How much music?

Jane

New member
It seems a dancer can never have enough music! How much do you have in your collection? Has it slowed down once you felt you had "the essentials?" Do you only buy Arabic music with the intent of dancing to it, or do you also buy it for listening?
 

Darshiva

Moderator
I lost count 3 years ago. Gigs of the stuff. I find that if I like a song I need to collect every version of it I can find, just for completion's sake. I keep some for listening. some for dancing and some because this little voice tells me I'll need it one day!
 

Aniseteph

New member
About 3 shoeboxes stuffed with CDs from various sources, and I don't know how much downloaded. A lot is with the vague intention of dancing to it, at least the good tracks, but I have far more than I need. It's more about exploring and collecting I guess, and it does branch out into Arabic music for listening rather than dancing.

I collect multiple versions of songs I like too. It's fun and a bit of a challenge tracking down new ones.
 

Ariadne

Well-known member
I don't have anywhere near what the rest of you have I'm sure but I probably buy two BD or similar CD's for every one that isn't. I did go from collecting for dance to collecting for listening such as Nancy Ajram's music.
 

Farasha Hanem

New member
I'm sure I don't have the extensive collections others do, either, but my hard drive does have quite a bit I've ripped from the CD's I own, not to mention everything I've purchased online from iTunes, Amazon, Walmart's now defunct mp3 download store, Napster before they were bought by Rhapsody (or whatever), plus some Arabic music web sites I found.

But yeah, you'd think a "master class" would have more than an hours' worth of music. >.>
 
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Sophia Maria

New member
Obviously most dancers at a masterclass level IRL have more than an hour of music, and it got me wondering how much music the average dancer has and how they buy and use it.

Hehe. I'm just a belly dance baby and I am starting to collect old Um Kalthoum recordings...needless to say, Middle Eastern music makes up much more than one measly hour on my iPod.

Honestly I listen to a lot, and very frequently just for the sake of listening to it--the music really was what got me started in the first place! Unfortunately, however, I haven't gotten off my lazy behind to update my iPod in about a year, because it's too easy to use the computer to play songs on youtube. I'll get around to it this summer. As such I probably only have 200 songs or something on there.
 

Jane

New member
I'll cough up. I keep my stuff organized in iTunes by adjusting the genres. Here's my breakdown:

Americanized belly dance music- 332 items 1.50 GB
Arabic music (dance arrangements, baladi, pop, shaabi, rai, etc.) 1324 items 9.01 GB
Arabic music educational recordings 142 items 422.4 MB
Current coreography rotation 16 items 58.9 MB
Drum Solos 172 items 813.7 MB
Om Kolthoum (originals and covers) 227 items 2.64 GB
Rhythm (identification samples & extended cuts for drilling/teaching 133 items 485.7 MB
Traditional Arabic (folk, historical & art music) 314 items 1.39 GB

I love all kinds of music, but there is something about Arabic music that touches the soul in a direct way. It feels like a reflection of life. Not precisely ordered and sterile, flowing and changing, and each individual musician is part of the song just like individual people are part of our lives. I could go on with my crazy analogies, but I'd just get more gooby :)
 

Daimona

Moderator
Wow, Jane! I'm impressed to see how organized your music collection are.

I have no idea how much music I've got. And I have no idea what "the essentials" would be.
I don't buy as music as I used to, but that because I'm becoming more picky as I'm tired of buying music that doesn't inspire me (I've got enough crappy recordings already that I never play)
 

Jane

New member
Wow, Jane! I'm impressed to see how organized your music collection are.

If I don't stay organized, I'm a lost soul. I have to write everything down constantly or I can't remember anything I'm supposed to do or where I put things. Bad memory :(

I have no idea how much music I've got. And I have no idea what "the essentials" would be.
I don't buy as music as I used to, but that because I'm becoming more picky as I'm tired of buying music that doesn't inspire me (I've got enough crappy recordings already that I never play)

It was easy to see what I had when I looked in iTunes. It pops right up on the bottom of the screen. It's taken a long time to buy and organize all of it. I don't like everything I have either. Some of it is dated or was awful to begin with LOL! We had a thread on everyone's opinions on essential belly dance music. I don't remember what it was called.
 

Daimona

Moderator
It was easy to see what I had when I looked in iTunes. It pops right up on the bottom of the screen. It's taken a long time to buy and organize all of it. I don't like everything I have either. Some of it is dated or was awful to begin with LOL! We had a thread on everyone's opinions on essential belly dance music. I don't remember what it was called.

Ok, you've pushed me to it... I'm obviously far beyond "the essentials".. *takes a deep breath*


Hi, I'm Daimona and I'm addicted!
And I've probably been a hoarder for many years, if it is possible to be a Middle Eastern music hoarder.

I added most of my files to one playlist, and I've got more than 10k tracks (I've even removed most of the dublets from this number) giving nearly 870h of music (only Middle Eastern or related and a bit more than half of it comes from mazika.com).
I was much more happy when I didn't know the numbers.. Now I really must pull myself together and get myself a new disc for external back-up.... *sigh*
 
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Safran

New member
Jane, how do you get your iTunes to show all that stuff? With the latest few updates, I've lost most of the options to count the items and volume :confused:

So, without the helping had on iTunes, the answer is - a lot. And I am always looking for more - currently my main interest are rich, orchestrated pieces which I have not discovered yet, and orientalist fantasy music. I've got plenty of drum solos and pop for now, thank you :) Oh, and as much as I loved to spend hours searching through eMusic, I had to stop my subscription for some time for my own sanity ;)

I am also on the constant mission to organise it all, which also means, that sometimes I do kick things out - I try to find if I have duplicate copies of stuff, things I've edited in the past but will never use them, the pop songs that sound like the other 200 ones etc...
 

Jane

New member
Are you viewing the screen on the "songs" option? It's the horizontal list under the Apple logo. Then I go to the "genre" column on the far left and select whichever one I want to view. The information for that genre in your library should come up in a bar on the bottom of the screen.
 

Safran

New member
Are you viewing the screen on the "songs" option? It's the horizontal list under the Apple logo. Then I go to the "genre" column on the far left and select whichever one I want to view. The information for that genre in your library should come up in a bar on the bottom of the screen.

Thanks for the pointers but I don't get anything at the bottom of the screen... Those latest iTunes updates have been driving me crazy!
 

Jane

New member
Yeah, they change things way too often. My stuff gets messed up every time they have a major update. Extra work to re-learn the new version and find where it decided to make changes I didn't want. :(
 

Roshanna

New member
I've been dancing about 4 1/2 years, and there are about 1000 tracks on my Middle Eastern playlist on my computer. I rarely buy Western music anymore (though I also have a pretty big collection of rock/metal/goth/punk from my pre-BD days), maybe one or two albums a year, but I am a fiend for new Arabic CDs and am generally more likely to 'splurge' on CDs than on costumes when I'm at an event because it feels more worthy and is easier to justify to myself ;)

Some is more for listening than dancing (e.g. original Umm Kalthum recordings), and some is good for drilling but I wouldn't tend to listen to for fun (e.g. drum rhythms or repetitive Arabic pop), but most is for both, and my favourites are things that are danceable but I can also listen to for their own sake without getting bored.
 
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