You Know You’re a Music Geek When…

Up until a few days ago, I’d been holding on to $75 of Amazon gift cards from last Christmas. Never let it be said that money burns a hole in my pocket.

The truth of the matter is I waited so long to spend the money, not because I am some crazed penny pincher (After all, it was gift card money.  It’s not like I could deposit it in the bank.) – but because I didn’t know what I wanted. And for me to go to Amazon without having a serious idea what I’m looking for is an exercise in sheer frustration. Why? Because Amazon sells everything. How do you decide what you want when everything that’s ever been made is available at the click of a button. It’s just too much. For me, at least.

Even when I limit the field to books and recorded music, Amazon is still intimidating. (And I always limit the field to those two categories because – well- because I don’t wanna buy underwear from Amazon.) I further limit the field to books or recorded music that I will want to keep for a long time, usually for reference purposes. (I can check out novels and the like at the library.) Still, when every non-fiction and/or reference book that’s ever been written is available, it’s an imposing thing to make a choice.

So it took until late March for me to have an inkling of what I wanted, and so last week I pulled the trigger and spent the gift cards. And in case I need to quash any doubt that I am truly a card-carrying music geek, here’s the proof: I purchased a biography of Claude Debussy, and set of orchestral scores of Debussy’s most famous tone poems, and  had money left to buy a book on reharmonization techniques.

If you are a music geek, you’re probably thinking, “Cool.” You get it. You read about a composer, stop for a while to study his music while listening to a recording of the score, and then brush up on chord reharmonization before bedtime. If you are a normal human being, you’re probably thinking, “How very sad.”

That’s okay.  I’m a music geek. That’s what we do, am I right?