Toastmaster Questions: Music Theme

Here's some questions around the theme of music. I used most of these at our recent Toastmasters meeting.

1. A movie about your life is currently the reigning champ at the box office.
2. After people see the movie, they're going to want the soundtrack. What songs, artists or genres will they be listening to?
3. What kind of music do you listen to when you're feeling sad to either feed the melancholy or beat the blues?
4. What's a genre of music you can't stand?
5. What kind of music do you listen to when you're feeling happy, pumped or on top of the world?
6. If I found your phone and launched iTunes or Pandora or Spotify, what genre or song would I probably likely hear?
7. Tell us about a song that makes you feel nostalgic about a previous chapter in your life?
8. What's your theme song?
9. Audio Daily Double: Play short clip, ask speaker to describe how it makes them feel.
10. Tell us about an earworm that has recently plagued you.
11. You end up at a Billboard Music Awards after-party and someone busts out Karaoke. A duet is announced and you're pushed on stage. Which celebrity in attendance (they're all here) do ask to join you?
12. What does "the classics" mean to you?
13. Have you ever made a mix tape for someone? What did you put on it?
14. What instrument do you think it would be interesting to learn to play? What's keeping you from learning?

I was ready to be offended if anyone called the '80s "the classics" but the guy who answered the question plunged the knife in and then really twisted it when he called music from the '90s "the classics." *sigh* Ok, I get it. I'm old.

#upgraded @pandora_radio - Share Email

I love Pandora.  I've been a listener for years.  I'd probably pay for a membership if I weren't scared I'd doom them.  It wasn't too long after I finally subscribed to LAUNCHcast (aka Yahoo! Music) that they closed that offering.

I heard a song the other day that I liked.  Lazy that I am, I just shared it with myself instead of writing it down.  Here's the email I got:

click to enlarge

Yep, that's it. Just some text.  The second line was the text I wrote in.   It could be so much better.

So, unsolicited, I took it upon myself to redesign the email.  Call it free consulting, or just a chance to be creative.

click to enlarge

Features of my revised email:

• Stronger Pandora branding
   
• A chance to connect with the person who sent you the song in the first place (their name is a link to their profile - that also lets you see what Pandora's all about)
   
• A clearer delineation between what came from Pandora's servers and what is user-generated-content -- black text in a white box -- helpful if the "friend" spams you or is in some other way abusive
   
• More content about the song.  Unfortunately, Pandora's licenses prevent On-Demand streaming, so you can't actually listen to the exact song you've clicked in to, but you can create a station of similar music (and eventually hear it) as well as other activities related to the song. This part of the email is a screen-grab from their existing profile for the song (the other option for sharing is a station) and shows you some of the power in Pandora's genome project and gives you additonal song choices)
   
• A more complete footer - information about Pandora to make it more CAN-SPAM compliant as well as additional important options missing from the previous version (the ability to report someone for using Pandora to send spam as well as the ability to block all future sharing if you just really hate music)

To be honest, this is a pretty basic Photoshop edit.  I didn't spend a lot of time thinking about responsive design, but their website and their emails are already designed to look good no matter the screen size, so by leveraging their existing design language for my proposed redesign, it probably would work without too much trouble.  (It's definitely wider than I would do if I were building it from scratch.)

(I was inspired by the person who redesigned the Twitter emails a few years ago - Twitter adopted their designs or took note of their suggestions.  Sadly, I can't find the post now.)

Feed Sift (03/13/2015)

-1-

ENDGADGET -- Shocker: Pandora's study finds Pandora to be good for music sales

-2-

SETH GODIN -- The problem with problems

-3-

SALESFORCE -- Some Customers Aren’t Worth the Headache

-4-

HOUZZ -- Understand Your Site Plan for a Better Landscape Design

-5-

TWISTED SIFTER -- Scientists Recover Audio by Analyzing Tiny Vibrations in a Bag of Chips

Happy Friday!

What Are We Listening To? (All-Time)

This list hasn't changed too much, mostly just a slight shuffling. More of Ben's favorites making it onto the list.



1. Bye Bye Bye - *NSYNC [1] - This is still way ahead of anything else.

2. Who Says You Can't Go Home - Bon Jovi (feat. Jennifer Nettles) [3]

3. Wacko's America - Animaniacs [5]

4. I Want to Hold Your Hand - The Beatles [7]

5. Bugs are Really Swell - Jack's Big Music Show [13]

6. Here with Us - Joy Williams [2]

7. Jack's Big Music Show Open - Jack's Big Music Show [17]

8. Closer to Fine - Indigo Girls [6]

9. Bottle Of Sunshine - Milkshake [new]

10. Ancient Words - Michael W. Smith [8]

11. Hey, Soul Sister - Train [4]

12. The Cheap Seats - Alabama [10]

13. Waiting for My Real Life to Begin - Colin Hay [9]

14. Linus and Lucy - The Vince Guaraldi Trio [new]

15. My Savior My God - Aaron Shust [16]

16. You Give Love A Bad Name - Bon Jovi [11]

17. Girl You Know It's True - Milli Vanilli [14]

18. You Might Think - The Cars [12]

19. Keep the Candle Burning - Point of Grace [15]
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20. In Christ Alone - Adrienne Liesching (feat. Geoff Moore) [18] (there's a second copy of this, combined might push it up to the top)

21. You Are Holy (Prince of Peace) - Michael W. Smith [22]

22. Dialogue: "Oh, Dang" - Mystery Men (Greg Kinnear) [23]

23. Music is the Best - Jack's Big Music Show [new]

24. Lean On Me - Club Nouveau [21]

25. Grumpy - David Weinstone, Music for Aardvarks [new]

Previous: December 2013, January 2013, July 2011

What Are We Listening To? (The New Class)

So this truly is the Pentatonix show. Giving Lori all five CDs for her birthday means they rule the charts. But what of #2? A funny scene from a movie I enjoyed.

Visit Pentatonix on YouTube

1. O Holy Night - Pentatonix

2. Cuddly Toy - Roachford



3. Starships - Pentatonix

4. Standing By - Pentatonix

5. Angels We Have Heard on High - Pentatonix

6. Carol of the Bells - Pentatonix

7. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) - Pentatonix

8. This Christmas - Pentatonix

9. Go Tell it on the Mountain - Pentatonix

10. Papaoutai - Pentatonix feat. Lindsey Stirling

11. Somebody That I Used to Know - Pentatonix

12. Aha! - Pentatonix

13. Natural Disaster - Pentatonix

14. Love Again - Pentatonix

15. Valentine - Pentatonix

16. Hey Momma / Hit the Road, Jack - Pentatonix

17. I Need Your Love - Pentatonix



18. Problem - Pentatonix

19. On My Way Home - Pentatonix

20. La La Latch - Pentatonix

21. Rather Be - Pentatonix

22. See Through - Pentatonix

23. O Come, O Come emmanuel - Pentatonix

24. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing - Pentatonix

25. Winter Wonderland / Don't Worry, Be Happy - Pentatonix feat. Tori Kelly

Not on the top 25, but my favorite. I listened to this a lot during the final days of my last job when I was praying desperately for a way out.



Previous: December 2013, January 2013,

What Are We Listening To? (Christian Music)

So just now getting around to wrapping up stuff from 2014. So here's my belated annual look at what we're listening to. As I mentioned yesterday, not sure if I'll continue these posts next year - I'm not running very music (listening to less music), I have a much longer commute (mostly listening to audiobooks), our primary phones aren't iDevices (lots of plays don't update play counts) and we're using Pandora and YouTube much more for our music.

Not a lot of change from last time which seems like confirmation of that change in listening habits.  I would be surprised if In Christ Alone was ever dislodged from the #1 spot.  It's so far ahead of the others.  Because I really like it.



1. In Christ Alone - Adrienne Liesching (with Geoff Moore) [1]

2. Here With Us - Joy Williams [2]

3. Ancient Words - Michael W. Smith [3]

4. My Savior My God - Aaron Shust [5]

5. Keep The Candle Burning - Point of Grace [5]

6. You Are Holy (Prince of Peace) - Michael W. Smith [6]

7. Back Home - JJ Heller [7]

8. Dive - Steve Curtis Chapman [8]

9. Christ the Lord is Risen Today - Ashley Cleveland [9]

10. In The Light - dcTalk [12]

11. Secret Ambition - Michael W. Smith [7]

12. Indescribable - Chris Tomlin [14]

13. Say The Words (Now) - dcTalk [15]

14. In Christ Alone - Newsboys [17]

15. We Humble Ourselves - Paul Baloche [13]

16. We - Joy Williams [16]

17. Lord, I Life Your Name On High - SONICFLOOd [18]

18. Wonderful, Merciful Savior - Selah [12]

19. Keep You Safe - JJ Heller [19]

20. Can't Go On - Group 1 Crew [22]

21. I Want To Know You - SONICFLOOd [23]

22. Live Out Loud - Steven Curtis Chapman [24]

23. What Do I Know of Holy - Addison Road [21]

24. The River - Brian Doerksen [23]

25. Who I Am Hates Who I've Been - Reliant K [new]

Previously: January 2013, July 2011,