Saturday, July 28, 2007

Interesting Music History Tidbits

Now that Orff is over and Lydee is on her way back to West Virginia, I am trying to get caught up on my music history reading. Our final and last day of my music history class is this coming Friday and I am two chapters behind (insert deep breath). I will update later on Orff as there is much to share.

We are now in the 20th century in our music history endeavor. In the art field, success "was measured not by wide popular appeal but by the esteem of intellectuals and fellow artists." I found this quite interesting as I can see that is an attitude that is still prevalent today. Professionally we look for the encouragement, endorsement, and approval of our colleagues and those in higher circles than we are. We look up to those who have gone further than us academically. I'm sure this statement can be applied to many areas, but it just struck me of this is still true in the professional & education realm.

Something else that I probably should've known but never thought about was when the capability to record musicians came about and people started buying recordings, "listening to recordings often replaced amateur music making at home." That is huge! And to think of how incredibly affected we are by that today. In my experience, I have found that there is a general attitude of people not wanting to make music because they aren't professionals and they won't be able to sound like the recordings. But there is also the flip side, that people do make music in hopes of emulating a favorite band or recording. Well, those are the thoughts for the moment. I need to stop blogging and get back to my reading.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Lydee said...

That's very interesting to think how recordings have affected people and their musical development today. Re: soprano high G and A. After listening to the dvd, you're right. Those notes just were not meant to be played in unison by a group of people.

Anonymous said...

The question is, though, is it wrong that so much value is put on those who are higher up than us, speaking professionally...somehow this can get into Christianity too, being so concerned about what the pastors oro other "older saints" think. Is it wrong? Where is the balance?...always more questions than answers.

Gina said...

I agree Jake, always more questions than answers. I think it is wrong when we begin to idolize people and put them up on a pedestal (whether it's professionally or in the church), but I do think there is something to be said in looking to someone higher up as a mentor. Can't help but think of the people I worked with the past two weeks who have so much more experience teaching than I do, and what a resource they can be when I have a question or need help.

Anonymous said...

Gee, Gina. I wish I had known that you didn't have anyone else in the "wicked hard" group. I would have tried it! I was pretty bored in class, too. I had a nasty habit of flipping through the rest of my notes just to keep occupied. I love Karen too much to completely blow of the class, though! I had a blast trying to play that piece for level I movement at their performance, even if it did almost give me a seizure! :-P -Sarah K.

Anonymous said...

Look up as a mentor, definitely...like apprenticeship almost, in a church/Christianity setting it might be called discipleship. That discipleship is another thing that it seems to be a lack of in Calvary Chapels, even though it sure seems to be in the Word (the older women and older men teaching the younger women and younger men). LORD, help us.