# "Running out" of music?



## Stargazer

I have noticed something recently, and though I would post to see if anyone else felt the same way. Anyways, when I first started listening to classical music, there were tons of new composers to listen to, and I was able to find a huge amount of music that I absolutely loved...pretty much I could just type a major composer's name into youtube and go down the list of videos. However, as I started listening to more and more music, I eventually started "running out" of new music to try, and found myself listening to the same things over and over again until I could find something new that I really liked. And the more music I listen to, the harder it is for me to find new music that I truly enjoy. This was actually part of the reason I started listening to classical music...because I had heard so much modern music that I started running out of artists to listen to lol. This really kind of frustrates me, because I love nothing more than listening to a new piece of music that I truly enjoy for the first time, but I am having a much harder time finding them lol. Anyone else out there share a similar feeling? And if so, what have you done about it?

Side note: Of course, I know that there are a huge number of works and composers that I have not listened to out there, many of which I'm sure I would really enjoy, but I find it much harder to sift through everything after I've picked out the major stuff. For example, Schubert wrote 600+ art songs if I remember correctly, but once you've listened to the major/most popular ones, I find it becomes increasingly difficult to sift through the rest to find ones that you might really like.


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## mmsbls

I feel exactly the same. Finding new music I love used to be easy. I remember exactly how I felt the first time I heard the adagio from Rachmaninoff's 2nd piano concerto. I was stunned with the beauty. I wanted to listen over and over. I went through Goulding's 50 greatest composers finding work after work that was wonderful. I then branched out using the Naxos Music Library to discover many other sublime works. Over time the new discoveries that I adored became less frequent and fewer. That's not to say that I don't find new music that I enjoy. That still continues regularly. The difference is that finding a new good work takes more time and energy, and the works I enjoy are not as wonderful (to me of course) as the earlier discoveries. It has been quite awhile since my last discovery of a work I adore as much as Rachmaninoff's 2nd piano concerto (or the many others I found earlier).

To find new works I have searched more deeply into areas I had delved into less deeply such as Renaissance and Baroque choral works, string quartets from lessor composers, and opera. Of these opera probably has the greatest potential reward since it's the genre I had explored least. One problem is that the reason I had explores opera and choral music less is that in general it appealed less to me.

The biggest potential "gain" for me would be in modern music. There are exceedingly few modern/contemporary works that I love. I actually came to TC for the express purpose of "learning to like" modern music. If I could learn to enjoy atonal music, for example, it would open up a whole new genre of music allowing me to discover wonderful works. That's still a work in progress.


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## Ukko

*"Running out of music?" - By coincidence... no*

Noticed that new thread when I logged in to post this thread - about a 'new' discovery.

For several years, ending a few years ago, I bought used classical music LPs on eBay for the purpose of making transfers to CD-R. The LPs piled up considerably faster than my transfers, so I just today got to this one:

Hans Pfitzner
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in b, Op. 34
Susanne Lautenbacher, violin
Gunther Wich/Philharmonia Hungarica
Vox _Candide_ CE 31026

After listening to the transfer play through my #1 system, I thought 'Hey, that is pretty good'. Then I muttered aloud "In fact it is more than pretty good!"

I don't know when it was composed, except that the opus number could place it in the '20s somewhere. At times I think it is atonal, in other places it is clearly tonal. The soloist is frequently backed by brass that creates dissonances, that work nicely. In fact there seems to be more work for the brass than is usual in a violin concerto; I like it.

This recording isn't listed at amazon.com, though Vox apparently did get it to CD. There are several other choices there though, and one or two enthusiastic reviews. You may consider this post to be my enthusiastic review.


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## Taneyev

Sascha Gawriloff violin, orq.Dresden Symph. cond. Albert Andreas Werner.


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## violadude

I have the exact opposite problem. For me there is way too much music out there that I want to listen to that it is overwhelming.


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## science

I'm in the same stage as violadude, not yet even near any kind of exhaustion. I find a new love at least once a week.


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## regressivetransphobe

Glue a bunch of genres you found on the internet to a dart board, throw a dart, start listening to whatever genre you hit.


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## Cnote11

violadude said:


> I have the exact opposite problem. For me there is way too much music out there that I want to listen to that it is overwhelming.


I feel the same way, especially since my music listening isn't limited to any genre in particular.


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## violadude

Cnote11 said:


> I feel the same way, especially since my music listening isn't limited to any genre in particular.


Yup, that is my problem too. Classical music has so much to offer as it is. But throw other genres in the mix as well and it becomes just insane.

and also keep in mind that when years from now when we all will have much more listening under our belt there will be even more music by new composers and groups.


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## mmsbls

violadude said:


> I have the exact opposite problem. For me there is way too much music out there that I want to listen to that it is overwhelming.


Actually I agree with this statement as well. I have an ever growing list of music from many genres, and I doubt I'll get through it anytime soon. The list just gets longer rather than shorter. And, of course, that is a very good thing, but it is overwhelming as well. As I listen, I continue to find music I like and want to listen to. The change for me has been that the number of works I absolutely love seems to be growing ever more slowly.


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## HarpsichordConcerto

mmsbls said:


> I feel exactly the same. Finding new music I love used to be easy. I remember exactly how I felt the first time I heard the adagio from Rachmaninoff's 2nd piano concerto. I was stunned with the beauty. I wanted to listen over and over. I went through Goulding's 50 greatest composers finding work after work that was wonderful. I then branched out using the Naxos Music Library to discover many other sublime works. Over time the new discoveries that I adored became less frequent and fewer. That's not to say that I don't find new music that I enjoy. That still continues regularly. The difference is that finding a new good work takes more time and energy, and the works I enjoy are not as wonderful (to me of course) as the earlier discoveries. It has been quite awhile since my last discovery of a work I adore as much as Rachmaninoff's 2nd piano concerto (or the many others I found earlier).
> 
> To find new works I have searched more deeply into areas I had delved into less deeply such as Renaissance and Baroque choral works, string quartets from lessor composers, and opera. Of these opera probably has the greatest potential reward since it's the genre I had explored least. One problem is that the reason I had explores opera and choral music less is that in general it appealed less to me.
> 
> The biggest potential "gain" for me would be in modern music. There are exceedingly few modern/contemporary works that I love. I actually came to TC for the express purpose of "learning to like" modern music. If I could learn to enjoy atonal music, for example, it would open up a whole new genre of music allowing me to discover wonderful works. That's still a work in progress.


I think that is not uncommon. Many folks I know feel/felt much the same way (I didn't). One tends to feel one have listened to much of the "big name" pieces from Bach to Rachmaninoff. But if one has a relatively "deeper" interest in classical music beyond the standard repertoire that gets played at concerts, one would just keep exploring. In my case, I started "branching out" into lesser known pieces by my favourite composers and also into lesser known composers of my favourite periods. From there, it's only a matter of time (in a positive, enjoyable sense of the word time) that you would realise there is just so much, much more, even if there are significant amounts that don't appeal to you. So I actually disagree with "running out of music".


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## brianwalker

I'm in the violadude camp, but I'm young (I'm not implying that you're old, but just explaining why I might be in a different position than you). 

My suggestions on what to do with your time. 
Learn Greek; Read Homer. 
The Great but not uber-prominent Shakespeare plays; Coriolanus, Measure for Measure, The Winter's Tale
Hiking (If there's a good mountain nearby).
Life has infinite possibilities.


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## crmoorhead

I couldn't even comprehend running out of music. I had a 10 year plan that has turned into a lifetime plan of what I plan to listen to. I have a spreadsheet that lists major works by 230 composers (and growing) with literally thousands of works to listen to. I like to get to know my music, which involves multiple listens. When it comes to operas, it takes a considerable time for me to get well-aquainted with them. There are hundreds of years of classical music to plumb and it is still being written. I also like to read up what I can on the pieces I listen to, so my music obsession has turned into a second full-time job. If you ever feel like running out, listen and get to know the TC top lists. Attention to detail can be a gift... and a curse.


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## StlukesguildOhio

I couldn't even comprehend running out of music.

My feeling exactly. The deeper I have delved into classical music the more I have discovered that I barely know. In spite of some 3000 CDs I don't even have the whole of the major works by the well-known composers. And then there are the eras that I haven't really even begun to dig deep into: the Renaissance, the Middle-Ages, the "Classical Era", Contemporary "classical" music... and non-Western "classical" music.


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## bigshot

I have over 15,000 records, 10,000 CDs and an iTunes library with over a year's worth of music in it. I've got lots of interesting music I haven't even heard yet. And the more music I hear, the more music I want to hear. Music is a language and as you become more fluent, it opens up for you. When I was 25, I thought the world was full of boring music. Now I know that I was the one that was boring, not the music.


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## Sid James

For me, it's not a matter of running out of music, but running out of headspace. Kind of music overload. Or classical music overload. That's why I'm listening to non-classical radio a bit now.

I know what stargazer implies by the "first love" syndrome. Eg. mmsbls' experience described with Rach 2. The feeling that you'll never love any other of his pieces as much as that one, among the first you heard. I have this with some composers too. But as I get into their music more, I get to know and love more pieces. A process of accretion, gradually building up like a coral reef. Layer over layer.

Now I've put a moratorium on buying anything that's not by Australian composers (including the guys who came here to live later in their life & also expats like Percy Grainger, not an Aussie by address most of his life). I'm kind of trying to be systematic, not all over the shop. So what better way, I thought, than to delve into music of my own country? I've barely scratched the surface of it, I've heard a fair deall of Aussie composers live in concert over the years (esp. enjoy premieres & when they give pre-concert talks), but my collection of them on disc is not very much. So that's the way I'm exploring. I haven't run out of music, I just got tired a bit of esp. European music, in terms of getting to know things new to me from there, so making a "return" back home, so to speak, and it's been great so far...


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## Stargazer

It's been interesting reading everyone's replies and different opinions! And by "running out of music", I just put that as the thread title because I couldn't think of anything else to name it lol, but it wasn't entirely what I meant. I also agree that I will never "run out" of music since there's just so darn much of it out there! I meant that the more music I listen to, the more difficult it is for me to continuously discover new music that I enjoy to the same extent. 

As an analogy, say you've watched every movie that ever won an academy award. Then, the only movies left for you are the ones that didn't win academy awards, or that are more obscure than the critically acclaimed ones. Perhaps they are no less enjoyable, or are even better than, some of the award-winning movies, but they are certainly harder to discover and sift through for the quality and type of movie you're looking for, since they don't get nearly the same media exposure and you don't know nearly as much about the movies. 

That's kind of how I feel...I've listened to a pretty decent amount (though certainly FAR from all of it lol) of the critically acclaimed music, but then trying to explore the more obscure or lesser-known stuff is kind of like taking a shot in the dark and I end up just going down a list listening to music, and maybe 1 out of 10 pieces I will really like and save for later (whereas before it may have been 1/2 or 1/3).


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## Sid James

Stargazer said:


> ...
> That's kind of how I feel...I've listened to a pretty decent amount (though certainly FAR from all of it lol) of the critically acclaimed music, but then* trying to explore the more obscure or lesser-known stuff is kind of like taking a shot in the dark *and I end up just going down a list listening to music, and maybe 1 out of 10 pieces I will really like and save for later (whereas before it may have been 1/2 or 1/3).


That's basically why I stick to the big names. If I really like a composer, I will want to listen to works of his from many genres. You were right about Schubert with his 600 songs. Not that I'd want to hear all of those, but I do like his music, so I have heard it in a number of genres - orchestral, chamber, solo piano, art-song. There's a lot of stuff there.

Another thing is to look at noted contemporaries of a composer you like. I'm not talking rehash composers. Eg. Durufle produced a very small output, but there were others of that French generation of composers who matured around the middle of the century to keep you busy. In terms of organ repertoire, there is Dupre, Alain, Langlais, all fairly big in that kind of niche.

I just find out about these not only online but reading cd liner notes as well as books on music.

With the "small fry" composers, I have been hit and miss as well. Eg. the Turkish Saygun, the Naxos disc of his solo piano music is great, imo. Quite unique stuff, although influences from Europe, he synthesises them with his own native style. But his piano concertos on cpo I'm thinking of culling from my collection. It comes across as Bartok rehash. The cd's I'm looking at culling from my collection are like that. But of course my bias is that I dislike rehash. If some people enjoy it, then that's all good for them, but I basically don't...


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## Kevin Pearson

I'm almost 56 years old and have been listening to classical music for close to 40 years and am still discovering new material I enjoy all the time. I'm also "rediscovering" music that I once enjoyed in the past but now listen with more intelligence than I did years ago and thus some works now have grown on me with time and repeated exposures. I really don't think it's always a good practice to try and hear "new" music all the time. It's actually better to become "intimately" acquainted with a piece. This especially holds true for me with classical music. The better I know a piece the more I hear the next go round and the more my appreciation has grown. So, I think a healthier approach is to mix it up a little and listen to pieces you have already heard many times and add new music in to keep you from being bored.

Kevin


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## bigshot

Stargazer said:


> I've listened to a pretty decent amount (though certainly FAR from all of it lol) of the critically acclaimed music, but then trying to explore the more obscure or lesser-known stuff is kind of like taking a shot in the dark and I end up just going down a list listening to music, and maybe 1 out of 10 pieces I will really like and save for later (whereas before it may have been 1/2 or 1/3).


I've never had much luck following lists of assorted music. I take the "branches of a tree" approach. One composer or performer will lead me to another... and another... I wander through the branches until the vein taps out and then wander down a different branch. The goal isn't to hear everything. It's to sort out the good stuff. Usually one good thing will lead you to another.


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## starthrower

What I've been doing lately is revisiting stuff I haven't played in years. I don't need 25,000 albums. In fact, I seriously doubt I will ever absorb all of the music on just a couple hundred classical CDs. I have tons of jazz, progressive rock, and all kinds of guitar music as well.


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## bigshot

I started out with progressive rock in the very beginning thirty years ago. I revisited it recently. Hoo boy have I come a long way. Genesis, Yes and Pink Floyd are self indulgent, pompous hacks. I can't imagine what I ever saw in them. Give me Duke Ellington and The Carter Family any day. They're real, not phonies.


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## Sid James

starthrower said:


> What I've been doing lately is revisiting stuff I haven't played in years. I don't need 25,000 albums. In fact, I seriously doubt I will ever absorb all of the music on just a couple hundred classical CDs. I have tons of jazz, progressive rock, and all kinds of guitar music as well.


Speaking personally, if I absorb what I have & do things slowly (quality over quantity), I learn so much more than kind of cramming and overloading myself with music.

Some of the things one reads online about composers, sometimes from "expert listeners" with thousands of recordings, it comes across as not entirely balanced and can be caricature. Eg. labelling guys like Tchaikovsky as bad at counterpoint, thematic development or structure shows a lack of understanding of his artistic aims and unique ways of expression. He was hugely innovative, going on to esp. influence composers who later didn't give a fig about things like the three B's (Janacek being one of the biggies in that way). & also ending the_ Pathetique _with a slow movement, which I'd think Mahler would have known - probably conducted it himself? - & him ending his 9th the same way.

There's more to music than just what a certain listener sees in their own, maybe limited or too biased, ways. It doesn't make much difference if you own a dozen or half a dozen Tchaikovsky cycles or one (or none!) in terms of understanding the bigger picture of how he contributed to music (& not missing out on the details of that, either). I'm talking of fundamentals here, which to me are more important than getting too specific and possibly pedantic (hate that, totally!)...


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## ScipioAfricanus

you can never run out of good music, because you can never completely savor the very music that you already have, neither can you collect all the music worth listening. When I started to seriously listen to classical music, Piano Concertos were my cup of tea. I then progressed to Symphonies, Chamber music and Opera, now I'm back to Chamber music and Symphonies. As you become more and more knowledgeable you begin to appreciate existing works more and more.


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## starthrower

Whatever? But musicians like David Gilmour, Tony Banks, Steve Hackett, Phil Collins, etc. are not hacks or phonies. I perfectly understand moving on to other stuff as you get older, but no need to throw insults around. At least those bands did something else besides play blues cliches like a lot of other rock bands of the time.


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## Sid James

^^I know that Phil Collins for one, who started off as a drummer, some of his songs have influenced classical composers. Esp. the British, Thomas Ades may well be one, pieces like his _Asyla_ having elements of rock and techno. But in any case, rock (& of course jazz) have had and are making huge impact on classical music, whether it be concert hall music or things like film music. It's all becoming very much linked now. Which isn't new, Steve Reich and Philip Glass said guys like John Coltrane were of much more influence on them than Webern or whoever, strictly "classical" guys like that...


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## Sid James

starthrower said:


> ...At least those bands did something else besides play blues cliches like a lot of other rock bands of the time.


Or constantly rehash themselves for decades like some "serious" classical composers, but let's not go there...


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## realdealblues

I don't want to go way off topic, but I'd like to say a few things about why I continue to look for new music. I have probably 25,000 albums now. I have albums I have listened to 500 times and I have albums I have listened to once, and obviously a few I haven't listened to yet. I like to give them all a chance. I have the opposite problem with what "Starthrower" said where he said he doubts he will every be able to "absorb" them all. I can remember 90% of what I hear after 1 sitting if I actually sit down and "listen" to it. My main instrument is guitar which I have been playing for about 20 years and David Gilmour is one of my favorites. I don't read music "well" and I'm not real great at theory (although I continue to try to learn) but my brain just isn't wired that way. I have, what some people have called perfect pitch and a pretty much photographic memory for melody. When I was growing up playing guitar I honestly learned every Pink Floyd song off of 1 or 2 listens. I can hum in my head every note and figure out how to play it. I don't just instantly play it. I'm not like Mozart in Amadeus who can just sit down and play it after one listen. I actually have to figure out fingerings and stuff, but I can hum/hear every note in my head. So I'm always looking for new music. I love to go back and listen to things and listen to the actual recording, listen to vibrato and phrasing and hear what makes each player unique, but I also know the melodies so well that I continue to look for new ones to listen to. I love music. Whether it's Buddy Holly or Billie Holiday. Van Halen or Ludwig Van Beethoven. I love to give it all a chance and classical is great for me because if I get something like the Complete Mozart Edition (which was my first real venture into classical music) I listen to everything. Like most people, I will probably listen to his Symphonies and Piano Works more than say his Oboe or Flute Concerto but I will listen to it all at least once just to hear a new melody. That set gave me like 600 new things to hear and hours of enjoyment years ago. Anyway, that's why my collection is so large and like the original poster I do sometimes worry that I will run out of things to listen too but I don't think I ever will because I will give everything a chance. Sorry for the long story but my point to the original poster is to listen to everything. Sometimes you will find things you like that aren't necessarily major works. I listened to R. Strauss's Horn Concerto's the other day for the first time and really enjoyed them. I'm not typically a big fan of things like that and I'd only really listened to his Major works, Tone Poems and Operatic works but because I listen to every album I have, I found some new melodies I really enjoyed.


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## Delicious Manager

I am 54. I started listening to classical music when I was 9, I think, I have always been hungry to discover new composers and music I have never heard before. I'm still not even nearly exhausting the supply. If I live to be 200, there will still be music I have missed and never heard (not matter how much I try). Running out? REALLY? How hard are you looking?


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## Taneyev

After more than 50 years of listening to Classical, now I only look for unknown/forgotten works on chamber ensambles and string with orchestra or piano, from composers from the 19Th. or half the 20Th.centuries, and historical recordings from first half of past century. Nothing different interest me at the moment.


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## elgar's ghost

I'm 'only' 48. However many years I have left I know one thing when it comes to listening to/collecting classical music - it simply won't be enough!


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## Crudblud

I don't think it is possible to run out of music. I'm always finding that there's this guy or that girl I've never heard of, or a piece by a favourite I've never heard of, or a new recording of an old favourite that rekindles my interest. And that's just classical music; the world outside of classical music is also vast and wonderful.

There's always something you haven't heard, the people who run out of music are nothing more than victims of complacency. Don't let it get you!


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## NightHawk

I feel strongly that the most worthy works can bear close and repeated listening, though I think it is wise to listen to them sparingly. I collect historic recordings of particular works by particular artists. I live to find those works that I can listen to almost at any time and feel as though there is still more to be 'realized'. On the other hand, I can totally relate to over saturation as regards certain composers, of the 'greats' Debussy and Ravel, particularly. 'La Mer' is a masterwork, but once a year or so is enough and the same is true of 'Daphnis and Chloe', and it's not just those works it's that palette of color. I love Franco-Flemish counterpoint of the Renaissance, but too much of it is like too much mayonnaise on my sandwich. Of the most recent composers I have become acquainted with on TC the only ones I feel I can return to again and again are Schnittke, Henze and I'm beginning to feel the same about Ligeti. But, I have concrete evidence that I will never 'run low' of works to be explored and delighted by because I am beginning to be fascinated with the different types of monophonic chant within the early church liturgy and I'm not Catholic. This time next year I expect I'll be collecting different renderings of the natural overtone series! lol


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## Pestouille

Tempus fugit... It's not music missing, it's time for listening to it....


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## Guest

Pestouille said:


> Tempus fugit... It's not music missing, it's time for listening to it....


Oh how right you are and as the man with the golden trumpet (EC) said: 
The Donghai Tang picked out upward an all in one bottle having to do with gasoline in your living bedroom removed on his boot styles and all around the going to be the head unit,going to be the some of arguments into going to be the bedroom and began accusing each alot of and ask each several other to understand more about excersice out Donghai Tang said lindsay lohan was to the left for more information about take boots or shoes,all the way hand brighter threatened him or her ex boyfriend said: going to be the lighter The fire in a timely manner spread along the bedroom for more information on going to be the living bedroom Mr. Zhang saw going to be the burn struggling to learn more about Donghai Tang onto going to be the balcony.
*Gosh I feel better getting that off my chest* :lol::tiphat:


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