I’ve recently discovered that I love Appalaichan music. If you’re wondering what that means well, it’s a form of banjo strummin’, fiddle fiddlin’, harmoninzin’, knee-slappin’, yeeeehawin’ country/folk type music that originated in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States.
I hadn’t always known that I liked it or even what it was called. My appreciation of music has come a long way since I started developing my own tastes and discovering music back in grade school. I think I’ve always sort of liked that sound but until now I never really took it seriously as a genre of music that I could listen to or identify with as a music lover. It’s not something that you usually hear on the radio. It’s not really commerical – unless you’re defining “commerical as a commerical for mother’s day at the Chicken Scratch Shack. Or something.
I’m Chinese American. Well, I’m full blooded Chinese but I’m a first generation so I really consider myself an American (not only because I literally am but because I don’t really identify with anyone from China). This love for the sounds of twangy instruments makes me wonder what in my childhood could have inlfluenced my taste in music. How does a little girl growing up in America with traditional Chinese parents fall in love with a genre of music like old- timey Appalaichan music?
How did that happen? I wonder if these tastes and preferences are inherent in our DNA from birth and it just takes some experiementation to find them or if this is something competely learned. Is it another case of Nature Vs Nurture?