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we x e g e s i s |
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(noun) An explanation or critical interpretation.
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wFriday, November 30, 2001 |
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AES starts today.
I had never even began to consider the possibility of me going to past AES conventions, but this year, there was no question about it. And the thing is, walking around the exhibits, I realized that it finally happened. I now care about the little details involved in music technology just as much as I used to care about the obscure facets of web design. Getting a degree in Music Tech. has never meant so much to me as it does right now.
And for the very first time, I also feel a twang of remorse at my leaving school when I graduate in May.
PS - Another great musician lost this year. Words of wisdom from the late Beatle, "I think people who can live their life in music are telling the world: 'You can have my love, you can have my smiles. Forget the bad parts, you don't need them. Just take the music, the goodness, because it's the very best, and it's the part I give most willingly.'"
posted by
Angie at 9:19 PM
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wTuesday, November 27, 2001 |
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Funny how just when the end of the semester is approaching, I'm finally beginning to feel like I've got a firm grip on most of my classes... Up until this semester, I wasn't struggling too much in my previous years at school. For certain reasons (2 in particular), I had a lot more trouble in my classes this term and for a long time, it seemed like no matter how much extra work I did, it wasn't paying off. In fact, I actually toyed with the idea of dropping out altogether.
I would go to class, sit there feeling completely incompetant and then go to work and get to not feel like an idiot for a few hours. It was insane how I would feel down in the morning, up in the afternoon and then down again by dinner. But nowadays, I seem to be spending more time feeling up than down. Except lately work has been quite a bummer. The irony of it all...
PS - Now that I've had time to have a good listen to Invincible without CNN blasting in the background, I must say that I don't feel as strongly against it as I used to. I still cringe at the butchering of the beat that seems to be Rodney Jerkins taking his trademark and running like mad with it, but aside from those few tracks, the others are growing on me and now that I think about it, they're not bad at all.
posted by
Angie at 9:06 PM
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wMonday, November 26, 2001 |
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If any of you haven't seen Harry Potter or Monsters, Inc., trust me, there has never been a better time to just be a kid and watch these movies in wide-eyed wonder.
First of all, the plots themselves were pretty decent. So decent that I even let the fact go that some of the CG animation in Harry Potter was rather lame. Usually, I would be turned off by it and it would leave a bad taste in my mouth. But with the dozens of other visual treats in there, it was easy to be forgiving about it. I loved the scenes that showed the inside of the school! Absolutely enchanting (and enchanted too, for that matter). It got me even more psyched up about going to Europe next summer.
As for Monsters, Inc., well, if your heart doesn't melt after seeing the little girl for 2 minutes, then I suggest you check to see if you still have a pulse. And I'm not even going to get into the brilliant details in Sully's fur!
posted by
Angie at 4:46 PM
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wSaturday, November 24, 2001 |
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Happy belated Thanksgiving to all! Don't know about you, but I'm stuffed enough to last the rest of the month.
So many things to be thankful for, so few words to express them with. Most of my family and friends are healthy, I'm healthy, I have the opportunity to learn from incredible people who are just bloody brilliant at what they do, I get to go to work, and I have a chance to make a positive impact on this world. Thank you, Lord, especially for these things.
posted by
Angie at 12:58 AM
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wFriday, November 09, 2001 |
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In 1996, Coolio brought a taste of classical music to hip-hop with C U When You Get There using Pachelbel's Canon in D as its backbone.
This past summer, the radio waves resonated with Fallin' by Alicia Keys which, when she performs live, is intro-ed by another famous classical piece, Für Elise by Beethoven.
Yes, I'm well aware that these two instances aren't the first cases of where mainstream artists try to incorporate classical music into their own style. However, off the top of my head, these are the most popular examples of it in the past 5 years. The point is that I was always curious to hear what it would sound like if someone wrote an album with classical orchestration (I know the thought of a record without synths and effects frighten you, but bear with me for a little while), classical composition principles (besides the ol' I-IV-V-I bit) and with a generous dash of today's defining harmonic and rhythmic developments.
Someone told me about Born a few days ago and I immediately checked them out. They are young girls who have been classically trained in music and play as a string quartet to original compositions that has a dominating trance/dance influence. It would have been impossible to produce their record outside of the digital world. I don't blame the British committee for classical music at the Chart Information Network for kicking them out of the "classical" category. It wasn't quite the combination that I was looking for since it was leaning way too much in the direction of today's club scene and I felt that the classical aspect was not emphasized as much as I would like to have heard. If anyone knows of another artist that might be closer to what I've described above, please let me know.
posted by
Angie at 1:20 AM
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wSunday, November 04, 2001 |
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In another one of those milestones that everyone must pass, but would much rather not, I attended a memorial service for a co-worker of mine today. For the first time in my life, someone who is somewhat close to my age group died. And the worst part is, no one saw it coming. His life was just taken away one Friday night.
Seeing so many people speak so fondly of him first saddened me because it meant that all these people are now missing a significant part of their lives. But I was also glad to see them all there, especially the ones who were hurt the most because it meant that he was dearly loved by them. And what better way to live than to love and be loved in return? (I can NOT wait until Moulin Rouge comes out on DVD!)
This reminds me of Tuesdays With Morrie which one of my roommates gave me to read on Sept. 12th and so it obviously helped to shape my views on the repercussions of the events of the day before. I don't want to spoil the entire book for you (since I think that everyone should read this book for themselves) but at one point, Morrie got the idea to have his memorial service while he was still alive. He thought it was such a pity that people said such wonderful and touching things at a memorial service but the person that everyone was speaking of wasn't there to appreciate it. Standing there this past Friday, I couldn't help but to think of all the incredible people who have come into my life and had made a positive impact. There are so many of them whom I never told about the great things that they brought into my life. It's not that I don't want them to know how much I appreciate what they've done, it's the fear of not knowing how they will react that keeps me from telling them. Living without letting this fear shut me up will be a huge challenge, but recent events have led me to believe that there is no guarantee that I'll always have a chance to thank these special people in the future. I hope you're convinced of the same thing and will act accordingly.
posted by
Angie at 11:57 PM
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wFriday, November 02, 2001 |
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The Lion King: frickin' 11 out of 10!
Yes people, believe all the hype you've heard about The Lion King on Broadway! I walked in there ready to be slightly disappointed like I was last week but I really can't think of anything major that could have been improved upon. Well, except our balcony seats which allowed us to see some technical things that made some special effects a pinch less dazzling, but that's no one's fault but our own.
First of all, the opening song was just beautiful. If it was a color, I would say that it was an intense light magenta. I mean, it was so delicately layered yet strong enough to hold you tight and lift you out of your seat. The additional African chant-like songs that were not in the original cartoon was a much appreciated surprise. The melody itself sounded so organic, so primitive, yet the harmonies that surrounded it gave it a sense of Western tonality that was barely intrusive but very enchanting.
And gosh, no words of mine can do the direction, stage and costumes justice. All I'll say is that Julie Taymor has an excellent grasp of how people perceive form and movement and she uses that talent to create characters and scenes which takes the essence of an animal, feeling and or place and shows it to us in a light that prods at our imagination.
One of my favorite things about the entire show was how there were two small percussion stages, one on each side of the theatre. Coincidentally, I was just learning about how polychoral music came about in my Music History class this week and even though it was percussion instruments that were projecting from the left and right boxes, I got a sense of what it might have been like to have choruses there instead. The orchestration was already amazing, to add these two sound sources really gave me an incredible sonic experience that deepened my love for the art form.
At one point, I was remembering how crushed I was this past Monday when I had a difficult time in two of my music classes. I just felt exceptionally incompetant in ear-training and studying fugues to the point where I kept thinking, "In the real world of popular music, who really cares if I can take dictation or understand how a fugue works?" But sitting there, I was so inspired that I thought to myself, "If having sharp ears and a knowledge of different musical forms is going to help me to even come close to doing stuff like that, then fine, I'll try even harder to acquire those things." I had prayed for encouragement and that's exactly what I got. Seek, and ye shall find.
posted by
Angie at 12:39 AM
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wThursday, November 01, 2001 |
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Remember the benefit concert, United We Stand: What More Can I Give, that Michael Jackson headlined a short while ago? Well, ABC is airing selected performances tonight from 8PM-10PM. The line-up features more younger artists than The Concert For New York City so if you weren't quite feelin' that one, tonight's airing might be more for you.
Speaking of Michael, his latest album "Invincible" was released this Tuesday. It's available in 5 different colors for those of you out there who have concerns about your CD collection matching your hifi system.
I've heard the album and I must say that I think his strength lies in his slower songs, on this release anyway. There I hear melodies that retain his signature style without sounding outdated. There were one or two tracks on the record which sounded way too foreign to be a Michael Jackson track. Since Rodney Jerkins collaborated with him, I'll blame him for that. By foreign in this case, I mean crazy syncopated beats and lyrics like "I want to taste you." Now coming from Michael, I just have a difficult time digesting that since he was never that sexually explicit in his lyrics. I mean, how can you get from "Heal the world, make it a better place." to that?
posted by
Angie at 1:49 PM
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