Blog 2: vocaloid

Vocaloid: daughter of evil

What is music? We've been exploring this question since class started. I chose the song above because it is a perfect consideration when asking what is music. It is a vocaloid, a singer created electronically. The person singing is not real. The music and the "girl" are both made completely by a computer made just for this purpose. Her name is rin kagamine, kagamine rin in the original japanese order. She was my chose because she has the highest voice, and the one most likely to annoy someone. The song isn't smooth. If a person wanted to say vocaloids were not music, this song would probably be their first choice to point out. There are other songs by her, by other vocaloids, and in this series, if you are interested in checking them out for more insight into the type of music involved. The main question is: is this music?

Blog 2: What is music?

After listening and watching some of Cage's performances it is clear that anything can be music according to him. As a musician I tried to follow any sort of rhythm or tempo in his performances but it was difficult for me because his music is not consistent at all. However, his methods are very interesting and unique which is good with today's music that almost all sounds the same. Hamilton sheds a whole new perspective on the idea of music as well that also shows that music can be anything and has been studied throughout history. I'm looking forward to our 4 33 performance and learning more of Cage's and Hamilton's perspective's on music.

Composer Kyle Gann on 4'33"

John Cage 4'33" from cambiz a. khosravi on Vimeo.

Blog 2: John Cage

Even though before this class I had already learned a great deal about Cage, I still find him completely interesting. The way he looks at music has changed my whole perspective on music. I agree with him that any sound is music in its own way. My freshman year in FYS we stopped and listened to traffic one day the way that Cage did, and surprising enough it was actually quite enjoyable and not annoying. We take so many daily sounds as annoying and a pest but if we just sit down and take the time to really listen to our surroundings we would realize these "sounds" are actually enjoyable to our ears. We all need to take a little break from our crazy lives and sit down and listen to the world around us.

Blog 2: Music

       The video about John Cage and the reading got me thinking about what constitutes music.  In the video about John Cage, he looks at music very differently than most people probably do.  The song he performed with some random household items and a few out of the ordinary items could be classified as just noise to many.  I found it interesting ,and I would never have thought of it as music.  He had to keep exact time so it sounded the way he wanted it to.  It looked like he put a lot of thought into it.  It was very creative and gave me a new way to look at music.  In the reading, it said that only human made sounds could be considered music.  I disagree because some animals like birds make beautiful sounds, and I would classify them as music.  They are not just noise; they actually have some kind of rhythm.  What is thought of as music differs from person to person.  Someone might believe that something is music, while another person completely disagrees.  There could be some cultural differences as well.  As the class goes on, I think it will be interesting to learn more about how music came to be and why people have different opinions about what constitutes music.

 

4'33" for Mariachi Band

Introduction

Victoria Smith, a little late on the intro. I'm looking forward to the rest of this class and the music we will be delving into. My tastes are fairly eclectic, and most forms of music are enjoyable to me, but I've never thought about why we like music, and what music really is, before this. So far the class has been fascinating, though. There are so many aspects of music that, when I think about it, can be questioned in a philosophical sense.

Vox Arcana Fall Tour

Here is the tour poster for Chicago experimental band Vox Arcana. The tour begins on September 25th in Crestview Hills, Kentucky.

John Cage Almond Cookie Recipe

John Cage is best known as a composer, but he was also a painter, a filmmaker, and an expert macrobiotic cook. Here is his recipe for almond cookies, courtesy of the Walker Art Center website. Perhaps we should bake some for Wednesday's birthday celebration.

THE RECIPE:

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a food processor, grind:
1 c. raw almonds
1 c. raw oats
Combine almonds and oats in a large bowl.  Stir in:
1 c. whole wheat flour or brown rice flour (if you want a gluten free option, you may need to add slightly more than the 1 c. brown rice flour, so that you are later able to form balls with the dough)
Add ground cinnamon to the dry mixture.
To the dry mixture, add:
1/2 c. almond oil (other nut oils work as well)
1/2 c. real maple syrup (no Aunt Jemima!)

Stir mixture until you are able to form one-inch balls.  Place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Flatten slightly, and press a small dollop of your favorite jam or preserves (jelly is too thin) into the center of each cookie.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, turning the pan once, halfway through the baking process.  Cookies are done when light golden brown.  They store well in the fridge.

Prologue

Hello everyone~ My name is Sarah Herzog, and I am extremely excited about this class. I'm a junior Chemistry major still trying to figure out what I'm doing after I graduate, and I enjoy writing, reading, and sewing. Music has always been a huge part of my life, whether I'm humming a tune under my breath, dancing when no one else is around, or simply tapping a simple beat that sounds nice on the table. I am so curious about the different kinds of music we will be hearing over the semester.

Episode 1

Hello all, this is Vince Cline, and I have never blogged before. So since I have no idea how this works I'm just going to start rambling, because I know bloggers at least do that! XD

So over the weekend I went to a convention called Matsuricon in Columbus, OH with a couple friends, and while there I had the pleasure of meeting Nobuo Uematsu (here's a picture of him https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf_j4jCuDNK9kyalvAKmSGBs7nXq_UPb_at4jtV_pz-HX-pk3tmjm3UUbqxChvt1ASih7IwVSJlHa7s8q_G6JIfLwMBD09lc6j2o-0sH35tnW_TLSDeK8vTAD3-iVrEhyam8j7wyv3xWc/s1600/nobuo_uematsu.jpg), the Japanese composer who wrote the entire score for the Final Fantasy games (here's-in my opinion-one of his best compositions http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbXVNKtmWnc). It was quite a surreal experience.

Intro to Patrick

My name is Patrick Kolks and I am a Junior Accounting/Business Administration. I went to Oldenburg Academy in Oldenburg, IN where I graduated with 36 seniors. I am from Bath, IN (roughly 10 Mins from Miami University of Ohio). To get to high school it took me an hour each way to get there. I have two brothers, I am the middle, Joseph and Christopher. My mom and aunt have ran a dog kennel for the last 22 years and my dad is a CFO at DeeSign in West Chester, OH. I am a catcher on the baseball team here at Thomas More and an RA in Ackerman Hall.

What is music?

My name is O'Brian Davis and I am interested to know what others consider music. It is my belief that participating in this class, philosophy of music, will provide such answers. The thought that comes to mind when thinking of music is that it is a sequence of sounds. But what kind of sounds? Do others have similar views? Or, is music simply based on your perception. Is it predetermined? Is music free from boundaries - does it have to be organized? Can noise be considered music? What are the characteristics of music? These are the questions that I seek answers for.

Blog 1: John Geach Jr. Introduction

Hello I am John Geach Jr.,

 

Since this class is about music I thought I would post some music for my first blog entry.  This song is called stand, by Ed Kowalczyk.

 

Enjoy,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNEH8aW2_EU

Introduction!

Hello! The name is Ashley Gray. I am a junior History Major and Pre-Legal Studies minor. I enjoy reading, watching TV and movies constantly, hanging out with friends, and spending time with my sorority sisters. Music is a major influence in my life. Music helps me focus, wake up, do homework, go to sleep, pretty much everything. Without music, life would be awfully strange! I am quite excited to learn to learn more about Miles Davis, John Cage, and all of the other talented musicians and genres we will learn about! I am also thrilled to listen to all of the different types of music throughout the semester!

Introduction

Hello, I'm Emily :) I'm an English Creative Writing major at TMC, currently in my junior year. I like fiction writing in my spare time, as well as listening to all kinds of music. If anyone happens to tell me, "hey come listen to this", chances are I will probably like it. I will listen to anything once at least. I was very interested in taking this class for that reason, I had heard a lot of good things about it, and I was excited to find out what we would be hearing in class or doing with music. So far I can tell it's going to be a good semester. I'm very anxious to find out everything we will be doing as class continues.

Introduction :)

Hi, my name is Jillian Bergman and I am a nursing major at TMC. I enjoy reading, playing volleyball, and listening to music. I have had no exposure to this subject before (aside from learning about philosophers in World Civilizations), and I am really looking forward to looking at music in a whole new light. John Cage also seems like an interesting person from what I have learned so far...I thought the whole "prepared piano" was pretty neat! 

Movement 1: Introduction

    Hello, I'm Adriana Fitch and I am a senior English and Theatre double major. I'm super excited about this class even though I don't have that much of a music background in anything. I thought that it would be nice to start off with something a little entertaining for the start of the semester and it seemed like the pvc pipe instument (seen not only in the video below but in the blue man group performances) would be a good way to do that.  

                                

Blog 1: Introduction

Hi! I am Ashley Fletcher, and I am a Junior at Thomas More.  I am majoring in Elementary Education.  I am interested in sports, reading, traveling, and I took piano lessons for about nine years.  I play softball for the college and love it.  I am interested to learn more about John Cage. I have heard the name before, but I do not know much about him. I think this class will be very interesting and am looking forward to learning about music of different cultures and the different ways people think about music.

intro

My name is Ronni Burns I'm an elementary education major and I also play softball for Thomas More. I took Dr. Langguth's FYS as a freshman so I some experience with the material we will be learning in this class. After taking his FYS I had a new understanding for music and nature. When I realized he was teaching this class I knew I had to take it because I thought it will be interesting and another great eye opener. I can't wait to start listening to some of the music he will be playing for us throughout the semester.

Blog 1: Introduction

After listening to today's discussion, it is apparent that music has several different interpretations throughout history and even today. As an amateur musician, I do agree with that fact that music is everywhere all around us and not just coming through speakers of an audio system. I believe anything and anyone can make music as John Cage points out in his 4:33. The main reason I took this course was because I wanted to get a better understanding of the history of music and learn how it evolved overtime into what it is today. I'm looking forward to learning more about Hamilton's perspective on the subject and how it applies to our music today.

The Purpose of Music?

 

"I could not accept the academic idea that the purpose of music was communication, because I noticed that when I conscientiously wrote something sad, people and critics were often apt to laugh. I determined to give up composition unless I could find a better reason for doing it than communication. I found this answer from Gira Sarabhai, an Indian singer and tabla player: The purpose of music is to sober and quiet the mind, thus making it susceptible to divine influences. I also found in the writings of Ananda K. Coomaraswammy that the responsibility of the artist is to imitate nature in her manner of operation. I became less disturbed and went back to work."

John Cage

John Cage Centennial

American composer John Cage turns 100 on September 5th. We are celebrating at Thomas More with two student-led performances of 4'33''. More later.http://johncage.org/2012/

Music and Metaphysics

"I believe the matter of music to be central to that of the meanings of man, of man's access to or abstention from metaphysical experience. Our capacities to compose and to respond to musical form and sense directly implicate the mystery of the human condition. To ask 'what is music?' may well be one way of asking 'what is man?'"

George Steiner

Welcome to The Prepared Piano

This blog is a forum for discussing sound and music, focusing on the aesthetic, spiritual, social, and political dimensions of musical practice and experience in the 21st century. Please join in the conversation.