I’m going to try Musicology Duck’s Listen Wider Challenge 2020:
Listen to:
- A composition of 60 minutes or more in length by a woman or non-binary composer
- A country song released in the last 6 months
- A chamber piece for 7-12 players written since 1980
- The cast recording of a musical featuring a queer character
- A miniature composition under 90 seconds long
- An opera with a libretto by an author of color
- A track by a Native/First Nations/Indigenous hip-hop artist
- A work by a student composer
- A work from a religious/spiritual tradition other than your own
- A composition that won a major award in 2018 or 2019
- A classic rock album from the 1960s or 1970s you feel like you should have listened to in its entirety by now, but never have
- A piece by a composer from Central or South America
- A campaign song for each of the opposing candidates in any election, current or historical
- A composition written when the composer was older than age 80
- A piece notated using graphic notation
- An instrumental work from before 1750 written by a woman
- A piece specifically for children by a composer or songwriter who usually writes for adults
- A top hit from the year you were born—from a country other than your own
- Two different tracks that sample the same song
- A song sung by two or more siblings
- The soundtrack for a film in a language other than English
- An art music composition (broadly defined) that received its premiere in an African country
- A classical recording from an independent label
- A record by a winning Eurovision Song Contest performer other than their competition song
- A protest song by a songwriter who identifies as LGBTQIA+
- A song or piece written to memorialize victims of a natural disaster
- A song by an artist currently atop Billboard’s “Social 50” chart
- A concerto for tuba, bassoon, or double bass
- A jazz album recorded since 2015
- A song written by or from the perspective of an immigrant
Some of these will be easier than others to find, among them #29, #11, and especially #19, if I count the Amen Break.