LJ Idol Season 8, week 33, ensemble
As part of my degree I needed three credits in some kind of art; literature, music, theater, it didn’t matter exactly which I chose. I decided on introduction to music. It looked like it was laid out to be a music appreciation class. The benefits were that it was online in the summer, making it easy to squeeze in around work hours. Also, I had heard from two different people that the professor was nice.
I started the class and straight off it was vocabulary words like melody, harmony, motive, timbre, texture, beat, and so on. I picked them up pretty easily, not realizing how complex music really was. Even the more common terms had in depth explanations.
One of our assignments was to attend a concert and write a review of it using an extensive list of questions. I wrote the professor an e-mail, asking if I could use a previously attended concert, which I knew he didn’t prefer, but telling him that transportation was difficult for me especially on evenings and weekends. I didn’t expect the reply I got in return. He offered to take me along, with his family, to an upcoming concert which was to take place in three days. Everyone was right, he was a nice guy.
I was nervous attending a concert and dinner afterward with complete strangers. I am not very good with polite conversation. My anxiety was through the roof.
As we sat waiting to hear the orchestra play, he went over the program with me. He added little facts about the room we were in, how the orchestra was positioned on stage, what they were wearing, what they had to do to tune their instruments. It was all information that came in handy later for my concert critique paper.
The performance was very enjoyable and we discussed it in the car afterward, and at dinner. I learned so much about what I had heard. His two sons had played in the concert with one playing the cello, and the other playing the base. I admired the talents of the young people who had performed, some of them less than half my age. To have that much discipline was remarkable. I really had a lot of respect for those in the music majors.
Later, when I was researching my term paper for the class, I asked the professor for suggestions on where to get information. When he referred to the internet and even Wikipedia, I was shocked! I think it was then that my respect began to crumble. In the sciences, which is what I am used to, you only use peer reviewed journal articles, sometimes books, or data you collect. I couldn’t believe it. Maybe the music students had it rough melding their voices with one another or producing a gorgeous piece of instrumental music, but surely their academic pursuits had something lacking.
This really hammered home that there are difficult and easy things with any major, job, or career. It was something I already knew, but having it right there in black and white was so educational. I had been in awe of these beings that knew and understood music, and then was left laughing when I learned how easy it would be to write my final paper.
I haven’t written the paper yet though. I think I’m procrastinating because I just can’t get my head around the concept. The final exam was a five hundred word essay, which was so easy for me. If I don’t get an A in the course I will be shocked and truly cry.
I started the class and straight off it was vocabulary words like melody, harmony, motive, timbre, texture, beat, and so on. I picked them up pretty easily, not realizing how complex music really was. Even the more common terms had in depth explanations.
One of our assignments was to attend a concert and write a review of it using an extensive list of questions. I wrote the professor an e-mail, asking if I could use a previously attended concert, which I knew he didn’t prefer, but telling him that transportation was difficult for me especially on evenings and weekends. I didn’t expect the reply I got in return. He offered to take me along, with his family, to an upcoming concert which was to take place in three days. Everyone was right, he was a nice guy.
I was nervous attending a concert and dinner afterward with complete strangers. I am not very good with polite conversation. My anxiety was through the roof.
As we sat waiting to hear the orchestra play, he went over the program with me. He added little facts about the room we were in, how the orchestra was positioned on stage, what they were wearing, what they had to do to tune their instruments. It was all information that came in handy later for my concert critique paper.
The performance was very enjoyable and we discussed it in the car afterward, and at dinner. I learned so much about what I had heard. His two sons had played in the concert with one playing the cello, and the other playing the base. I admired the talents of the young people who had performed, some of them less than half my age. To have that much discipline was remarkable. I really had a lot of respect for those in the music majors.
Later, when I was researching my term paper for the class, I asked the professor for suggestions on where to get information. When he referred to the internet and even Wikipedia, I was shocked! I think it was then that my respect began to crumble. In the sciences, which is what I am used to, you only use peer reviewed journal articles, sometimes books, or data you collect. I couldn’t believe it. Maybe the music students had it rough melding their voices with one another or producing a gorgeous piece of instrumental music, but surely their academic pursuits had something lacking.
This really hammered home that there are difficult and easy things with any major, job, or career. It was something I already knew, but having it right there in black and white was so educational. I had been in awe of these beings that knew and understood music, and then was left laughing when I learned how easy it would be to write my final paper.
I haven’t written the paper yet though. I think I’m procrastinating because I just can’t get my head around the concept. The final exam was a five hundred word essay, which was so easy for me. If I don’t get an A in the course I will be shocked and truly cry.