Music

Hey Everybody. :)


 

<--- Der Holle Rache, from the Opera Die Zauberflote by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This piece of music is my pride and joy. It's been a few years, but I can still remember most of it. I sang it in it's entirety in the shower last night. Three times. ( My poor, poor roommates) If you ask me to sing it for you, I will. Dramatically. Don't enable me.







 I spent my entire high school career defining myself as a singer. Almost entirely classical. I sang Vivaldi, and Mozart, and Handel (ugh) and Haydn  and Morley and Grieg. I did musical theater (state champion. nbd), competitive ensemble, and honor choirs (the soprano section of a high school honor choir is a scary scary place). I played piano and guitar for awhile when I was younger, but I was never very good. I blame my super un-dexterous fingers.

I don't only listen to classical music of course. I enjoy it, but it probably only makes up about 5% of my iTunes library. I like indie, and anti-folk (not that I can define what it actually is, but Regina Spektor does it, so it's good enough for me) and Sigur Ros (Icelandic ambient/post-rock aka the best studying/mood music EVER) and whatever Florence + the Machine is. I'm always listening to music. When I'm studying, or walking to class or trying to drown out the metal bands that are constantly blasting from my friends' laptops while we're playing cards. If I don't have my headphones in for an extended period of time, I'll probably start singing out loud. I can't help myself (my friends call it OSD - Obsessive Singing Disorder).

What role does music play in conflict? My initial reaction, was to think "does it even have a role?"  But then I got to thinking about it. Did music play a role in WWII? One could argue that the composer Wagner had an impact on Nazi ideology, or that music kept morale of the troops up. Did it play a role in the conflict between Tamer Nafar and Subliminal? Absolutely. The things they were saying in their music is what ended their friendship. Music contains a lot of power. It can't fire a gun, but it can start riots. It can't break up a fight, but it can calm people down. (((  I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound? It can call for peace or war. It can be a form of protest  or support. It can encourage racist or sexist ideals or call for equality. It can offend people deeply, or be so beautiful it can bring them to tears. Music can influence or demonstrate public opinion. There's a lot of value to it.

Besides, everyone loves music. And they say it's the universal language. People from all corners of the earth can feel what emotions the music is trying to convey. Because of this, perhaps it's the best communication tool of all.

And lastly (and irrelevantly), for your listening pleasure: Feast your ears on Chanticleer's performance of Loch Lomond!

See you guys tomorrow!