Fun with Pandora

This spring, I took out a subscription to the Pandora music service. I did this in part because I was listening to the thing so much in my office that my month of "free" Pandora would time out before the month was up. (Also, I got tired of the ads).

I needed it because (a) it's getting harder and harder to access KING-fm successfully and (b) I really need some kind of music in my office - or at least did last year, when my next-door neighbor would have loud, rather pointy phone conversations that I could hear. (That person is now gone, but that doesn't mean that who ever has that office next won't be just as pointy).

So anyway. For months and months I happily listened to the Johann Strauss waltz channel I "made" (The idea of Pandora is you tell it what you like, and it uses some kind of an algorithm to find similar music). But I guess it got bored with Strauss and Lehar waltzes (or else its repertoire of those decreased for some copyright reason; it seemed I'd get three versions of songs from The Merry Widow in a day.) And then it gave me a lot of opera. Which is kind of OK, but after I realized yesterday they had played "Nessun Dorma" three times in the several hours I'd been listening...I decided it was time to try a new channel. Or rather, revamping one I had.

I took a Ralph Vaughn Williams channel I'd not listened to in a while, and said, "Okay, add in these composers" and listed Eric Coates, David Fanshawe, Charles Williams, and Albert Ketèlbey* These are all individuals I consider British Light Music (a genre of "classical" music from the early 20th c., it also includes things like orchestral movie scores).

And I let it go.

I think that slightly more obscure list kind of overwhelmed its algorithm because it started to throw off weird stuff. First, I got bluegrass. (Okay, bluegrass originated from Scots-Irish settlers, who originally came from the British Isles...but not quite close enough). Then I got some 1960s popsinger, I forget who.

Then today, I got (urk) The Harmonicats.*

So I renamed the channel the This Is Supposed To Be British Light Music Channel and decided to just listen to it when I'm actively at the computer, so I can give the "thumbs down" on stuff I don't think fits.

*(Which came up as "Albert Ketèlbey and his orchestra," which is maybe how Pandora decided the "Harmonicats" were somehow OK)

But then I got to playing around. One of the suggestions they gave me for new music was "Anonymous Scottish" and I hatched a plan.

I now have THE ANONYMOUS CHANNEL. Which includes "anonymous antiquarian composers," "anonymous Scottish" and ditto German, French, English, Italian, and Belgian. And I think I said OK to "Anonymous French Polyphonic" as well.

So it'll be mostly old, old stuff - but that's more likely to not turn up jarringly different things, I think. And I like most of the Renaissance (and earlier) music I've heard.

I also was idly wondering a while back what Pandora would do with an odd combination - say, you told it you liked both Eartha Kitt and Lynyrd Skynyrd, what would it do? (I'm still half-tempted to try that as a channel). Then again, it may have been someone who said they liked "both Eric Coats AND the Harmonicats" that got me the strange mix on my British Light Music channel. (Or else, the algorithm just doesn't work well with the mix of composers I chose, I don't know).

Incidentally, it's possible to 'share' stations with other people on Pandora, so if you have a burning desire to "share" my ANONYMOUS CHANNEL or something, let me know your Pandora ID....