A Note on Continuous Learning

Today I started learning how to fry scream. I don't particularly have a reason for it - it's not for work. It isn't something that I can or should put on my resume. I just grew up being that one goth kid in class that searched for new music. What did I listen to that made me decide to learn this seriously challenging vocal technique? I watched a YouTube video of a vocalist named Maphra perform a cover of Doomed by Bring Me the Horizon.

When I was in high school, I wanted to be in a band. I wanted to build a sound that combined the technique of opera and the variability and velvetiness of jazz with the grittiness of distorted guitars. I listened to Evanescence, POD, Saosin, She Wants Revenge, Flyleaf, Extol, Coheed and Cambria, and so many other bands with amazing vocalists. I spent time learning about rock music as a craft, learned about various sub-genres like screamo and ska. I took up guitar. I trained in opera.

I never became lead vocals in any band. But, I did continue to learn about music. I developed new tastes and learned the sounds that make my heart skip a beat. In doing so, I discovered - many years from my garage band dreams - that I still love rock and metal as a musical art form. I've discovered new artists who are changing the way rock as a genre as a whole looks and sounds. One notable example is Ashaine White, who developed a genre that she calls grunge-soul. This continuous learning is leading me down paths I thought that time and adulthood whittled out of me. And - here you find me: typing about my experience after a fifteen minute session learning about vocal placement for successful a successful fry scream.

Continuous learning doesn't have to look like learning things that shape a community, a career, or a team. Sometimes, it is as simple as learning a new skill that brings you joy, even if you never use it.