Tunes make for small pleasures, growth tools

Big headphones.

I think of big headphones when I think of the music aficionados I listen to on my favorite radio station.

The station, based in Dublin, broadcasts indie rock day and night and usually keeps me company at some point during my work day.

I’ve often been called a music snob, a book snob, and a movie snob.

That’s fine with me.

I don’t think of myself as much of a snob but I can understand why I’ve left that impression: I like what I like and I’m unapologetic about liking it.

Maybe my stubborn willingness to abide by my preferences happened early on, maybe it didn’t.

I can say for certain that I’ve almost always wanted to be one of those people who could rattle off when the last Flying Burrito Brothers album was released or offer an opinion on when Sir Elton John’s career was at its peak. I’ve wanted to be the guys from the film High Fidelity with better social skills and a heftier appreciation for literature.

I think I got the social skills and literature part down but missed the key component.

In sixth grade I discovered there was music — good music — made after 1970.

In high school I discovered why Chris Cornell has one of the finest voices to hit rock music in many years.

But I also developed a deep love of cooking and being outdoors and training horses and watching football.

Those other preferences developed out of necessity and out of the realization that living your life with such a small window of enjoyment is nothing short of dull.

I classify music, among other things, as a small pleasure that can be indulged in large quantities without serious consequences. (Well, maybe except hearing loss if you don’t observe decent decibel levels.)

A life without small pleasures is one I’d rather not take part in.

Now, as I sit with my large headphones humming Islands by The xx into my ears, I am grateful for my insatiable consumption of music and the extra joy it brings to my daily life. I am grateful to have something so seemingly inconsequential that I can lean on to ease a long day, to enhance a season, or to simply make me happier.

I hope you’ve got something that does the same for you.

Pam Robel is the paginator for the Columbia Basin Herald. She is often teased by her co-workers for her taste in bands they haven’t heard of.