About Me
When I was younger I remember being fascinated by discovering popular bands the music of which I could relate to. I probably didn't understand why the sounds were appealing to me. I just listened to the music, enjoying it. Looking back at it now, knowing what I know about song-writing today, I can see how part of my fascination had to do with subconsciouly relating to the feelings, emotions and thoughts expressed by different artists and musicians. Whether it was the intention of the song-writer or not, the lyrics or the sounds of a popular song were related to me in some way. Which is true for many people. That's how it works, right?
But at that time I was for the most part interested in listening to music. I was mainly into alternative rock, some pop, some classical music (Tchaikovsky). Like to many other people, some songs would appeal to me more than others and sounded more beautiful than some of the other ones. I would constantly hit the rewind button every time a song such as that would come to an end. I needed to be repeat-stimulated by it.
These musicians created sounds, willing or unwillingly touching somebody's feelings, emotions and thoughts. There are many musicians in the world to choose from. Probably there are more of them today than at any time in the history of music, and perhaps the history of humanity.
Music can touch you with its sound, or with its words. Sometimes it's a business. Lyrics-writing is the kind of a job where the writer thinks of clever ways to make as many people as possible to relate to the words of the song being written. When writing, the author doesn't know anything about the person who is going to get into the song. They often guess feelings to create the lyrics. For example, a large portion of population constantly goes through break-ups with their boyfriend of girlfriend. The goal is to write more songs about the emotions commonly experienced by these people. It's a business. It makes sense.
I think it is fair to say that people who create music out of passion and the desire to express themselves usually care little about the business side of things. Many of them break into the world of pop music. They begin to take advantage of writing lyrics in a certain way. It's fun. It's profitable. Some people refer to it as being sold out.
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Throughout time, I have made an observation about how I see other people. Sometimes I begin to admire people who I used to have little respect for. This phenomenon occurs after I begin to recognize a thing in particular, like a talent, or skill, that the person in question is associated with. Usually it is something that I was not aware of before.
I think that whenever people enjoy a thing in particular they also start to believe that in this thing they have discovered something of its highest form. If you go to YouTube and find a popular song, look in the comments. Most of the people who post comments are fans of that song. When they look at the few "dislikes" their favorite song has received, some of the fans post comments saying "how could anyone not like this?". To them, this is an impossible thought. Why does it happen?
Most likely this happens because they can emotionally relate to it. The emotion that this song created has blinded them from making a conscious decision about the actual quality of the song. Many times the song is neither creative, nor musically complex or fascinating composition-wise. This shows how powerful emotions are in terms of engaging other people with intent to relate to it. The truth is that it is not necessary to be a talented artist in order to relate to and share human emotion.
In the same exact fashion as these fans, during my time of being fascinated with music, I have also made simple observations that defined what sounded "good" to me. It didn't have to be anything profound. Just anything that I could relate to. Now I am behind the wheel. I am the producer of content. It's just in a different format. I like to write articles about something I believe I have gained information on as I live my life and get myself into all kinds of experiences... or as I learn new skills. Then I share what I know with others.
On my website I don't only talk about music. After all, I am on the Internet. My audience is the entire world. I can write about anything I want. But I made the decision not to write articles or essays about things I don't know anything about.
In my early years I explored the horizons of philosophy. Nietzche was one of my favorites. I also like Schoppenhauer - he is like a sane Nietzche and he doesn't hug horses. I like clever quotes and observations. In my writing I prefer an easy-going style with a few logical twists here and there. The mind can go places.
And finally this is what this site is about. Life according to Grigoriy Sidelnikov. A collection of helpful essays, articles and other writings on the perception of life. An outlet for my writing. It's neither true, nor false. Neither right nor wrong. It is what it is, according to me, the way I see it. I don't know how you see things. If you can relate to this, that's good. But this is just me.
Contact: greg.sidelnikov@gmail.com