| Music |
| Music has always been a very important part of my life. Since I was a little kid I have always found listening to music one of the most relaxing things I could do. It's amazing how the right combination of tunes can evoke hapiness, sadness, even nostalgia or excitement. |
| And here's a list of my favorite songs, in no particular order. I'll try to restrain myself from getting too campy. 1. Sympathy for the Devil by the Rolling Stones 2. California by Joni Mitchell 3. Habanera by Bizet 4. Brain Stew by Green Day 5. Longview by Green Day 6. Vogue by Madonna 7. Dancing Queen by ABBA 8. I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor 9. Turn Back Time by Cher 10. Believe by Cher Oops, got campy. Tough luck. |
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| Now, let me tell you a story. One day, a long time ago, Cher looked over the darkness and decided that she wanted a world that she could strut her fancy stuff in. "Let there be song," she proclaimed, and as she listened to the disco remix she decided that It was Good. She then decided to create some lesser entities to spread music across the globe some poor sot named Jehovah spent all his free time fucking up. First she created some Old Dead White guys who began writing hymns that tell of her coming glory (Handel's Halleujah Chorus was prophetic of her first stage appearance). She created the Rolling Stones to teach the mystery of the awesome bass line. She created Joni Mitchell with the ability to hit beautifully high yet clear notes. Elton John came with the magic piano. Cyndi Lauper and Madonna brought us the Renaissance of music. Abba brought the songs of far off lands, and Heart gave us the music of dreams. Green Day pissed off the prudes. Finally she created Michael Jackson and his servants Justin and Brittney to be Lords of the Dance. However, one of her creations went renegade and attempted to create his own music to fill the world. His name was Hank Williams and his tainted music became known as "country/western" and filled the world with whining and nasality. The brilliance of Cher, though, has assured that this blot will one day be lifted from humanity and pure, good music will prevail. When all was done, Cher looked upon the world and saw that the time had come to take mortal form and bring the music of heaven to our ears. And as she wandered this world that she had created she experimented with her ultimate divine power of hair color changing. And some of you think that I don't have enough religion. |
| I am also a bit of a fan of music theory. I was the nerd who, in high school, decided that the percussion section (I played tympani) would never remember all the good cadences so I decided to get one of those damnable green books and score cadences and stand tunes. For the entire section. I have to admit that doing the snare drum parts was the most fun, all the dotted eigth notes and the like. Furthering my interest in music theory, I have become fascinated in the theory of atonality. In the early 1900s a Vienese composer by the name of Arnold Schoenberg decided that all twelve tones on the chromatic scale should be given equal importance, thus making the first major musical breakthrough in around 300 years. His pieces, filled with dissonance to keep the pieces from being unintentionally tonal, were filled with an almost manic feel and tended to build up a tension which went unresolved. See Wagner's Tristen und Isolde for the experimentation in dissonance that sparked this whole idea. I am also beginning to develop an interest in opera. Hopefully I can go and see a production sometime in the near future. I think I need a bit more culture in my life. |
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