For students especially, music is among one of the most important aspects of life. The perfect playlist is crucial for those morning bus rides to school when enveloped in the darkness and exhaustion of the commencement of a school day. Even better, all that is needed to ignore fellow students in the hallways when not in the mood to talk is a pair of headphones and a good song.  Because of the plethora of music genres and preferences on everything from music apps to the time spent listening, we talked to the students of NAI to find out more on our school’s diverse music tastes.

Starting off with the basics, the interviewed students were asked how long they listen to music on average per day. Although the range received was 1-6 hours, the majority replied that they listen to about 3 hours of music per day. According to studies, listening to music for just 15 minutes a day gives the listener a natural high, due to the dopamine the brain releases when listening to music you like.

When walking down Tiger Hall, at least half of the students seen are listening to music on the commute to their next period (with just one ear bud in, of course!). Two Freshmen informed us that the reason for this is because “ It makes my day better, and is a distraction from the noisiness if I listen to my playlist on the way to my next class.”

As for what platform students choose to listen to their music, there is an abundance of apps to choose from. From NAI’s students responses, the most common apps to listen to music on include Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, and Amazon Music. However, Spotify seems to be the students favorite, due to its ability to create personal playlists, while also getting playlists made specifically for the user based on their most listened to songs/genres/artists.  Freshman Emma Meyhoffer also called Shazam as one of her favorite music apps. “ It is a really great app because I always hear songs I like on TV, and it will be able to find the name of it for me”, Meyhoffer stated.

According to “Every Noise at Once”, there are 1,264 genres of music! Naturally, because of the wide varieties of genres, NAI has many differentiating favorite types of music. In fact, some students aren’t able to define their music taste just by genre. A Sophomore commented that they don’t “ really have a specific genre, and listen to just about anything if in the mood for it.” put in quotes about some other students favorite genres. “I’d say alternative/rock, and the occasional rap”, answered Freshman Reka Gutz.

As Victor Hugo once said, “Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent”. Many look to music as a way to express their emotions, enhance a moment, or just to be enjoying something. For Gutz, “It has impacted my life, and helps me connect to my emotions.”

Music recommendations from the students of NAI:

• Kenderick Lamar-  Maggie Scala
• Harry Styles- Maggie Scala 
• Tame Impala- Reka Gutz
• Pink Floyd- Reka Gutz
• “Lovefool” by The Cardigans   -Madi Pittman 

• Led Zeppelin – Emma Meyhoffer
• The Naked and the Famous- Emma Meyhoffer 
• Techno Fan by the Wombats- Aveline Plenter