Watchmen

So I had to read the graphic novel Watchmen for my Lit class, which I thought was weird because what kind of Lit teacher has his students read a comic book. Well I'll tell you what kind. The kind of Lit teacher who has a pony tail that goes past his knees and a very long "french fork" beard. Look it up, its an interesting look to say the least. Also he spent the whole first week talking about eating people, which had nothing to do with our readings so I'm confident has the hunger. But whatev, to each their own. (Is it racist that I want to eat the white guy and not the black guy? I mean i usually perfer white meat...)
Anyway, this freak of a man has me read a super long comic book, and obv the test is the day before the movie comes out so i can't even cheat and pretend like I read it. He strange, but he's no idiot.
Turns out this graphic novel is actually super sweet. I am really enjoying it! And I have to suggest that everyone reads it before they see the movie. Plus I'm now about 98% more excited to see this badass movie then I was before.

The PC Watchman...http://www.collegehumor.com/article:1771074

it just brings us back to authenticity...

So in class we talked about how producer and whoever can change the original recordings of an artist to basically anything. It obviously brought up authenticity. Is music still authentic even tho its being morphed like this? Or is this just another step in music evolution?
This made me think of Kanye West, who I kinda love. He makes me want to dance.
Anyway, basically the last like 85 songs he has made uses a synthesizer to make his voice go all crazy. This is kinda silly because this is not his real voice. Kanye West cannot sing. However, he can use the technology available to him and make his voice sound fuckin sweet, and in return make me dance my ass off to his music every weekend (slash when im driving alone in my car and think no one can see in my windows...you do it too.)

So basically I can decide what my stance is on this arguement. On one hand I think all this technology does make the music unauthentic. That's not their real voice, this music wasn't made from instruments, it was made from a computer... However, I also think that people are making amazing music using this technology, and turning music production to a completly different artform.

One more thing...

Phish is going back on tour. I am really excited for a 3 day long Phish phest. I have always been really upset that I never got to see them in concert, because I was like 16 when they stopped touring. So this is just the most fabulous news to me. Anyone else?

Learning with Music.

I am a preschool teacher. This means i spend 8 hours a day with 15-20 four year olds. It also means I sing "The Wheels on the Bus" and "The ABC's" at least 10 times a day. Obviously, I get super sick of most of these songs. There is a wicked creepy version of that song "this little piggy went to the market this little piggy stayed home.." i dont know what the actual name of it is. But it is sung by little children really slow and just as creepy as possibly. We listen to it everyday at nap time and I hate it so so much.
Even though I get super sick of most of the song, through working at the preschool I have learn what a great tool music is in teaching. Putting something to the tune of a song makes it so much easier for the children to remember. We have a song for the days of the week, the colors in the rainbow, and obviously the ABC's.
It isn't just a good tool for preschoolers. Last semester I took a math class for my Elementary Ed major. We were learning about Fibonacci's sequence. I remembered a song that my sixth grade teacher taught me... "Fibonacci has a sequence here it is. 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 here it is! take the first term add the next term and then you have the third term" Yup, I don't think I will ever forget Fibonacci's sequence becacuse of that song.
I have also learned that the love of music starts at a young age. The kids at my preschool love The Wheel's On The Bus as much as I love the new Ben Harper CD. Their absolute love of all the songs we sing is what makes them be able to learn from them. Keep Singing.

Music&Faith

On my long drive to campus today I was listening to a song that reminded me of this summer. I am a councilor at a large youth group in my town, which I was a member of when I was in high school. This isn't like 30 kids in the basement of a church type youth group. Half the kids in the town go to this youth group. We have 3 meetings every Sunday, Jr. High (7th-8th grade), 9th grade, and Sr. High (10th-12th grade). We have over 230 in the Jr. High meetings alone. Every summer almost 500 of these kids and about 40 councilors go to an overnight camp in Ossipee New Hampshire the last week in August. This summer was the 51st year. It is always the best week of my entire year. It is somewhat centered around the Christian faith, but teens of all faiths and beliefs attend.

Music is a huge part of Camp. Many of the councilors and campers are very talented. Every evening before dinner we have chapel where we sing 'camp song' most of which were written by different councilors over the years, and also before the kids go back to their cabins at night. The songs that we sing at Camp are really a part of Camp and I don't think it would be the same without it. When I hear a 'Camp song' it brings me back their.

Thinking about 'Camp songs' made me think of how music is really tied into religion. I remember a priest once said that singing at mass isn't just singing, it's a passionate way to pray. Almost every religion has song kind of music that is a part of their faith, and especially their ceremonies. Did you know there is christian rap music?

This is getting long and I don't know where I am going with this so I'm just going to end it here. You can do that with a blog right?