What is Music?

A week or so ago I wrote a blog that trigged some interesting responses. It was a rant, my own personal frustration let loose on ‘paper’ because I couldn’t see the point in continuing to argue about the subject out loud any longer. The basic premise of my rant was dealing with a certain band of guys, who because of certain connections to they have with a so called “boy band,” seems to deem them as unacceptable musicians to some of my guy friends. And I have actually noticed this trend elsewhere.

It seems to me that this bias towards this group (and others) seems to stem not from their musical standpoint but rather which artists in the industry they associate with. Because they seem to run in a circle of musicians whose target audience is tweens, my friends have deemed them unsuitable for my interest. From my standpoint, it seems obvious that their rejection of the music stems from the demographics of the fan-base and not on the quality of their music.

And this I believe is wrong. How can you base your opinion of a musical artist off of his or her fan base? Or worse, how can you judge them just because they happen to be signed to a label, which stems from the company run by a mouse? Why is this a factor in how you respond to them as musicians?

If we are taking the standpoint held by the second argument (the company argument) than maybe I should tell my guy friends to stop watching sports because ESPN is owned by this same company. Or stop watching some of their favorite TV shows because they happen to run on ABC and this same company also owns ABC.

They tell me to grow up and listen to ‘real music’ but what classifies as real music? If they would open their eyes (and ears) for one minute they would see that I don’t just listen to what they call “teeny-bopper” music. My music taste is actually quite eclectic, and I will listen to anything once. Although I do have to say that music with heavy cursing and the majority of rap turns me off. But anything else is usually ok.

I hope that someday they realize how closed-minded they are being. Sure, Jonas Brothers and Honor Society’s music may not be for everyone, but they need to stop judging them on appearance, or whom they are associated with. If they don't like their music, fine, I can accept that. But to dislike them because they are associated with the Jonas Brothers (who they dislike because they are "Disney") is ignorant and stupid.

While we are on the subject of music, I LOVE music. With a passion. Music speaks when words fail, and songs can sometimes tell a story in a way that nothing else can. When I listen to a song that tells a vivid story I begin to see it playing out in my head.

That’s what I believe music is all about. You have to allow it to speak to you. You can’t judge it on the artist or the genre. Just listen to it, let it fill you, and let it tell its story to you. Trust me, you wont’ regret it.

Hell Week is over.......

Another semester has come and gone, which means I have just endured a week commonly referred to in most college circles as "Hell Week". Basically this is the week in which all your major projects and such are do as well as the week leading up to exams. Depending on your situation this could also extend into exam week. I know that mine did. At my school the official "Exam period" began on Friday the 11th, however, my "Hell Week" began the weekend before that when it came to my attention that because of other projects and such, I had neglected to work on a film project for my Intro to Digital Filmmaking course. The film was due at the beginning of class the following Tuesday. Also due on Tuesday was a final mastered version of my song for my Digital Recording class which meant trying to fit in recording sessions in my school's recording studio as well as get my group together to film and edit our short film. Needless to say, that weekend was hell, but both projects ended up getting finished, albeit very near the wire.

My own personal hell was emphasized on Tuesday afternoon when I realized, during one of my other classes, that my final exam for Digital Recording was that night in class and I hadn't studied AT ALL!! This revelation was made about three or four hours before the exam. EEK!! Another revelation that hit me that day is that I hadn't spent anytime over the weekend working on my script for my playwriting course and the final draft (worth 70% of my mark) was due that Friday at noon. And then the real Hellish part; 3 projects (totally 80% of my mark) for my Film Studies class and my take home final for my Digital Filmmaking class were all due on Tuesday (today) at noon. In order to finish them all I would need to spread them out throughout the weekend. And on top of that I had an exam for my 400 level course (Media, Culture and Criticism at 2pm on Saturday) which I knew may actually be my hardest exam.

So here is what Hell week looked like to me:

Tuesday:

Short Film due at 11:40 (Digital Filmmaking)

Recording project due at 7 pm (Digital Recording)

Final Exam in Digital Recording

Wednesday:

Last day of classes.

Work on script

Thursday:

Work on script all day. (Began at 11:30 am, finished at 10 pm) I took a break for lunch around 1 pm, and a dinner break around 5:30.

Friday:

Script due at Noon.

Write take home final for film studies.

Study for COMM 411 exam

Saturday:

Get up at 10 to study for exam.

Studied until 1 pm.

Write exam.

Film short movie for Film Studies. (Film, edit and burn to DVD) Finished around 2 in the morning.

Sunday:

Work on Film journals for Film Studies. (end up with around 20 pages....I shocked myself)

Church

Monday:

Meet with Prof and show him finished film. (watch it here)

Work on take home exam for Digital Filmmaking for most of the day.

Take a break for friend's birthday dinner.

Come home and finish writing exam. Finished by 10:30.

BREATHE A SIGH OF RELIEF!!!

My friends were envious of the fact that all my exams were finished and it was only Tuesday. And seeing as how exam only begin on Friday at this point there had only been three days of exam so far, but what they didn't realize is that I had just as many exams as they did, but all of mine were lumped together. I couldn't take my time, stretch my studying out over several days because you have 2 days in between each exam. No. I had about 9 projects to do in a matter of a few days. And some of them were pretty extensive. Like the film that we managed to pull off in a few hours......that was a miracle.

As a third year, I have gone through 4 'hell weeks' before this one, but I have to say that this is the first one where I didn't know if I would actually make it through. My last exam that I wrote, I really had to force it. I just didn't know what to say. But now that it is over......SO GLAD!!!

And now that this semester is over, I only have three more to go. Let's hope I survive. :)

Mini Rant

Why do guys hate on the bands that girls like so much?? Seriously. It's like right now, I was listening to some Honor Society in my guy friend's room while we are waiting for the film we made for our filmmaking class to export to quicktime. He's like "Who are these guys? They sound kinda good." I was like "Honor Society." To which he answered, "Never heard of them." Then he sees the CD case sitting next to my laptop and looks it over. Then he states, "Oh. They are produced by the Jonas Brothers. That's why their sound is so generic and boy-bandish."

Why do guys always lump all these bands together under one banner? And why do they hate them so much. I refuse to believe that they just don't like their music. Because I know for a fact that some of my guy friends actually have 'pop' music that has a similar sound to JB and HS sound, but isn't sung by what is commonly known as "boy bands".

I think the real reason that guys don't like them isn't because of their music, unless they are jealous of their musical talent but rather that all the girls would rather fantasize about being with a Jonas Brother than to be with a guy they already know. I think they realize that if we are attracted to guys like that, that we aren't going to be attracted to them.

And it's not to say that my guy friends aren't date worthy or whatever, but I just don't see myself dating any of them. It's not that I'm holding out on the hope that I might someday be with Alexander, Jason, Michael, Andy, Nick, or Joe - Kevin's already off the market - but I'm just not attracted to any of my guy friends in that way.

My guy friend says that the Gent's look "gay". I was going to argue with him, but it's probably pointless, so I'm ranting here.

Time passes on.....

I can't believe that it is already December. Time passes by so quickly. I feel like summer was last week and school had just started, but instead I am ticking off the days until Finals will be over and I can fly to my parents for Christmas. And at the same time, I am freaking out about the amount of work I have to accomplish before hand. You think you plan out your schedule so you won't get behind on your work, and some how it still manages to sneak up on you later and you have to work your ass off at the end to finish it. It blows my mind.

And all the things that I want to do have to get pushed to the back burner until I finish the things I need to do. Like just now I finished a meeting with some group members on the film we have to do for our Film Studies course. We need to film it this weekend but I also have to finish filming my other film this weekend (seeing how it is due on Tuesday) plus fit in time at the recording studio to finish recording a version of Demi Lovato's "Catch Me" for my Digital Recording class. And because EVERYONE is trying to finish their projects the recording times are so random. I actually have the studio booked Monday morning from midnight to 2 am, just because there was no other available times. I feel like I am going to end up killing myself in the last two weeks of this semester. But if I manage to scrounge up some "B's" or "A's" in the process it will be worth it. (I'll even take the occasion "C". )

LORD I pray for strength and sanity.