It's All About the Benjamins Baby

Yeah, that's right, I quoted a P. Diddy song (or I guess we should call him Swag now...). But in all seriousness, this blog post has to do with making money. Being a junior, I've been thinking a lot about colleges, and not just where I'm going, but what I am going to study when I get there. I would love to study music composition, and hopefully be a professional composer, but my parents aren't so sure about the idea.

Of course I know that it is very very difficult to make it in the music industry. I would not only need talent, but I would also need connections. Because of this, my parents want me to make sure that I make a good living, and they want me to double major. Now I definitely understand this, but it just made me think about our society and our values.

We have talked in class a lot about the American Dream and what it means to people of different classes and backgrounds. Generally, the American Dream is that a person can always make a better life for themselves. They can earn more money, get a bigger house, and overall have a better quality of life. It seems that, because this is so engrained into the minds of people here, this is what is causing my parents to want me to make a living doing something that I may not be fully committed to. It seems that even if I am unhappy in a job, everything is great as long as I am making a good living. And while I agree (because it is engrained in my mind too), I have to say that it makes me wonder if having another job and almost securing earning a good living would truly make me happy. I could always keep music in my life and do it on the side (Mr. Bolos does this), but I am really not sure if that is what I want to do. Oh well, while I think about it, I'll be looking into more colleges!

Trying to Stay Focused

Today in class we had quite a long discussion about art, and how it has changed over the years, specifically in how people view it. Points were made about how movies are now more for entertainment, people watch them while doing other things instead of just focusing on them, and the same things about music and other art forms. I would just like to put in my two cents about this.

I specifically wanted to address a point that Doc OC made in class today, when he mentioned how musician Andrew Bird only listens to music when he is fully engrossed in it. He doesn't use it as background music at all, and we were debating on whether music should only be listened to in situations like this. I personally don't think that it's wrong to listen to music as background music, no matter how brilliant or complex it is. Being a musician myself, I know how when I truly sit down and listen through and album, I get a lot more out of it than when I listen to it as background music, however the music is serving a different purpose in each of the situations. It is still the same piece of art, however, when used as background noise, I use it more to focus (it sounds counter-intuitive but it helps me focus) and, honestly, to just have something there. Whereas when I really listen, I'm listening to specific chord structures, notes, the sort of things that require a lot more concentration.

Thus, I think that Andrew Bird is taking his music almost too seriously. While there is certainly a time (and a need, depending on the album) to sit down and fully examine the music, I would definitely go so far as to say that one cannot listen to music in any other setting. This leads to a similar point that was brought up many times in class today. The two types of listening serve different purposes, and neither one is right or wrong.

Stayin' Classy

As we start the F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby", we have been talking a lot about class, as it is a major component of the book. I figured I would just add to the discussion a little bit.

On Friday, we looked at a "class calculator" put up by the New York Times. This calculator basically says that class is calculated by occupation, education, income and wealth. However, we talked in class that maybe those aren't the only factors. For example, behavior may be a major component. If someone is wealthy but is a bad person or just acts not like one would expect a high-class person to act, would they still be considered high-class? I began to consider celebrities who act like this. They are clearly very wealthy and have a lot of influence, however the ones who act in completely inappropriate ways are still seen as high-class by many people.

There really is no one way to define class. It is really just a matter of opinion, because class is different to everyone. Ones perception of it is completely relative to where they grew up, how their childhood was, and how they have been influenced by other people.