Blog 6

On Tuesday of last week Vox Arcana paid a visit to our school. I was fortunate enough to be able to participate in the workshop as well as the concert. I had not planned to go to the workshop as I had class at that time, but it turned out the workshop was part of that class. I think being able to go to both really helped in the overall experience. I've heard Vox Arcana before, but only in a workshop setting, so it was nice to be able to actually hear one of their concerts. I really enjoyed their style of music, I think it's very unique, at least for me, as I have never listened to anything like what they play before. At some points during the improv it sounded very disorganized, but then it would all come together and it became clear what the music was trying to do. I also liked how they played two different versions of the same piece for the workshop, it was interesting to see how they could make the same piece of music sound different. I definitely think this kind of music isn't for everyone, but I wouldn't mind hearing more from them as they create new music. I think the whole experience was a great reinforcement and example of everything we have talked about in class. I'm very glad I was able to experience the band, I hope to see them again live in the future.

Episode 6

In regards to the Vox Arcana visit, I wasn't able to go to their workshop (which I heard was phenomenal) due to a schedule interference, so I went to their show at 7pm. I can't really say that I liked the experience as much as others, but I stayed and kept an open mind. It was exactly what it was described to be, improv jazz, and more power to them for doing their own thing, however I found that it was too noisy for my taste. It was interesting to see a group delegate as far as they could from musical structure as they saw fit, truly idealizing the definition of pure "improvisation", however at some points I felt fatigued trying to find anything resembling musical sense, which I know was not their intention at all. Final verdict, it was an experience, one that enriched and expanded my understanding of what is considered to be music, but I don't plan on reliving it any time soon.

Episode 5

Jazz, one of the most interesting and innovative music forms brought by black culture, as well as one of my favorite genres of music. From Dizzy Gillespie to Louis Armstrong, jazz has found its place amongst the diverse musical soundscape. When asked to describe jazz, I always say that, "When other notes are being used for waltzes, rag time, 4/4, and the like, jazz is what all those other notes are doing". There really aren't any rules to jazz, which can make improvisational jazz uncanny, or disturbing.

Blog #6: Vox Arcana Performance

  The performance on Tuesday was really good and very interesting.  Vox Arcana did not sound very jazz to me, but that is what they are considered.  There was one song that they played that had more of a swing rhythm to it.  All of the songs had a different feel to them though, and they never sounded like the same thing.  Jazz musicians try to do different things and be unique without ever doing the same thing over again.  There were many times when I was reminded of John Cage during their performance.  Some of their compositions did not have much of a rhythm at first, and many of the people we have discussed in class might not coinsider it music like John Cage would.  I could definitely hear other cultures musical influence in some of their music.  I really liked that the drummer used different instruments to play the drum and moved around to play the large xylophone as well.  It was very different, and I have never seen that used in a musical performance other than the ones I put on with my class in elementary school.  The cello was really neat to hear as well and all of the musicians seemed like they really enjoyed playing and just wanted to share their music with all who wanted to hear it.

Blog #6 Vox Arcana

I enjoyed the performance by Vox Arcana and thought they did a great job. They visited our class freshman year and did a personal performance in our class room. It was funny to me that many of the people in the performance were laughing or giggling because they did not understand their type of music. For people who have never been introduced to their music find it confusing and weird. I thought they did a great job and their music sounded wonderful!

Blog 5: Vox Arcana

First of all, they were fantastic! I did enjoy their performances a lot and though there were some things that were difficult for me to accept as a self described 'traditional listener' there were still great moments during which I was completely enthralled by the music. I didn't quite understand how they were going to be able to 'improvise' when using a score, but for some reason they made it work. It seemed so precisely timed, but yet so effortless all at once. They did a lot of exploring and the different ways they used their instruments as well as the tools they used to enhance the sounds that they created. I thought the drums were the most peculiar things to pay attention to since he used different drumsticks, pans, symbols, etc to enhance what noises he made. The cello mixed with all of the electronic enhancements seemed mathematical in a way because to me he looked completely improvised and random, but obviously there was some direction to what he was doing. They also managed to mix some 'classical' sounds to more avant-garde mixes. The culmination of all of these things made for a very neat effect.

Blog 4: A Cappella & Beat boxing

So even though I don't know much about skyrim I think the theme is pretty awesome, but I thought this brought up the idea about how even though he's not playing an instrument and using his voice as both the vocals and the 'instrumental' part of the song. I guess I just never thought about how A Capella vocal work is just as entangled in music as Bach and Britney (Spears), but in a different way. I mean I know that Cage divorced himself from the idea that you have to play a 'traditional' instrument in order to create music, but I don't readily know what part of philosophy A Capella slips into. It just seems like something to branch out and discuss. I mean would be defined as sound art or something like it if it follows in the vein of Cage considering it doesn't require traditional instruments, but could potentially need a score. Plus, what does that say for improvisation with the human vocal chords especially for something like A Cappella or Beat Boxing.



I mean that's freaking cool and I think it should be considered in the realm of music in some way.

Blog 6: Vox Arcana Concert

During Vox Arcana's performance, I couldn't help but look around at people's reactions during one of their pieces. I saw that one girl was covering her ears and others were looking at each other in confusion. I thought that these were the reactions of a good portion of the audience. However, I did see some that enjoyed the transitions in tempo and beats in their music, I was one of them. Though their music was pretty diverse in sound production,  it was interesting to see how focused and in sync they were with each other. What I have found is that if they were to make a "mistake", the audience would never know because it could of been a part of their piece. That's one of the things I find the most interesting about their music. Perhaps the idea or notion of a "mistake" doesn't even exist. Overall I thought it was a great performance and that it exposes students to a different aspect of music.

Blog 6: Vox Arcana concert

The concert was very interesting. When I think of jazz, I think of instruments such as saxophones. This talented group made me realize that many other instruments are involved in the creation of jazz. Another thing I found very different about this type of music was how long their pieces were. It seemed like most pieces were about ten minutes long. Most of the genres I listen to have pieces no longer than four or maybe five minutes long. Another thing that caught my attention was how they would seem like they were done with one of their pieces and then all of the sudden they would start right back up. It was neat. I enjoyed the concert. I am glad that they decided to stop at Thomas More on their tour.

Blog 5 jazz

This past week we have been focusing a lot on different types of jazz. I never really heard much jazz growing up but the more I listen the more I like it. In FYS Dr. J talked about a jazz club around us and I think it would be great to take a class period and go visit it as a class. I would love to experience jazz music live. I hope to get to experience new jazz music as this semester continues.

Blog 5

The past few days of class we have been discussing jazz and improv music. Jazz isn't something I can say I listen to all the time, but I have good memories of listening to it with my dad in his car when I was kid. That is probably where  I can say I first experienced jazz. I remember liking it, and whenever I hear jazz I associate it with my dad, and I think of that memory. So, a lot of the jazz we have listened to in class has caused me to think of that, and I have been remembering how much I like jazz. It may sound disorganized to some people, but there is something beautiful in the disorganization. I just overall really like the unique sound of jazz, no other music sounds like jazz, and that's what makes it so special.

Blog 5: Improvised vs Composed Music

Today we discussed the philosophy around improvised and composed music. Where composed music is already structured and organized and simply has to be read by the musician. And where improvised music is when a musician or group of musicians play music at random that actually works together to make a good song. For example, at a rock concert, it is common that the lead guitarist does solo of random chords and crazy sounds. The majority of the time it works out well. It is debated whether it was really improvised or prepared. We will probably never know. However, I believe improvising adds a lot to music.

Blog 4: John Coltrane

After watching the video in class about John Coltrane and discussing about his music, it has become more evident to me that there are many different types of music styles that exist in our culture. Though that I had not heard of him before this class, it is obvious that he was an important figure in the jazz community. I found that there is a website solely dedicated to him. Though his music was different, and at times criticized, it was something different that I have never heard before. I can't that I enjoyed listening to him because his solos were long and very random, however, it is evident that many liked it.

Blog 5 Vox Arcana

As a class we will be attending Vox Arcana concert at Thomas More in the Steigerwald Building on 9/25/12. I thought it would be nice to hear a piece of there music before we see them live.

Here is a piece created by Vox Arcana.

Blog 4

Throughout this week of class we watched and listened to different types of music.  Most of the music we listen to I have never heard of, but I enjoy being able to hear new music. Jazz was one of the main topics dicussed this week and  it was very intersting. Before this class I never listened to jazz, but I now think Jazz is an interesting genre that can be a joy to listen to. I also like how Jazz Musicians create and work improve into their performances.

Music in Other Languages: Gangnam Style

Something that has always fascinated me about music is the fact that people can enjoy songs that are not from their country of origin, even if the music is not in their own native. This ties into previous posts I have made on this blog in terms of music seeming to transcend language. A clear case of this can be seen in the Korean pop single "Gangnam Style", which has not hit the US Billboard Top 100 at #11, but is also topping other music charts across the world. While this may be attributed partly to the music video, I think the song itself is good, being reminiscent of American pop and dance music. I have listened to the track without the music video several times as well.

I recommend listening to the song first before watching the video however, because the video is extremely striking and you will not be able to forget it once seeing it.

So pick your favorite song....

Think long and hard about your favorite song, enjoy it, savor it's melodies, and then let it return to the recesses of your mind.

What did it sound like....?

...If you tapped it? Would it be the same? Or much different? Could you tell the difference? Or is it so different could you even recognize what you were tapping in the first place?

Care to have a website find out for you?

I found this link while watching an episode of VSauce and found it to be pretty curious, you tap your song for as long as you want, it stores that data and you're free to download and playback your tapping file in Windows Media Player and then attempts to catalogue or match it to current music.

Blog 5: Vox Arcana and Jazz
  I am very interested to see the concert with Vox Arcana at Thomas More this Tuesday.  I have not listened to much jazz, but what I have heard of it I really enjoy.  It is very different than any other kind of music.  It has its own style and is very unique from song to song.  I like the swing rhythm that is in all jazz.  It has a very calming effect.  I think it will be interesting to listen to Vox Arcana play and compare it to the other jazz that I have heard.  I think that it will be neat to compare them to other jazz muscians as well.  I also want to see all the different instruments used in jazz music.  I did not realize that the drums were played in jazz.  The most common instrument I thought was the saxophone, but I want to learn more about the other instruments.  I also really liked the version of the song from the "Sound of Music" that we listened to in class.  It was very different, and I did not recognize it at first but then heard the familiar melody.  Jazz can mean different things to everyone that listens to it.  It is a very unique genre of music.

ThePianoGuys

Actually I lied about that last posts sentence, because I have something else to share with you guys that's far less strange than alien howler monkeys from Jupiter keeping you up at night :).

These are ThePianoGuys, a group of musicians based in Utah that do some pretty creative covers(and the rare original composition).

I discovered them with this awesome video titled "Chello Wars", the wave of url sharing on Facebook and Twitter was so massive that for a time the link was censored out as spam.

For something more in the modern classical area, here's "All of Me" by Jon Schmidt

Never even thought stomping the keys with your forearm was an option with playing the piano.

And finally, one of my favorites, Steven Sharp Nelson's cover of "Nearer my God to thee"

Enjoy.

4' 33" and Jupiter

Hello people. I was just looking around the blog today and came to the sudden realization that I did not yet post an experience of 4'33". So among other things, I'll be dropping a few things here today and tomorrow more or less related to class.

I also am in dire need of catching up on the blog ._.

So when I first heard of 4'33" last semester in Environmental Aesthetics, it wasn't too impressed by it. People sitting a room not-listening to people? Where was the value in that? Entertaining? Not particularly. There's nothing to listen to during a performance (seemingly)based solely around it

So I stuffed it in a mental closet and went on with my life. Fast forward to this month for our presentation and I saw a whole different angle to the performance after "performing". I realized that it wasn't just the audience being forced to listen, but the "musicians" as well. It was just us, standing around in the sun, a light breeze, traffic and crickets in the background. All we had to ourselves was our silence and our thoughts. Maybe it was in the delivery of the video Dr.Langguth showed in class, but "watching" it happen seems to fall short of "performing" it. If John Cage really intended for 4'33" to be a unique experience I really think the one who comes out on top of this is the performer instead of the audience.

So then my strange mind had to ask the question: "When 4'33" is played in space, what do you hear?"

Now the obvious answer is "Nothing", but that leaves two points:

1. If you hear "Nothing", isn't that the 'point' of 4'33"?
2. And is it possible to make "something" out of "nothing"? I recalled a post I used in Environmental Aesthetics about the "Sound of Planets" which had their natural radio wave emissions converted via computer into sound our brains can understand, one of which was Jupiter

(And don even get me started on Saturn)

So it would boil down to this one question: "If 4'33" was played in space, would it be loud, a cacophony of sound that overloads the senses, or dead silent with the absence of air?"

Well that's what I have for the moment, just some food for thought.

Vox Arcana

 This is a picture I found of Vox Arcana. The three members are Tim Daisy, Fred Lonberg-Holm, and James Falzone. Mr. Daisy was the one that got this group together. Their main focus in their music is improvision, as we discussed in class. Daisy plays the percussion. Lonberg-Holm plays the cello and electronics, and Falzone plays the clarinet.

(http://timdaisy.wordpress.com/vox-arcana/)

Blog 4

During this short year we have listened to a lot of familiar and unfamiliar music. I have enjoyed listening to a lot of them because it has showed the differences between composers and how they each use different notes to create masterpieces that people years and years from now will still enjoy.

4"33'

It has been over a week since the class participated in John Cage's 4:33. I was really honored and thought it was a very interesting piece. It's something that when we get old and our kids learn about him we can look back and say, "yea at Thomas More my philosophy of music took part in his 100th birthday celebration." I also think it was very neat that we were recognized by a blog as taking part in it. Not many people know about us but if they read that then they will be shocked a small college like us did something cool and exciting like this.

Blog 5: jazz

Today in class we were talking about jazz music. I have very little experience with it, but from what I have gathered, especially about the more Avante garde pieces, jazz is about not just the music, but the music and the performer. The improvisation is intensely personal, and live performances are so much more than anything on a cd. I really don't think it fits into the theory that music should be heard from behind a veil. The instruments used and the people playing them are key parts in the equation. Without those parts, much of the effect can be lost. Fans of jazz enjoy seeing the performers and associating them with what is being heard. In my own experience, I prefer seeing a video of the performance or going to a live one over listening to a cd, while it doesn't matter nearly as much with the typical music I listen to.

Episode 4

Lately we've been discussing unconventional forms of music. So for your consideration, I bring to you this piece. It's from the game Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, and it plays whenever you are infiltrating a Borgia Tower with the intent to assassinate the captain of said tower and burn it down. Notice that the song relies very little (if at all) on melody, and more on sound effects.

Blog four: steam powered giraffe

John Cage says to "savor the glitch." Well, to take that literally, here is a band that builds glitches into their songs. None of them are actual robots, but they move and play as if they are. Their motions are jerky and calculated. When they perform live, they pretend to break down, or glitch. It has a wonderful effect, making the performances fun and quirky while changing the song each time they perform it. Now, this is an intended effect, but the question still remains: is it part of the music to include the breakdown, or is that a separate thing in and of itself?

Blog 4

This week we have listened to a lot of unusual types of music. Everything we listened to I had never heard of before, and it was all very interesting. The kind of music we listened to really made me think about how diverse the world of music really is. There are so many kinds of music, more then I ever thought. Most of what we listened to was electronic music, I've always thought electronic music was interesting. However, I had only heard it in the "traditional" sense, in that it was electronic songs, or songs that had been electronically treated. I never thought about electronically treating everyday sounds. It was kind of eerie in some ways, but over all created something that almost sounded like a song. I am definitely looking forward to hearing the other kinds of music we will listen to in this class.

Blog 3

Last week in class we performed  4'33" to honor John Cages 100th birthday. The performance was definitely interesting and different. I did not expect the performance to be in silence the whole time.  I didnt realize that standing in silence with a group of people for over 4 minutes would take as long as it did. Even though as a class we didnt make sound, you could still hear the natual sounds around you which was interesting. Overall, performing John Cages 4'33" was a fun experience, and I hope we do more activities like it.

blog 4

This week we listened to many different types of music, some that were enjoyable to listen to and others that are not so much. I enjoy being able to experiece all these different genres. The majority of the music we listen to I have never heard of or I only heard it once or twice in FYS. Its great to be able to experience all this different music and really get to listen to it.

Blog 4: Music in my Life

  I enjoy listening to all the different types of music that we listen to in class.  There is so much diversity in music.  I am looking forward to listening to many more different kinds of music in this class.  I am familiar with some of the composers we have discussed in class.  I took 8 ½ years of piano, and it was a great way for me to relax.  I do not have much time anymore to do piano and I do miss it.  Music is a great relaxer, and I have expanded my music library a great deal in the last few years because I want different kinds of music to listen to.  There are some types of music that I do not care for, but other people like these genres, and they help them express who they are.  I am going to school to be a teacher and music is a great way to add diversity to any classroom.  It can also be the basis of many classroom activities.  I love listening to music and want to be able to incorporate it in to my teaching as much as possible.   

Wagner 1813-1833

“Whatever my passions demand of me, I become for the time being - musician, poet, director, author, lecturer or anything else.” -Wagner

I think this quote shows what we talked about in class. It shows how he is known for combining every known art. He seems to believe that he is willing to follow every one of his passions, which shows how he is determined to do what he wants.

Performing 4:33"

This was honestly one of the coolest things I've ever done in my life. Being in a performance, yet not uttering a single sound, is just kind of awesome. I loved hearing all the different sounds that we normally ignore or just can't hear during our day to day life. The best sounds in my opinion were the insects rustling in the grass. All in all, it was an amazing experience, and it reminds me how much I should just stop sometimes and enjoy my surroundings.

Blog 3: 4'33"

Recently our class did a performance of 4'33" in honor of John Cage's 100th birthday. I have to say that this performance was not what I expected it to be at all. I had a misunderstanding that the class was just going to play improv with the instruments...I was completely wrong! Instead, we just stood outside, silently, and were video taped. It was a very interesting experience, but it was just not what I was expecting. I was standing there wondering when the que was going to be given for us to begin playing, but it was never given. All in all, it was probably a once in a lifetime experience for me and it was very interesting. There was also a controversy over if 4'33" is considered music. I personally do not consider this music. There was no sound to make music, and I don't think that silence is music.

Blog 3

Last week we had our class performance of John Cage's 4 33. It was definitely an interesting experience as it was not what I would traditionally think of when performing a piece of music. The whole idea of sound art was very interesting to me anyway though, it was something I had never heard of before. I actually liked doing this because standing there in silence really forces you to just listen to what's around you, and focus on things that would normally be overlooked. This included nature sounds, sounds of the road etc... It was kind of relaxing, at least for me. I think sound art is a very cool idea, because anything really can be music if it is just given the chance. I think John Cage had a brilliant mind, and through what he did with his music, he showed others the way to think out of the box and have new experiences.

Blog 2

What is music? At first I thought music was played with specific instruments based off a written peice of music. After attending class and listening/watching John Cage's performance, I have learned that music can be created by anything. For example in class we watched a performance by John Cages, where he uses random home appliances to create music. John Cage also states that music is created around us. For example birds singing, wind blowing, moving cars, and more. I look forward to learning more about John Cage and the Philosopy of Music.

introduction

Hi my name is Evan Nichols. I am a senior studying Business Administration with a concentration in Management. I attended and graduated Oak Hills High School in 2008 located in Cincinnati Ohio. I have an older brother named Drew and an older sister named Allie. I use to play college baseball at Thomas More until I had surgery on my shoulder. So far class has been interesting and I look forward  to learning more about the philosopy of music.

4.33

 Four minutes is not a long time, but in complete silences it seems like a lifetime has past to the modern day performer. When we had performed the piece in class it was odd to me how much effort it took not to turn and laugh at my friend next to me. There we were standing there with maracas in hand doing absolutely nothing. I felt like I should have been very serious, but I wanted to smile because it wasn't though the activity called for me to look like someone had run over my favorite cat. But just standing there, listening to the natural ambiance was...somehow unsettling. There was no 'noises' to fill to the void and it seemed even more maddening that I had something in my hand to sort of awaken the silence. We touched upon in class how in today's society we always seem to be surrounded by noise. From the morning until we finally fall asleep there is 'noise' everywhere and we grow uncomfortable with silence. I think in that regards John Cage's piece symbolizes something that we need as human beings. We don't meditate anymore which in our fast paced world seems useless and out of date. I guess Cage was filling a need that most of us still don't understand.

Blog 3: 4:33 Reflection John Geach Jr

I enjoyed getting out of that hot room and going outside where it was actually cooler.  Even though our class was not making any sounds it was enjoyable to hear the melody of nature.  The business of campus life can make it hard to appreciate the beauty of the actual campus itself.  I was glad that I got to experience the magic of 4:33.

Blog 2: John Geach Jr

Class is going pretty good, I am really enjoying it.  I am glad we spend so much time talking about John Cage.  In my senior art show I will actually be using chance operations, which John Cage happens to be the king of chance operations.  Sometimes you never know how things are going to cross one and other.


Here is an example of John Cages art work using chance operations.
http://www.frieze.com/uploads/images/back/John_Cage_Hayward_Touring_58_450w.jpg

Blog 3: 4:33 Performance

As many had mentioned in class, the performance of Cage's 4:33 was by far one of the most interesting I had ever been a part of. I didn't realize that 4 minutes and 33 seconds was going to take a long time until the actual performance. When you are just standing there and counting down the time, 4 minutes and 33 seconds can be a long time. However, though we were in silence, you could hear the surrounding environment. Such as the birds chirping, cars driving by, and even the wind. This performance kind of puts you in this meditative sort of state. It's easy to reflect and as Cage has said, even pray. I thought it was a great and unique experience and it definitely gives you a whole new perspective on music.

Blog 3: Performance of 4:33

  The performance of 4:33 went well. We had many instruments in the performance.  Since there was no actual music being played, I was able to hear sounds in the background.  I could hear the birds and and some distant traffic passing by on the road.  It was very peaceful and quiet; it made me think how when we listen to music we cannot here any background sounds.  The background sounds of the outdoors were nice to hear, and in our busy lives in today's world we miss out on those sounds simply because we are always in a hurry and do not stop to listen.  John Cage must have listened to everything around him to come up with the compositions he did.  He considered many things music that a lot of people would think were just noise.  Then there is his compostition, 4:33, that is just silence and he considered that music too.

Episode 3

As everyone on this blog is already aware, September 5 marked the 100th birthday of John Cage. We celebrated by partaking in a global event in which we performed "4:33". We stood in the open (video recording), letting the silence take over, but in doing so immersed ourselves in the surrounding sounds. It's a transcending experience, and it reminds me of the movie August Rush. Plus I got to hold an accordion, and accordions are awesome.

#3 4:33 performance

When performing 4:33 it was great to just stand and listen to our surroundings. Standing outside and just enjoying the sounds of nature for 4 mins and 33 seconds was a great experience. Nobody has time to just sit around and enjoy our surroundings anymore. 4:33 is about letting our surroundings be the music and i feel that truly happened for us. We had a beautiful morning to perform and we had some great nature sounds as well. Overall i feel John Cage would have loved are performance.

Blog three: 4:33 performance

Yesterday we performed John cage's 4:33. It was probably one of the oddest experiences of my life. Sound is a huge part of our lives. It is always in the background. But usually what we consider music drowns out the everyday sounds present in the world. Traffic. Crickets. Conversations. Rustles of movement around us, a hint of the teeming life just outside our vision. In the silence of 4:33 we experience the world in a way different from what is normal these days. I enjoyed it. We stood there for minutes, yet when it ended I felt as though only one had passed.

Cage Turns 100

Happy 100th birthday to John Cage! Congratulations to all on an outstanding performance of 4'33" this morning. Our performance was part of "Global 4'33"", a worldwide observation of Cage's centennial organized by the World Listening Project. I will post links to other Global 4'33" events as I learn of them.

A random draw from Silence in commemoration of Cage:

"We bake a cake  and it turns out that the sugar was not sugar but salt. I no sooner start to work than the telephone rings."

John Cage

4:33

It was interesting performing John Cages performance of 4:33 today. It felt like a long time to stand there even though it was not a long time at all. Since all of us were silent, it was neat to be able to hear all the things that were going on around us. I could hear the birds, insects, ambulances, and cars going down the road. It made me realize how much is around me that I rarely take the time to notice. I'm glad we were able to take part in this event. Happy Birthday John Cage!

Music as a Language

It seems a common thread in discussions about music to talk about it having it's own language. In keeping with the themes of John Cage, I think it is appropriate to say that music is not actually a language, simply because language is too restrictive a term. While languages can change and evolve, there is not much experimentation that a person can do with language. There are set grammatical rules that we follow, and words are understood in generally one or two definitions.

Music is greater than that, and so I think it is safe to say that it actually transcends language.There are patterns in music that people can copy in order to get something nice, but there is so much more wiggle room with music in not only the way it is created and for what purpose, but also for the listener to interpret. Give two different people the same instrumental music without any kind of context and it is extremely likely that they will walk away from it with differing understandings of what that composer or musician was trying to convey. Therefore, calling music a "language" is too tight a definition, and does not describe the sheer amount of possibility there is in the art.

Blog #2

This past week in class we have been looking and disscusing what exactly music is. I always thought it was just simply some artist or composer had created, then performed. In other words, what most people traditionally think of when they think of music. Then I also got to thinking later about how that really isn't true, as we have learned from John Cage. One thing I thought of right away in the case of sound music, was Sesame Street. There were several episodes in which the characters would have us listen to something, then say what it was, followed by several more sounds. Once all the soounds had been played they would then ask us if we could hear how it kind of sounded like music. And it really does sound like music. Another thing I thought of was the performance act Stomp, this group makes music out of everyday street or householdobjects including trash can lids, railings, plungers etc... which they incoorporate into their stage show. These things are what came to my mind right away after this week of class, and I can say I am definitely expanding my thoughts on what I think music is. (see link for a look at stomp below)

 Stomp Montage

Episode 2

It seems like the popular question now is "What is (considered to be) music?" Well here's my two cents on the subject:

For as long as I can remember, I never really perceived music to be sounds and tones, but rather a spoken language, a language that translates to all people, a language that we can all "understand", and music sheets are like our written books and one can learn to read them, write them, and "read them aloud" (that is, play the composition using an instrument). I don't hear melodies, so much as I hear emotions, as if the very notes are speaking to me and telling me a story, whether that story be about the composer's life, or an insight of human nature, etc. I think this is why I've always preferred music without lyrics. The mark of a good song is when long after a performance, the audience is still humming the tune to themselves.

But I digress,

As an example of how music is a language everyone can understand, consider the following video:

#2 High and Low Music as a part of the debate?

I know the debate about music and what makes music could be taken from a purely scientific view, but I think we've started to touch upon the fact that the human perspective, being vastly different from person to person, makes finding an answer to philosophical questions like 'what is music' incredibly difficult. For instance I think that Pretty Flowers by Steve Martin featuring Dolly Parton and Vince Gill is interesting especially since I have never been into bluegrass before, but yet I also find myself returning back to old standbys like Nsync because it reminds of my adolescence even though artistically most would say that the 'high' musical art in my choices would definitely favor Steve Martin compared to Nsync even though Nsync is by far more popular than Steve Martin in the 'mainstream' music world. I realize that there is already a division in what is considered to be sound art and what is considered to be music, but I can see the potential for there to be a division in what is considered to be true music and what is just rubbish. Maybe that's something to consider developing the idea of what is music and what is not.

Blog 2

In class we have been discussing what music is. Is it strictly just instruments playing a written piece of music? Or does music include every noise or sound that is heard around us? John Cage was one to believe that music was everything around us...traffic sounds, birds singing, etc. Traffic sounds aren't really music to my ears, but Cage looked at everything in a whole new way than most people. I find John Cage a very interesting guy and am really looking forward to learning about what else he believed. I also find it funny that he was so fascinated with mushrooms...