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Synphony 2025
Another year, another Synphony! For those who are new, a walrus is a music event where a host sets a series of category prompts and you, the submitter, send the host a song for each prompt that you feel fits it best. Generally speaking, best practice is to send a song you like but also hope the host will enjoy. In a later post, I offer some hints toward my tastes.
Let's get right to it!
Categories
Category 1: The New Day
You wake up and this is the song that gets you out of bed. It prepares you for another day. It tells you that something new is possible and in your reach. It could be the small hope that gets you through the next few hours, or it could be something much bigger, a sign of a whole new stage in your life. What song signals a new beginning for you?
Category 2: The Cut
It’s not every day that a song can knock you off balance. Somehow, your defenses are meaningless, and you’re left an emotional mess afterward. It could be existential dread, abject misery, complete and total elation… The extreme is up to you. It just has to be an extreme. What song cuts through you to the core?
Category: 3: The Intensity
Focus. Your attention narrows to a pinpoint, and all you know is the music and the challenge before you. It could be rage. It could be adrenaline. It could be something that blocks out the world and lets you dedicate every morsel of energy toward your task. What song represents this laser-focused intensity?
Category 4: The Wildcard
This category consistently gets me a big influx of new songs that hold my attention and broaden my horizons. Perhaps there’s a song that you feel would have fit one of the other categories but it just barely didn’t make the cut. Maybe you’ve had an earworm for the past couple weeks. Possibly there’s a song you think would speak to me in some way, and you really want me to hear it. What song do you want to send me, the host, specifically?
Category 5: The Non-English Flavour
I listen to quite a bit of non-English music and am always on the lookout for more. My only condition for this category is that the song is not in English. Instrumentals, while not disqualified, would not be in the spirit of the category. What non-English song has entranced you recently?
Category 6: The Sudden Contender
Sometimes you aren’t paying close attention or even trying to find something new, but something new certainly found you. What song came out of nowhere and immediately catapulted itself into your favourites?
Category 7: The Click
Music can be more than just a bunch of neat sounds you like to hear occasionally. It can be meaningful. It can change things. It can make you understand. You were uncertain, and now the pieces have been put together. With each note, you know a little more than you did before. What song made a situation “click” for you?
Category 8: The Future
You have an idea in your head of what your life could be. Maybe it’s an image that’s idyllic, a dream of what could be if things were different. Maybe you harbor resentment about what was taken from you, an opportunity you missed out on. Whether positive or negative, you have feelings about the tomorrows you might have and the tomorrows you’ll never experience. What song speaks to you of the implacable future?
