Music menu

One of the ways I align my (wide) music tastes with my life is to listen to specific genres and tempos at specific times of the day.  I don't always do this and not always have my say in what music is played at home, but when I do have the turntable, and when I'm not fussy on specific bands or newer versus older tracks, then I switch on a few large, tailored playlists to fill the specific music gap in the day.   To do this my way, you need to have a pretty good grasp on genre assignments and upbeat/mellow settings.  For instance, I've been able to narrow the number of genres down to 22 and I use the Grouping attribute to indicate whether the track is mellow or upbeat.  My library isn't perfect and I don't necessarily categorize and rate tracks my wife or kids download, but for me it works quite well.

My music genres (with some examples) are:

• Rock/pop - U2, Robbie Williams
• Rock and Punk - AC/DC, The Clash
• Modern Rock and Alternative - Arctic Monkeys, Metric
• New Wave and Early Alternative - New Order, Talking Heads
• Pop, Idol and Kids -Spice Girls, Miley Cyrus
• Pop/Rock - The Script, The Beatles
• Folk/Rock - Devendra Banhart, Diane Birch
• Country - Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton
• Electronica - Thievery Corporation, Morcheeba
• Dance - Tiesto, Madonna
• Hip Hop and Rap - Timbaland, Lauryn Hill
• R&B - Mary J. Blige, James Morrison
• Reggae and World Music - UB40, Matisyahu
• Jazz vocal - Madelaine Peyroux, Ella Fitzgerald
• Jazz instrumental - Chris Botti, John Coltrane
• Blues - B.B. King, Susan Tedeschi
• Soul - Joss Stone, Duffy
• Soundrack - instrumental scores mostly, like Big Night and Snatch
• Classical
• Opera
• Comedy
• Christmas

So, for instance in the morning, the playlist is of course mellow, and I exclude genres like R&B, Hip Hop and Electronica.  Late/easy evenings is mellow again, but excluding Folk/Rock and most Rock categories.  For me, I can't picture listening to Madonna on a quiet Sunday morning or The Beatles when I'm tired and having a night cap.  Of course, there are many more times in the day and music appropriate for different mealtimes, e.g. some get up and go music on a weekday morning (upbeat rock/pop for instance); heading to your hockey or ultimate game (upbeat dance or punk); or jazz instrumental and mellow soul during dinner.

So how about the following menu for this coming Friday ?

• Some gentle mellow folk/rock to greet the day, then changing folk/.rock to upbeat mode during breakfast time and some upbeat new wave for the commute.  
• Over lunch, we go with the blues.  
• Heading home we get urban with some upbeat hip hop & rap, but change to mellow R&B as appertizers are prepared.  
• Some jazz vocal and mellow modern rock and alternative (to keep the kids interested) over dinner, followed by some upbeat soul for dessert.  
• Drinks with candlelight with mellow electronica to finish your day.  

Custom music menus available by request.  Bon Appetit.