Technology has ensured that, today, we are in a position to listen to more music more easily than we ever have.

The University was recently ranked the 26th “most musical” university in a study done by Spotify.

The fact that we can measure what and how much music we listen to and obtain analysis from the data is a testament to how prevalent and integral music has become to our lives.

With our favorite tunes never more than an arm’s length away, music seems to have become one of the top valued commodities today.

Music is a significant part of our lives, and listening to music has a small but integral impact on our personal development.

Each musical setting allows us to explore music in a unique way. And each setting is also cursor of what one appreciates and enjoys about music.

Whether we’re dancing on the tables at Red Lion, head-banging to a Metallica cover band at Canopy Club, watching the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra or enjoying some blues and beer at Blind Pig, we all have experienced the blissful community music experience.

In those special moments, when tens, hundreds or thousands come together to a celebrate a piece of music, the undeniable spark of magic that follows is enchanting.

The musical harmony paves the way towards a loose, transient but real social harmony.

It’s a harmony that is rare to experience and has the potential to change the way we think about human connection.

Listening to music on our own — be it while we’re doing homework, walking to class, trying to fall asleep or just relaxing in our rooms — is vital in developing our musical tastes.

It doesn’t matter what you listen to, as long as you’re listening. Because there is an incomparable beauty in finding a song, out of the blue, that you can connect with.

A friend of mine often puts forth the question what differentiates noise from music. I believe it is very subjective.

Each sound happens to be noise and music simultaneously. It is all a matter of how we choose to interpret it, of what resonates with our hearts and mind.

Listening to music on our own gives us a chance to explore what resonates with us.

As we spend a decent portion of our own time encompassed by music, the songs that we do listen to frequently might have more of an impact than we realize. These songs might become foundations of our memories when we look back on our lives in the future.

As time passes, which songs we listen to most frequently change; in those pieces of music that we previously were obsessed with, we inevitably leave some part of ourselves behind. And in those songs, music transcends being just an appealing sound and becomes an unshakable reality of our lives.

I will always remember fourteen-year-old me rocking out to Linkin Park on the school bus. I also associate Coldplay with countless personal moments from my high school years.

I believe spending hours listening to songs through our headphones can be crucial to developing an appreciation for music as an art.

Like most people, I started as casual listener. My playlists were mash-ups of whatever sounded appealing. Music served to fill gaps, pass time, break the silence.

Then I discovered Radiohead. A band that served to change my conception of what music is. For the first time in my life, I was listening to albums on repeat, memorizing lyrics, trying to interpret them, eagerly awaiting the next song, album and concert.

Radiohead made me love not just Radiohead’s music, but music as a whole. I began to see the art behind the crescendo of sound. I gained an appreciation for the technical expertise that goes into making music. I discovered artists’ diverse abilities to disseminate messages.

I now try to appreciate the art associated with all the music that I listen to, and it has served to make my listening experience even more beautiful. But it’s not necessary to see the art in music because music is all about how it makes us feel. While my listening led to my current attitude, music should be unique for each listener.

It doesn’t matter what you listen to or how you listen to it. What matters is that you listen; as German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche so aptly put it: “Without music, life would be a mistake.”

Shivam is a senior in Engineering. He can be reached at [email protected].