Wednesday, August 28, 2002

And All That Jazz

At a local community college we have a class called recital rep, which is the class in which music students and teachers perform for each other. Once or twice a month there is a guest lecturer/performer. Usually a local artist or professor. I have been invited to speak a couple of times and today I will be there again.

What to talk about? I always ask myself what it is I wanted to hear when I was in college. I think today I want to speak about expanding your musical horizons. I believe the possibilities are endless for an artist who is open minded and has no restrictions on what he or she will listen to. You see, you can't pull out an apple out of a bucket full of oranges unless you first put an apple in there. The same with music, you can't come up with new ideas if you first don't fill your head with different and exciting sounds. If all you put in there is oranges, no matter how hard you try, all you're gonna get is...say it with me, oranges.

I often get asked, as most of you out there, what type of music do you like? It's hard to get away from the usual answers such as I like all kinds of music. The most honest response and accurate would probably be I like a little bit of everything.

I was first classically trained. Learned how to analyze and take apart entire orchestra works before I even went to college. I love to read and have always been fascinated by the language of music. To see it in a piece of paper and then hear it...there's just nothing like it. Many believe classical music is not as free as other idioms because of the norms surrounding it. I disagree completely. My view is that norms are suspect and open to challange. Not only the rules of theory - how a work or even a simple melody is constructed, but the way we go about analyzing and performing it. We should learn from the past but also try and discover new ways to better explain the methods used by a composer in writing his works.

I came into the world of jazz at a relative old age. I was 15 years old. My ability to sight-read is what got me in the door, sort of speak. My love for the music quickly grew and I began to then explore my own ability to compose on the spot - improvizing. Just like some people believe classical music is all about norms and regulations, others believe there is no structure to jazz. You might feel there is no structure when attending your first jam session. The combo is performing Take Five and once the guitarrist starts to solo the song keeps going and going and going. A song can last literally for hours. It usually doesn't but it can. Some believe there is just randomness in such a performance but the truth of the matter is that the soloist has specific chord patterns he has to follow. He or she also has to think about style and phrasing. Once you're doing your thing you better make sure the band knows where you are going. You have to bring them with you as you build your intensity and release tension. That, ladies and gentleman, is what I call a trip.

Speaking of music in general, the artists that tend to captivate an audience for longer than a moment, are those who honor traditions while at the same time venturing into the idiom's (blues, rock, jazz, classical, etc.) outskirts, where just about anything can happen.

Do I like pop music? Sure. I enjoy certain songs. In my personal opinion when it comes to it, pop, the faces tend to change, but not so much the music. The life span of an artist is much shorter, therefore you don't get the experimentation and evolution a blues artist may have.

I haven't made a trip to a music store in a while. I can't afford to get so busy that I don't buy new music. When I say new, I mean new to me. I have friends who send me mp3s from time to time and I love it. I'm finding out there's so much out there I haven't yet heard.

Do you have something for me? ~Ms. K




posted @ 11:49 AM

Alright, time for a little talk about the better people in this blog. Those over there on the right >>>>>

Creative people turn me on. I'm sorry, there's just no other way I can explain it. I just find it simply amazing how certain qualities in people allow them to relate simple truths about a sometimes very complicated process. Whether it be art, music, literature, life itself - everyone of us has a passion and have creative ways of bringing it to life so others can experience it.

Annie is absolutely beautiful. I consider her a story teller. She can somehow take me back to my childhood by simply writing about a wonderful trip to the park. I've always wanted to write something about her but I'm afraid my words could not begin to tell you what a great writer I consider her to be.

Janet has such a wonderful site. If you haven't taken a look at her photographs you really should....right now. In her own words: I do this because the need to create is woven into the fabric of who I am. I have expressed myself artistically in some form or another since I was five. Today, with computers and digital technology available, I feel like a kid with their first box of crayons and a freshly painted wall. The combinations of what I can create seem endless. Enough said.

Izis is a poet. You know who wins her vote in a political election? Marcão Adrenalin. And why you may ask? Because he included these words in his ad campaign: "you, student, artist, alternative , environmentalist of open mind and concerned about our culture..." Truly a window into another world perhaps not so different from mine.

Andrew is an art student in NYC. To experience his creativity you must open your eyes. Take a look at his unbelievable work.

TYD is creating art with people. I absolutely love the who are you? project. The best kind of creativity is that which inspires others to create...simply amazing. Looking at all those pictures and reading about the people who are represented by them brings a smile to my face.

I could say something about every single place in my list of reads. These are just a few of the ones I don't believe I've mentioned before. Please pay them a visit and enjoy. *smiles* ~muso

Note: special thanks to Chicken Little for inspiring me to write this. Yes, we are all stars indeed. xox



posted @ 2:37 PM

Have you ever forgotten certain words that make life oh so ever beautiful? I know I have.

Have you ever meant to speak your heart but somehow all was said, except those words? I know I have.

The young think it little. Coming and going and never thinking. I know that's how I can be - an avid forgetter.

All must be remembered: the encounters with happiness and the trappings of sorrow.

Even now, with little wisdom I've acquired, I am powerless to measure the road that leads nowhere.

Perhaps one day I'll find my way back to that moment long ago, when I forgot those certain words I so desperately needed to say.

by Desert Flower



posted @ 1:52 PM

I just read an interesting journal entry by Dave Farquhar, the ten-minute guide to oppressing women and it got me thinking. What is feminism? Now before you go and get all up in arms about that title you must go read it. It is not what you might think.

I am not fond of religion. I am, however, able to appreciate other's point of view on things. The way I view life is that I have something to learn from everybody and everything. With that out of the way, here's what came to mind after reading Dave's entry:

I don't see anything wrong with men getting together without us girls. Women do it all the time. It is not so much the language that would be different but the issues at hand. Let's face it, we are just different. The no women thing is not a big deal.

The take back your household thing I think should have nothing to do with religion but I'm glad they're (the church) saying something practical and useful for a change. Man do need to take responsibility, as do women of course. As liberal as I might be considered, I must say I absolutely believe men have to take charge when it comes to certain aspects of their family life. Such as? Well for one thing, making sure the family feels secure in every way. There's nothing worst, for what I've heard anyway, than a wife not being able to talk to her husband about her concerns because he's always busy or distracted or whatever. I never know what to say whenever one of my student's mom tells me how she "doesn't know what her husband is thinking" and so on. Guys, I'm gonna talk mostly to girls here because that's what I am but here's a freebie for you - just because you are a male doesn't mean you are a man.

Churches preach about women being loyal to their husbands and here's the big one, wives, submit to your husbands. Oh my goodness! How dare he say something like that? 'Cause it is almost always a he saying it. Here's a question for you: isn't that what marriage is supposed to be all about? Why the outrage? Forget about him for a minute, however the he may be in your life, and think about what you said on the day you promised to mesh your life with this man you are to love for the rest of your life.

Don't turn me off yet. Here's what I'm thinking. I would hope that if I find a man crazy enough to marry me, he protects me, supports me, economically (which doesn't mean I won't work) and emotionally, AND loves me beyond himself. In turn, I will most definitely submit myself to him. I will honor him by loving him and supporting him. Which is a lot more than having his babies and doing his laundry by the way. The latter is trivial stuff if you ask me. Things you have to do whether you are married or not. He can do it. I can do it. Doesn't matter. What matters is that for me to be equal in a partnership of this kind I have to think beyond my own needs...so does he.

Feminism to me isn't about what things I don't get to do because I'm not a man. It is about the things I get to do because I am a woman. I get to have children. I don't have to. See the difference?

I know this is just a single woman's point of view of how a marriage/family should work. You may think it's idealistic and maybe it is. I just keep thinking back to my parents and how it was mom's honor to get to serve dad. And you know why? Because he loved her with everything he was. I had to respect mom because I had no choice...really. There was no room for disrespect. If dad treated her with such adoration, how could I not think she was to be honored and respected?

Ultimately, it is all about commitment and responsibility. Commitment is an agreement or pledge to do something in the future regardless of the present or the past. Responsibility is for the now. That's how it works in most every relationship no matter what kind it is. Whether you are a man or a woman just be a good responsible person. You deserve to be one.

As for Promise Keepers, I didn't research. This wasn't really about them. Dave just sparked something in me I guess.

Wow, first I jump on the male insecurity thing and now this, heh. I'm gonna get off my pulpit and go to sleep now. No worries people, I'm usually a lot more mellow than this. Something must be going around. Good night. ~Kira



posted @ 1:00 AM

For those of you looking for male insecurity, I'm sorry but this isn't the place for any of that. I don't have it and I sure don't wanna deal with it.

I've had men, and I use that term loosely, say things like this to me: I don't know if I can handle you. You are smart. Oh excuse me. I wasn't aware you were handicaped in that area. Let me see if I can talk down to your level okay? Wouldn't want to make you feel uncomfortable with intelligent conversation. Here, stare at my breasts. All better now?

Don't even get me started. ~Ms Attitude...with a brain thank you very much.



posted @ 8:39 PM