Variety is the spice of life in the percussion studio for Lauren Boismier, a senior instrumental music education and music performance double major. Boismier likes an eclectic assortment of music. As an active member of the NIU Percussion ensemble and the NIU Gamelan ensemble, an Indonesian world music troupe, Boismier certainly likes to rock out. When she’s not behind the drums herself, this NIU drummer likes to keep her ear drums guessing.

1. “No One Loves Me Like You” by Jars of Clay

I always new about them, but I never got into them until I started downloading songs. This is the sweetest song. I actually put it on a playlist that I gave to my mom for her birthday. It’s the kind of song that works for anyone – your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your mom. It’s a really, really sweet little tune.

2. “Colored People” by dc Talk

It was the first Christian concert I went to where I knew some of the songs. I got to go for free in St. Louis with a church. We had terrible seats but it was so great. [This song] talks about how no matter what your skin color is, we’re all colored people and we’re all people of God.

3. “I Will Follow Him” from the “Sister Act” soundtrack

It’s so gorgeous because when they started out it’s basically a capella and all female. It’s all slow and resonating and then all of a sudden you hear the piano come in and it gets all upbeat and it’s great. It’s fun and upbeat.

4. “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” by The Proclaimers

This song is great. When I was a little kid I was on a soccer team. We would cram four kids in the car and put on that song and we’d just belt it the whole way whenever we’d be driving. It was just always such a fun song. We loved it.

5. “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Coolio (Featuring L.V.)

It’s a cool tune because it was in the first movie [Dangerous Minds] that I ever went to that was rated R. The song – it talks about how a lot of people in the city are the way they are because they aren’t given the tools to be a successful citizen. The song itself has some great harmonies. I would play that song over and over until I wrote down all the lyrics so that I could sing with it.

6. “Only Time” by Enya

It’s just soft, serene and calming. If you’re having a stressful day and you need a minute to just relax and just feel like you’re at a spa getting a total body massage, that’s the kind of song you would want to put on.

7. “The First Circle” by Pat Metheny Group

I would never have thought to listen to something like this originally. The associate dean of the school of arts arranged it for percussion ensemble. The song is just great and the melodies stick in your head. Ever since I got it, it’s been stuck in my head. It’s something that’s different.

8. “What is Hip?” by Tower of Power

I don’t care who you are, what kind of music you listen to, you put this song in and it just pumps you up. It’s just so funky and hip.

9. “Tchaikovsky’s Symph. No. 4 Mvt. 2” performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

One of the timpani excerpts we have to play the first movement, but I really enjoy listening to the second movement. The strings are just gorgeous, just the way that they crescendo and decrescendo.

10. “I’ll Be” by Edwin McCain

I originally heard that song on one of the last episodes of “Dawson’s Creek.” Usually I would never care but I looked it up on the Internet and I bought the CD the next week because I loved it so much. It’s got great drumming in it.

11. “Fallin’” by Alicia Keys

Oh my gosh. I heard this song in Canada before it ever came out here in the states but I loved it. It’s just her singing and then this choir of women that comes in and it’s just so soulful. I own every Alicia Keys album. She inspires me to write my own music.

12. “Wide Open Spaces” by Dixie Chicks

They are one of the couple groups of people who kind of brought me back to my country roots from when I was a kid. I used to hate country, but once I got into high school I got opened up to country. They bridge the gap between pop and country for me. One summer my mom, my sister and I took a vacation and we just drove south, nowhere to go, and we listened to this song. It totally set the mood for the whole trip.