Lately in theory class we've been looking at Steve Reich's influence on rhythm. A group of profs performed one of Reich's newer pieces, 2x5, at concert credit today, and it really made me stop and think.*
As someone who is planning to/beginning to specialize in music that was written hundreds of years ago (but which, I hasten to add, still has so much to teach us!) it is refreshing to be a student at a school which forces me to engage with what music currently is. What is currently happening in western art music? What are the current innovations, what is currently being composed - and why is this specific kind of music happening at this particular time?
Another thought: I feel truly, truly lucky to be learning about music at a school which so widely seems to believe in making the creative and artistic processes as transparent as possible. It's inspiring to be surrounded by people who are so excited about music, and who are so excited about sharing their processes with us, so we in turn can learn, and create.
I am lucky to be here.
*I might add that the performance was fantastic, and my head is still reeling from the rhythmic complexity and general all-around awesomeness!
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Friday, March 9, 2012
The Best Plagiarism Analogy I've Heard in a Long Time
My Musicology professor, lecturing on citing sources when paraphrasing:
"If someone has a boat, and you really, really like that boat, and you take the boat and paint it blue, people are still going to think that YOU STOLE that boat!!"
"If someone has a boat, and you really, really like that boat, and you take the boat and paint it blue, people are still going to think that YOU STOLE that boat!!"
Saturday, March 3, 2012
To Study Music
Tonight, instead of dutifully completing my homework (which was tonight's original plan) I am thinking about music, song, and creativity.
Because I chose a route that leads to an academic career as opposed to a strictly creative one - though I think the two are far from separate - I sometimes feel that I need to practice my abilities to remain impersonal and objective.
Sometimes (I'll admit this in the spirit of being candid) I even feel like taking too much time to function as a creative person/musician will deter from my scholarship.
But right now, that seems so unbelievably ridiculous.
I'm studying to be a Musicologist. Music in words. MUSIC in words. Sometimes I think/act like I'm somehow separate from other music students. Certainly not better than them, or worse than them - but different.
But, really, I'm not.
Music is ultimately the study of people (composers or performers), their creative ideas (programmatic/absolute), and how those ideas take hold in sound (music). It's so human. And, really, I'm finding more than ever, it requires creativity.
Music is not impersonal and objective. It's an ongoing list of commentary - upon music/sound itself, upon politics, upon art, upon people and cultures and ideas and life itself.
If I'm going to add anything of value to the words that come after and about the music in "Musicology", I need to be engaged. In life, in the world, in creativity, in music.
This, I suppose, is where balance comes in.
There needs to be time to write the papers, read the books, memorize the facts. And let me be clear: I love the books, the papers, the facts, (to an extent) the Canon, footnotes, and academic writing. I love comprehending and exploring the conversations which surround music.
But there also needs to be time to live. To create. Time to play the piano and listen to music and create and connect. To engage with the world, and what is present in it.
[Clearly, I lean towards the programmatic side of things.]
Because I chose a route that leads to an academic career as opposed to a strictly creative one - though I think the two are far from separate - I sometimes feel that I need to practice my abilities to remain impersonal and objective.
Sometimes (I'll admit this in the spirit of being candid) I even feel like taking too much time to function as a creative person/musician will deter from my scholarship.
But right now, that seems so unbelievably ridiculous.
I'm studying to be a Musicologist. Music in words. MUSIC in words. Sometimes I think/act like I'm somehow separate from other music students. Certainly not better than them, or worse than them - but different.
But, really, I'm not.
Music is ultimately the study of people (composers or performers), their creative ideas (programmatic/absolute), and how those ideas take hold in sound (music). It's so human. And, really, I'm finding more than ever, it requires creativity.
Music is not impersonal and objective. It's an ongoing list of commentary - upon music/sound itself, upon politics, upon art, upon people and cultures and ideas and life itself.
If I'm going to add anything of value to the words that come after and about the music in "Musicology", I need to be engaged. In life, in the world, in creativity, in music.
This, I suppose, is where balance comes in.
There needs to be time to write the papers, read the books, memorize the facts. And let me be clear: I love the books, the papers, the facts, (to an extent) the Canon, footnotes, and academic writing. I love comprehending and exploring the conversations which surround music.
But there also needs to be time to live. To create. Time to play the piano and listen to music and create and connect. To engage with the world, and what is present in it.
[Clearly, I lean towards the programmatic side of things.]
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