Disconnected Thoughts
So after institute last night, This Girl and I were sitting there talking... till they kicked us out of the church. We drove over to my apartment, listened to You're A Good Man Charlie Brown, while talking even more till a little after 1 in the morning. My brother sat there and played computer games and listening to us talk for over two hours. After This Girl left, I asked my brother, "Are you sick of us yet?"
To which he replied, "When wasn't I?" Good stuff.
It's interesting when I talk to this girl. Whenever I am talking to her, and she really wants to know how I feel about something, I tell her. But I'm not just telling her, I tell her, and find this passion there that I didn't know existed. Last week, she wanted to know my favorite books and why. If a family member asked that question, I would have routinely answered it is some basic way. But with her, it's deeper and more passionate. Feelings that I didn't know existed in me about these subjects other than music. She has this uncanny ability to draw it out of me. With everybody else, I am reserved, and keep with me the calm exterior that I've developed over the course of my life.
Today, I was riding with other tuba-euph students to a performance. On the way home, they wanted to listen to a CD. They checked with me first to make sure I wouldn't be offended in any way by it. I told them to go ahead and play it. I ended up really liking the group, which I think surprised them.
The view of most of the tuba-euph students have of me must be a weird one. I tend to be so reserved and quiet, coupled with the fact that I am LDS, that they consider me a lot more conservative than what I really am. The fact that they thought I would be offended with a CD that I ended up really liking is just one example. I do have my limits, yet they tend to not realize what and where they are, and for the most part stay well away from those limits. That's not necessarily a bad thing, I don't have anyone really trying to push those limits then.
Yet another disjointed thought to all of this madness. It's amazing how much I don't know about music. I understand the theory, the classical, and a lot of other categories, yet I don't know a lot of music. There are so many bands, songs, and genres out there that I don't have a clue about. I have a few favorite groups and outside of that, I know nothing of modern rock bands or musicals. Our institute director and This Girl carried on a conversation about all these musicals and who played in them, and how well they were done, and I had no clue what any of it was. It was easy for me to follow the conversation, but I couldn't contribute unless they played an example for me of what they were talking about.
I've run into many people who understand all these different rock bands and styles, influences, etc. I don't have a clue, and in these conversations, there are even parts I can't follow, surprisingly enough. A movie that has so many jokes that I would really like to know what they're talking about is High Fidelity. I see the jokes flying right over my head. I just am ignorant to modern rock music. While listening today to that CD with the tuba-euph students, there's just so many groups that I probably should know about. That's what I was thinking. The group, which I can't remember the name, was a progressive rock group. Something like Cabeen and Cambiata. I think that's their name. This is yet another untapped resource for music education, the modern stuff, that is. While they get enough of it, we could at least get them to think somewhat intelligently to what they're listening too. I'm sure there are also many songs in this category which have a decent message and correspond to what your trying to teach them. Granted, I wouldn't go to the point of School of Rock does, but still, it's not a bad idea to include that, since it would be something they are familiar with, and build a basis of knowledge off that.
I need to focus on words more. I'm such a focused instrumentalist that I tend to ignore many of the words. The hymnbook for instance. This Girl and I got on the subject of hymns and our favorite ones. Of course I have a hymnbook at my apartment, so I drag it out, and explain my favorite hymns, and why, which tended to be the harmonically complex hymns, and many aspects that dealt with music. When she shared hers, and really got into the words explaining why she liked them and the way they impacted her, it was amazing. I wish I could do that. It's very tough for me. I don't understand poetry, I get things totally wrong all the time.
I need to learn how to teach basic music terms. This was rather funny. When sharing my favorite hymns and why, I started off by saying, "I really like the start of this one because the harmonies that coincide with the pedal point..." I lost her at that point. Pedal point was easy to explain. 4-3 suspension took me about 10 minutes(I had no piano to reference to). Cadence took a while too. I wasn't going to try V of V. As a music major, these terms flow so naturally, that they've become the basic words that I use to explain more complex musical terms. I don't know how to simplify them anymore. Course it probably would have helped if I had set a foundation up, instead of going straight to the complex. At some point I mentioned formata, to which she replied, "Is that the one-eyed smiley?" It was really funny. I've forgotten that most people don't know these like I do. Out of curiosity, who remembers the term for "train tracks" or possibly "railroad ties"? I forgot the real term. That's what my band director always used, so I don't remember the real term.
Anyway, sorry about the random jumping from topic to topic with no real purpose. It's just what I've thought about today.
To which he replied, "When wasn't I?" Good stuff.
It's interesting when I talk to this girl. Whenever I am talking to her, and she really wants to know how I feel about something, I tell her. But I'm not just telling her, I tell her, and find this passion there that I didn't know existed. Last week, she wanted to know my favorite books and why. If a family member asked that question, I would have routinely answered it is some basic way. But with her, it's deeper and more passionate. Feelings that I didn't know existed in me about these subjects other than music. She has this uncanny ability to draw it out of me. With everybody else, I am reserved, and keep with me the calm exterior that I've developed over the course of my life.
Today, I was riding with other tuba-euph students to a performance. On the way home, they wanted to listen to a CD. They checked with me first to make sure I wouldn't be offended in any way by it. I told them to go ahead and play it. I ended up really liking the group, which I think surprised them.
The view of most of the tuba-euph students have of me must be a weird one. I tend to be so reserved and quiet, coupled with the fact that I am LDS, that they consider me a lot more conservative than what I really am. The fact that they thought I would be offended with a CD that I ended up really liking is just one example. I do have my limits, yet they tend to not realize what and where they are, and for the most part stay well away from those limits. That's not necessarily a bad thing, I don't have anyone really trying to push those limits then.
Yet another disjointed thought to all of this madness. It's amazing how much I don't know about music. I understand the theory, the classical, and a lot of other categories, yet I don't know a lot of music. There are so many bands, songs, and genres out there that I don't have a clue about. I have a few favorite groups and outside of that, I know nothing of modern rock bands or musicals. Our institute director and This Girl carried on a conversation about all these musicals and who played in them, and how well they were done, and I had no clue what any of it was. It was easy for me to follow the conversation, but I couldn't contribute unless they played an example for me of what they were talking about.
I've run into many people who understand all these different rock bands and styles, influences, etc. I don't have a clue, and in these conversations, there are even parts I can't follow, surprisingly enough. A movie that has so many jokes that I would really like to know what they're talking about is High Fidelity. I see the jokes flying right over my head. I just am ignorant to modern rock music. While listening today to that CD with the tuba-euph students, there's just so many groups that I probably should know about. That's what I was thinking. The group, which I can't remember the name, was a progressive rock group. Something like Cabeen and Cambiata. I think that's their name. This is yet another untapped resource for music education, the modern stuff, that is. While they get enough of it, we could at least get them to think somewhat intelligently to what they're listening too. I'm sure there are also many songs in this category which have a decent message and correspond to what your trying to teach them. Granted, I wouldn't go to the point of School of Rock does, but still, it's not a bad idea to include that, since it would be something they are familiar with, and build a basis of knowledge off that.
I need to focus on words more. I'm such a focused instrumentalist that I tend to ignore many of the words. The hymnbook for instance. This Girl and I got on the subject of hymns and our favorite ones. Of course I have a hymnbook at my apartment, so I drag it out, and explain my favorite hymns, and why, which tended to be the harmonically complex hymns, and many aspects that dealt with music. When she shared hers, and really got into the words explaining why she liked them and the way they impacted her, it was amazing. I wish I could do that. It's very tough for me. I don't understand poetry, I get things totally wrong all the time.
I need to learn how to teach basic music terms. This was rather funny. When sharing my favorite hymns and why, I started off by saying, "I really like the start of this one because the harmonies that coincide with the pedal point..." I lost her at that point. Pedal point was easy to explain. 4-3 suspension took me about 10 minutes(I had no piano to reference to). Cadence took a while too. I wasn't going to try V of V. As a music major, these terms flow so naturally, that they've become the basic words that I use to explain more complex musical terms. I don't know how to simplify them anymore. Course it probably would have helped if I had set a foundation up, instead of going straight to the complex. At some point I mentioned formata, to which she replied, "Is that the one-eyed smiley?" It was really funny. I've forgotten that most people don't know these like I do. Out of curiosity, who remembers the term for "train tracks" or possibly "railroad ties"? I forgot the real term. That's what my band director always used, so I don't remember the real term.
Anyway, sorry about the random jumping from topic to topic with no real purpose. It's just what I've thought about today.
posted by Trueblat at 10:13 AM
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