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One question that always stayed on my mind was the type of music my professor’s listen to. I’ve heard a handful of them talk about their taste in music, but I couldn’t help but want to know more.
For this week’s theme for “What Are You Listening To?” I decided to ask some of my favorite professors about not only their music taste, but how it connects to them as people and in their professions.
I first took a trip to the English Department where I asked Angelo Bonadonna about his choice in music. Bonadonna is my instructor for Advanced Writing where he has changed my world of writing forever, so naturally, I must include the legend himself.
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Coming up first, he lists “When The World Was Young” by Frank Sinatra. Bonadonna mentions “his song takes me to a place I never was, but recall with a wistful smile and nostalgic longing. When such happiness is only a memory, is it still happiness? We’ll always have Paris, so yes.”
Taking a trip to Italy, he reflects on the song “Che Gelida Manina” from Puccini’s La Boheme sung by Luciano Pavarotti. Bonadonna writes “my mother’s favorite opera: Rodolfo and Mimi meet, and eventually so do all the friends, and there we have it: the high spirits of youth and the fragility of love and life in a rough time made beautiful by art and possibility”.
For his final pick, Bonadonna decided on “Child of Mine” by Carole King. With nostalgia, Bonadonna shares that “this song brings me memories and feelings about my son, Angelo, in all the phases and potential of his short but full life.”
Heading to the Department of Communication, I asked the hip-hop hero himself, Vincent Alexander Davis for his musical input. If I’m going to write about music, there always needs to be room for him.
Davis took a different approach with this prompt and shared his favorite Pandora stations.
The playlist station titles: “Jazzanova” and “A Tribe Called Quest Station” give us an introduction to the music world of Davis.
When sharing his input on “Jazzanova”, Davis wrote “I am a huge fan of instrumentals, and there is literally something on that station for every mood. My favorite artists from that station are Jazzanova, Freddie Joachim, Lemongrass, Jimpster, Nicolay, Fat Jon, The Foreign Exchange, Suff Daddy, and J. Dilla.”
He further explained, “No matter what mood I am in, one of those artists has something that fits in the moment.”
As Davis reflects on “A Tribe Called Quest,” he shared, “as someone who grew up in and firmly loves hip-hop culture, that station always has something that is reminiscent of the way hip-hop used to be.”
Davis claims that his “favorite artists are A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Black Moon, Nas, Slum Village, Common, Eric B. & Rakim, 2Pac, Biggie, Big Pun, Wu-Tang Clan, DMX, and OutKast.”
Continuing throughout the Department of Communication, Brad Mello also shared his go to playlist for both teaching and personal enjoyment.
Dr. Mello said that “Rumors” by Fleetwood Mac is an album that brings him nostalgia and fond memories as he grew up. Mello “I owned the original vinyl and it will always bring me back to growing up in Virginia Beach. I probably listened to the album every day for several years”.”
Mello also reflects on his college days as he shares “Joshua Tree” by U2 as he said “It was THE album to have in the early 80s when I was at Penn State. I have it on repeat in my car still.” Even Mello has the perfect album for any driving destination.
Even dating back to his childhood, he shares “A Taste of Honey” by Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass and reflects on memories with his father. Mello reflected by sharing “My dad had this album and besides its classic album cover, it remains one of my favorite jazz/percussion albums to this day. And it always reminds me of my pop.”
When thinking about college professors, no one tends to think about the music tastes because it never crosses the curious minds of students. However, I find it fascinating that you can have much in common with them outside of a lecture or even discover your next favorite song, album, or artist just by simply asking what they like.