Paralysis

What does it mean when you are a dancer and all you want to do is sit?

I means. . . sit.

And don't make it a five minute "break" with plans to stand up again. Let it feel definitive.

You'll stand up again-- if you really want to.

Dance hard

Beth's last post should have been created by a musician (she is one so what is my problem?). So I will talk about dancing for those who do not dance.

Children bob up and down when they hear music. Many think it is learned behavior from their parents; but, how many parents teach children to dance? They do and then we are all surprised and we dance along to keep them dancing. Beth said they move out of excitement -- to the music?

Perception is so mysterious. What is in the head of that child? Why do people have to have iPods plugged into their ears?

Beth is a free spirit dancer. I would love to be as free with my body movement. Why? What is this about?

We would all love to be able to play the piano.

We would all love to be able to sing a song and mean it.

We would all love to dance our hearts out.

We would all . . . . . .

I don't know what this is but we are all afflicted by it.

Don

four door isolation unit

I have just recently completed the book "How to live well without owning a car" by Chris Balish, and I am here to say: I approve. And while his financial and health related points are both wonderful and convincing, the point I found most profound was the argument that living without a car makes you LESS isolated and more connected to the people and the world around you.

We often think that having a car connects us, gives us the freedom to go where we want, see who we want and live how we want. But the truth of the matter is we typically end up sitting alone, in traffic singing with the radio-- for hours of our lives at a time. We are too busy to hang out with friends because we spent our time hanging out by ourselves in our car.

Here is a test.
When was the last time you sung along with the Radio or a CD in your car?
When was the last time you sang along with an actual person no matter how formal or informal?

As a culture we are becoming more comfortable with being alone, protected within the walls of our four-door or our SUV. And, in result I will suggest that we are less comfortable being with other people and communing with other people. Many of us have the seedling desire to be a part of a performance ensemble, but we have become far too comfortable moonlighting in our sedan.

So, if you insist on singing ONLY in the car, I suggest finding a friend who will go and sing along with you?

Plus, you can split the gas bill.

Working with Dancers

My daughter Beth who is a contributor to this blog is now developing an online course for dance appreciation. It is so interesting to see how dancers see the world differently than musicians. There is, however, one common interest -- dancers and composers and musicians together is the most fun. I produced a concert where composers wrote and performed their music live while the dancers performed to the live music. What a high. It was the best of all performing worlds. Talk about multi-media (no electronics necessary).

The energy is great. The dancers in this production came from Mexico and others from Wisconsin. The composers were from Wisconsin, Irvine, New York, and faculty from MCC.

Hmm . . . thinking I should do another one of these.

Don

An adolescent artform?

I worry about rock. Its front edge of development seems to always belong to the youth. As each generation gets older it tends to carry its music with them and not necessarily blend into a larger rock repertory. Young people today listen to early rock some but it is probably more out of the nostalgia of their parents rather than their own interest. But the inverse doesn't seem to be true. I don't see older rockers listening much to the newly emerging styles catered to by our youngest listeners. If rock constantly spins out its new styles to reflect young attitudes and needs will the musc always reflect an adolescent tone? I suppose growing stale is the alternative? Not many young people listen to classical music so I guess staying forever young may not be so bad.

Rap and the Hall of Fame

News Flash! Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were just inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of fame as the first hip hop group. In my rock history classes I find that students are not in agreement on the place hip hop has in the canon of rock and roll. Has hip hop even been around long enough to earn a place in a hall of fame? Is rap and hip hop more distinct from rock than R & B was from early rock and roll? If so is it not at the beginning of its own canon separate from rock? The cultural underpinning of hip hop is certainly as distinct as the the rise of the adolescent class was for rock and roll. Should there be a hip hop hall of fame separate from rock and is rock now destined to become stale as previous musics have when a new musical style coupled with mass media gains enough energy to break free from its host musical substrate?

Cultural Pockets

Dave and I attended a wedding where the DJ -- a student of ours years ago. He can really make a party work. The interesting moment was the end the third hour where he played some hard core Hip Hop. On the floor were very young girls and couples in their early 20s. There was only a forceful bass note which never changed and a drum (beat) track. Above it all was rap. The young girls (13 years) and the young couples knew every word - and there were many many words. The DJ locked into a cultural pocket that the rest of the room did not know. Interesting. At the request of the mother of the bride, the DJ moved back to late 70's and 80's rock.

The Hip Hop group participated but not at the same level of involvement. But the rest of the group was again on their feet.

So what is good music? Bad music? Cultural identification? Hm.

Don