CCSinM: Cross-Cultural Studies in Music

responses to responses

yowzer. so many people said so many interesting things about this class that i feel the need to respond to. i probably won't be able to get to them all. but if there's anything that i'm taking away from this class, it is definitely that even when the number of things overwhelms you, you have to at least try to make sense out of it all even when you know you fall incredibly short.
i absolutely, wholeheartedly agree with kate's point that my interest in music is tragically narrow. i have had my ears opened to so much this entire year - by getting to know new people, taking the music history course, and of course by taking this class. every time someone asks me, "hey, have you heard of...?" and i have to say no, i get quite upset. MUST FIND OUT!!! i want to know everything about all kinds of music and different artists and cultures that form the contemporary musical world. without music, my life is incomplete, and without new music, my life is boring. plain and simple. as for my tastes being narrow, i learned that last year in my first semester when i had my radio show. i had been reading SPIN magazine for a few years and never really knew any music by the bands they covered, though i could tell you for sure who they were and probably name the members for you. once i hit the station, though, my life was changed. so much music, and so much of it was so good! god! i could barely stand it. i wanted to take all the cds home and burn them, but obviously i couldn't. i can't wait to start my new show this spring term and be able to share all my new music with everyone and be completely amazed once again at what i am able to find.
that was one of the things that always astonished me about this class - how was he able to find all these examples? if i were to go looking for greek music, i wouldn't even know where to begin. im afraid that if i started looking on the internet, i would find so many things as to be completely overwhelmed and not even know where to start, and finally end up turning the whole class into a greek music class rather than try to encompass it all into the ethnomusicology label.
once again, im going to go along with what everyone else is saying and completely agree with derek. live music is better than recorded, hands down. unless there are so many effects on the record that live it simply can't be reproduced, in which case i believe the band isn't worth seeing anyway if they can only produce their sound in a studio. point being - live is better. the energy is more immediate, the emotion more raw, and there is some definite challenge to live more than you already are. that sounds really lame, but that's always been the experience i've had at concerts.
anyway, i thought katie's entry was an excellent metaphor. quite lovely, really. there really is no script when you're out on stage, and to quote another woman i love (dymph alexander), "the concert of life has no program."
so many amazing things to learn, to do, to see, to hear, to taste, to feel, to appreciate, to dream, to wonder about... so little time.
thanks hugh!

blog comments/link

Some comments on Christy's comment and general stuff about live music vs recorded.

Also, Theresa did a great job with the "Rage Against the Machine Website" check it.