Homecoming Music - More than Just Good Tunes
- Casey Jones
- Sep 30, 2016
- 4 min read

This year’s homecoming has changed some because of the music – which ended up being a big change in interest. The music the students requested was played a lot, and says a lot about our school and its students.
A lot of people got the opportunity to request music at homecoming this year. In some of the previous years very few requested songs were played but this year the majority of the songs played were requested. A lot of different people requested music so a lot of different genres were played.
The songs varied a lot but there were a few artists that were played multiple times. Prince’s Let's go crazy and Purple rain were both played. Songs by Imagine dragons and Twenty One Pilots were played a few times as well. Most of the music at the dance was music that is currently popular or music that was popular in the past. Songs by Ke$ha and Beyonce were also played.
[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" o:preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f"> <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"></v:stroke> <v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"></v:f> <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"></v:f> <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"></v:f> <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"></v:f> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"></v:f> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"></v:f> <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"></v:f> <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"></v:f> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"></v:f> <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"></v:f> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"></v:f> <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"></v:f> </v:formulas> <v:path o:extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect"></v:path> <o:lock v:ext="edit" aspectratio="t"></o:lock> </v:shapetype><v:shape id="image06.jpg" o:spid="_x0000_i1028" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="47336040.cached.jpg" style='width:186.75pt;height:116.25pt;visibility:visible; mso-wrap-style:square'> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\BENMAT~1\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.jpg" o:title="47336040.cached"></v:imagedata> </v:shape><![endif][if !vml][endif] [if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="image05.jpg" o:spid="_x0000_i1027" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="imagine-dragons.jpg" style='width:172.5pt;height:115.5pt; visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square'> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\BENMAT~1\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image003.jpg" o:title="imagine-dragons"></v:imagedata> </v:shape><![endif][if !vml][endif]
There was a wide variety of music played at the dance from Twenty One Pilots, to Prince, and Journey. Some of the songs that were played were Party in the U.S.A. by Miley Cyrus, Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson, Young Volcanoes by Fall Out Boy, Panda by Desiigner, and Heat Of the Moment by Asia. Those are only a few of the many songs that were played.
Different music is requested by different people because of the difference in music taste. The larger the variety of people that show up to the dance affects the music that is played. A lot of the students have very similar taste in music so they request similar songs.
[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="image02.jpg" o:spid="_x0000_i1025" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="01f608a46e8ca7984e1121e334a089fef46777c7.jpg" style='width:177pt; height:116.25pt;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square'> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\BENMAT~1\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image007.jpg" o:title="01f608a46e8ca7984e1121e334a089fef46777c7"></v:imagedata> </v:shape><![endif][if !vml][endif]
There were a lot of different genres of music. A decent amount of the music played was pop. A good amount of the music was rock and alternative. Most of the slow songs that were played were country songs. They played a few songs that are popular on the internet like My Boo by Ghost Town Djs, which was made popular by the running man challenge.
There were many different genres of music because different people like different types of music. Our school has a very wide variety of students with different likes. Some students like rap or pop while others like rock or punk. The type of music students listen to often reflects their personality.
Some people liked the music that was played at homecoming. Quite a few people didn't like the fact that country music was played, Aliya said “The music was pretty good but I didn't like that all the slow songs were country songs”. The main reason that people didn't like all the music was because other people requested music that they didn't like. There was a wide variety of music because the DJ played a lot of the requested songs. In previous years requested music was rarely played. Callie said “The music was bad at the start or the dance but after while it got better”.
The music that was played says a lot about the students. Music is actually strongly tied to personality type. Music reflects how we feel and act and our outlook on life. Typically certain people with certain personality types listen to a certain type of music. Research at Heriot-Watt University has shown people who listen to pop usually have high self-esteem, are hardworking, and outgoing while indie fans typically have low self-esteem, are creative, and less hard working. These are obviously not true with everyone but it was true for the majority of people who listened to pop and indie.
Students find the music that they like from a lot of different places. Some students find music from the radio. Some are from friends and some from things like Spotify and Pandora. A lot of students like the music that their parents listened to when they were younger and their taste in music is based on that. Some music is even found because of social media.
Students listen to music inside and outside of school. A lot of students listen to music on the bus on the way home from school. On average teenagers listen to music between 1-3 hour. The majority of it is on streaming services but some of it is on radio. Not all the music from the dance is stuff that is listened to often. Some songs are just songs that are fun to dance to so students request them.
People request music because it's nice to be able to hear your favorite song at the dance and get to dance to it. It also makes the dance more memorable. It's fun to dance with friends to the music that you both like. If music wasn't requested at homecoming it would change it a lot and it would probably make it less enjoyable.
Comments