a good way to prepare myself for the 16-hour car trip (each way), as well as the many live shows I'd be attending. It was a good time, but now I'm going to take things a bit further.
Starting tonight — because "new days" don't matter as much to me — I'm going to stop listening to music during daily routines. My day job still has a radio on, but that'll probably be the only time I listen to a tune. Other than that, I don't aim to play anything in the car or even while writing.
Another reason I need a break from music is because I'm constantly looking for something better. Higher beats per minute, cooler synths, better recordings. It gets a bit crazy after a while.
That seems a bit daft, doesn't it? It makes more sense if you think of music in the way I do. I always have it on, so it's harder for me to do without it. I literally can't do a task without music in the background. It's a necessary accompaniment, which is strange. Now I plan to change that. I'll slowly ease music back in when I think I've had a fair break from it. I'm going to do that in a different way than you'd expect, though. Instead of going back go my usual habits, I plan to listen to music by itself, not while doing other things. It should be a fun experiment.
A break can help you remember how great something is by bringing back that first-experience feel. I'm hoping that, when I'm finished, it will be as if I am just getting back into music again and everything is fresh. We shall see.
Taking a break might be a series here on Papermail. I'm thinking of talking about the things I plan to use, do, and maybe even read less. There could be weekly updates, or maybe just a status report at the end of the "break". You should send me an email and tell me what you think about the idea.