Slide 7: Why You Like It

Make this Slide about You More than the Artist

Ok, you may like an artist and his music because the music rocks, it relaxes you, the electric guitar tickles your ear, or it gets you pumped up for your aerobics workout. All these things are superficial--simply the expression of your likes as opposed to dislikes. Essentially, they say nothing about you.

I want to know more about you and what it is about you that gets you engaged in the artist and his music on some significant or meaningful level.

To do this, you can talk about SPECIFIC events or experiences in your life, along with attitudes, impressions, and so forth, that attract you to the artist and enables you to relate to the artist on a personal level.

I want to know more about you as a listener and how you relate to the music and the artist. To say, "I can relate to the artist because he sings about a lot of things I find interesting in life." This is fine, but you need to give an example of something that happened in your life and how this particular artist addresses that issue in his music. This way you add a personal dimension to the presentation, which is nice, especially since we may never meet in person. Do not forget that you already talked about who the music appeals to in an earlier slide. Now, you need to think about you in relation to that group. Do you share in common certain things with other listeners who like this artist? What things do you like about the artist that you may not share with other listeners?

The worst thing you can do here is gloss over the reason why you like the artist and the music sample you chose for your presentation. Music is about life, self expression, and stepping out of the 9-5 daily routine, filled to the brim with the mundane. Tell me something about you that brought you to this artist and his or her music. Where is the connection? Perhaps something happened to you in your life, which allows you to relate to a certain artist who sings about a similar experience. What is it in your personality that connects with a certain artist or style of music.