Yes, I’m stealing one from the recent C.E.A.D. conference here at EOU.

Celebrate – Educate – Appreciate – MUSIC! I’ll explain the (I) a bit later.

CELBRATE: Music is such a wonderful thing. As I explained in my previous blog, it can bring back memories of people, places, and events much the same way that photographs do. Often we can remember exactly what we were doing the first time we heard a favorite song or even a song we disliked; music has that kind of effect on us sometimes. Music should be celebrated for all it brings to our lives as often as possible. That’s what many of us here at KEOL do as DJs: celebrate the music in our lives by sharing it with others. That ties in to part two…

EDUCATE: Very often, we are introduced to music initially by parents or other family members. They sometimes tell us stories that revolve around the songs they share or the music they grew up with. We do the same thing when we share a story about a song or a concert or a particular musical artist when talking to others. We are educating them about what the music means to us on a personal level. I like to say this a lot: “I can’t make you like it; I can only tell you why I like it.” It may be something as simple as “This song makes me happy” or as complex as a long story about how a particular song relates to a life-altering personal experience. However the education process takes place, it allows others to move onto the third part…

APPRECIATE: Music is so many things to so many people that it’s hard to fathom what our lives would be like without it. There are more genres to keep track of than many people even have time or energy to keep track of, but it doesn’t matter what the genre of the music is, only that you appreciate it for what it is: someone’s art. The main thing is that just because somebody likes “x” kind of music and you don’t, that doesn’t mean you are better than they are or that your music is better than their music. All music is inherently worthy of appreciation, just for the fact that it is somebody’s artist vision. Understanding where music originated and how it developed can help with the appreciation factor. How many people really know where “rap” started? How many people understand how “country” music and “R&B” fused to create rock & roll? Appreciate not only the music, but where it came from as well; and not just the kind of music you like, but the kinds of music your friends and family like as well, which brings us to the (I)…

INVESTIGATE: People rag on how unreliable Wikipedia is on certain subjects. I have found that the majority of information about musical artists and their stories is spot on as far as accuracy goes. Have a friend that likes to listen to post-hardcore but you are clueless when they talk about it as to what it really is? Look it up! Not sure who was in Parliament-Funkadelic? Look it up. Not sure how your favorite band got their name? Look it up.

Best of all, do something that doesn’t require pouring through paragraph after paragraph of information online or in a book: find a new artist and listen to their music online. Websites like Reverbnation, Bandcamp, and Sound Cloud are full of new and interesting musical artists just waiting for YOU to discover them. Once you find someone you like, C.E.A.M. (I) some more.