Heartless and Talentless? (a little)

Guitars and John Mayer

Franz Ferdinand

During ACL, I realized that I actually know a fair amount of songs from Franz Ferdinand. This was made even better by jamming with my brother at ACL; I don't get too see him all too much since he's in college now and it seems like we've gotten somewhat disconnected throughout his college experience. Regardless, while the band is somewhat repetitive, the music is still catchy and their guitarists are excellent.

Instrumental Solos

I'll keep this brief but I have somewhat of a negative disposition against instrumental solos. I'll be honest, I think they're cool if they're used appropriately but I feel like a lot of poor to mediocre bands have a tendency to get drunk on them. Like most things, instrumental solos are good in moderation but when it lasts... and then last some more... it becomes too much. It's like candy for kids on Halloween. What started as an enjoyable experience devouring candy by the pile turns into a hurling congregation that serves to disgust everybody. The only real difference is that the kids, at least most kids, hopefully kids (right?), learn from their experience. It seems like these bands don't. If you just want to play your instrument, alright. If it fits into the scheme of things and isn't overused, doesn't dominate the scene, ok. But if it does I don't enjoy it personally, no way.

Creativity

The documentary we watched on the three legendary guitarists conference in 2008 got me thinking. What inspires creativity and what inhibits? What they all three seemed to have in common were financial limitations as a youth and plenty of free time. The rule of thumb for creativity, at least for me, seems to be simple. Relying on other people for "creativity", such as playing board games or listening and replaying music off of a sheet, is limiting. It inhibits one's own thinking by mimicking that of others. The best analogy I could think of deals with a playground.

As a child in Germany, I was allowed to play tag on the playground. When I moved to the U.S., the game of tag was forbidden at my new school. Rather than dropping the activity overall or conforming to the standard basketball/monkey-bar giggling kids, my friends and I desperately attempted to create acceptable games that allowed for the hunting down of each other on the playground. The point is, we refused to accept the prescribed manners of free time and instead chose to circumvent the set rules. While this did lead to scolding at times, overall, it was a delightful, though guilty, pleasure. However, we achieved creativity!

In this sense, I believe that I can start being more creative in small increments playing the piano. At first, I played straight from the sheet music. Then I modified the sheet music to a more difficult or personally satisfying level. Now I'm trying to write my own songs and learn music by ear. Small steps forward, trying to avoid the creativity of others and find my own.

The Trouble with Modern Day Politics

Stemming off of the conversation had in class over the issues with bipartisan politics, I'd like to discuss what I believe are two of the main problems of the current McDonalds (a metaphorical substitute for an expletive) that is the American government.

Problem 1, rather than attempting to cooperate on key issues that need to be addressed, the government spends overall more time bickering about much less important issues. For example, while I do think that the ethnic factor in admission to colleges is controversial, I think our time would be better spent on resolving the healthcare dilemma. While we are trying to solve the healthcare conundrum, rather than cooperating and trying to create a well-designed though through system, time is being spent arguing about if it should exist. While I do favor universal healthcare, I would much rather the parties quickly resolve to either implement or toss out the system and then work on augmenting the system at hand to the best of their abilities. This way, the people who are being payed with our tax dollars are collaborating productively rather than attacking each other, wasting their time, the people's money and overall achieving nothing. What is achieved in the latter part, is making the United States look immature, divided and incapable of self-government.

Problem 2, looking to treat the symptoms of the problem rather than fixing the problem at its source. Why do people argue about immigration? I would argue that most of the U.S. populace is not xenophobic or racist and that they are generally open to immigration. What causes the escalation of tensions regarding immigration is financial danger, usually for the lower class workers. The lower class workers feel threatened by the very real possibility that an immigrant would do their job for less money and thereby cause the native resident to be unemployed. This reasoning is valid because the two individuals are competing for the same position. However, the premise, competing for the same position could be seen as the root of the issue. Rather than discouraging immigration, if the U.S. government focused on developing permanent jobs, expanding the possibility for employment. Individual A & B wouldn't have to compete for jobs, instead, they might work side by side. While this is an ideal scenario, it is understandable that the number of people who want to immigrate into the U.S. is greater than the number of jobs that are being/will-be created. However, it provides a starting point for resolution. While this is a very general discussion of the idea, the thinking style is similar to Lupe Fiasco's reasoning behind calling Obama a terrorist, although definitely on different planes of possible enragement.

Lupe Fiasco on Obama (...and U.S. Presidents in general I believe)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cU9HdGPDfo

Imagine Dragons- Demons Take 2

The same song a week later.

Imagine Dragons Demons- First Take

Cell Phones

I used to find it acceptable to be on my cell phone around other people when I initially got one, but now... now I see why cell phones can be a social calamity. It is incredibly frustrating when I'm hanging out with friends and they are absent from the conversation, from being in the moment, from sharing their presence, their personality with other people simply because they are on their cell phone. I abhor when I'm sitting down eating with people (I choose eating as an example because I love eating and therefore spend a countless amount of time pursuing the activity), and they are checking their: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, texts, taking selfies (there are apparently an unlimited number of ways to grossly deform ones face and still be ok), checking ESPN and all the other amazing things their phones can do... which should be done when they are alone with their phone. If one is on their phone while "participating" in any form of social interaction, it is essentially, pardon my language, extending a prominent middle finger to the people who would talk to you. If you don't want to socialize, then stay at home, where you don't prove to other people that your phone is prioritized over them. To accentuate this point, here is a melancholic video that I watched recently shedding some truth on cell phone usage.

Learning by Hearing (Piano)

This goes on for a while... there may be a better way to spend 16 minutes of your life than watching this, at least I hope so!

Unfortunately the video is refusing to transfer onto blogger so I'll give a rapid summary. At first, I attempted to play "Lego House" by Ed Sheeran by pure memory. I guessed it was in the key of B and was wrong. The song is in the key of G but I was only a half-step too low overall with the melody I was playing. This marks the beginning of attempting to learn music by simply listening to a song, attempting to play the melody on the piano and then adding the left hand. Hopefully progress is imminent!

Free Will vs. Determinism

Let me be real here, I could care less about whether a person believes that free will or determinism is the correct assessment of life. The fact is that we are probably never going to find out who is right because it involves arguing about the theoretical. This means, philosophically speaking, that both ends of the spectrum, if it is a spectrum, are logically incorrect because they are concluding definitively that one assumption is true while the other is false. Religiously, this is the belief in a deity or atheism. The philosophical in between is atheism, claiming that we as humankind do not have the knowledge available to us to accurately conclude the existence, or lack thereof, of a deity.

The more important part about free will vs. determinism is how you choose to live your life. I believe that we have free will and that if I wanted to, I could lie in bed until I rot and not have to deal with the everyday crap of life. I also believe, that if I dedicate myself to being useful to others in life, I can make my life awesome to the extent that I won't want to rot in my bed. I personally believe, that effort creates ability and that one can generally achieve, if one is willing to dedicate effort. I find it difficult when people say "this is just the way it was meant to happen" because I judge this as a defeatist attitude. The reason there was a negative event in your life is probably because you acted in a way that it would happen. Granted, other people and events can screw you over but overall, I believe that what you put in , you receive in return. Monetarily speaking, if you invest money (conservatively), you will earn money in return; if you hide your money in the drawer below your bathroom sink, its value will decrease as the currency depreciates.

I guess to me, free-will is the ability to live life to your preference, an opportunity that I feel many people pass over and I can't deny that this ignorance elicits both nervousness about our future and occasionally, disdain.

An Example of What a Song Not Quite Learned Sounds Like

 

Honesty

Let's say that every history of rock and roll class we have somewhat of an outstanding lesson of the day. They tend not to be so much about music but growing up and accepting the responsibilities of growing up, becoming an adult. Today, that lesson was not honesty. Honesty was, however, a small part of today's lesson and I thought it's pretty relevant to my life.

My parent' raised me expecting honesty and while they haven't always received 100% honest reports, they have at least taught me when it is appropriate to be honest. To me, like most people, lying is acceptable if the benefits outweigh the consequences, true for pretty much most choices. However, I differ from people by my standards of what is considered overall beneficial. I believe that often enough,  people only way the short-term consequences of their decisions and therefore, often avoid confrontation of the truth as they're scared about how the other individual(s) will react. In contrast, I believe that this confrontation is often necessary as by not deceiving the individual(s) at hand, you allow for them to gain insight in the future, although temporary awkwardness may need to be sacrificed. This sounds like a lot of blah, blah, blah so let me put it into context.

Say a female is fat: the big American scenario to not, NOT, NOT, tell the truth. I disagree with this ideology. While it is inappropriate and rude to go out of one's way to tell a female that she's fat, if a female were to ask me directly if she is fat, I would tell her she could benefit from picking up physical activity. Clearly, this is a euphemistic yes, but I believe the short-term emotional detriment that will result due to this incident is beneficial overall. I would proceed to attempt to help this female lose weight due to appropriate exercise, diet etc. until she's comfortable and happy with her own body weight.

The moral of the story: since the female has suspicions about being fat (and is probably self-conscious about it), lying would only extend her self-deception of the problem and incorporate you in the moral culpability of her self-deception. Telling the truth is not heart-warming but can at least provide a beginning to resolving the origin of the "whether-to-tell-the-truth" debacle. Of course, this is assuming that the female is discontent with her current body.

You Belong With Me 1 vs. You Belong With Me 2 Cover of Taylor Swift

I played You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift as warmup for playing piano as I hadn't played it in a while and was wondering how rusty I was in regards to her song. I think its pretty clear between the first and second time I played it, that reacquainting myself with the song showed vast improvement. Also i should have increased the brilliance of the piano.

#1

#2

The Issue with Grade Inflation

The issue with grade inflation can be compared directly to the issue with inflation monetarily. If everyone in the U.S. were to be given more dollar bills, would the whole U.S. become richer. The answer to this question is relatively easy to find if one has studied the pre-WWII economy of Germany instead of dozing off in history class. The value of money is not based on its physical worth but is rather associated with the trust in the economy of that country. Therefore, by simply increasing the amount amount of paper money out there, the value (currency) of the paper money goes down as the trust in the economy has remained unchanged.

The same is true for grades, especially the high school diploma. The difficulty of acquiring a good grade has been severely diminished. In turn this means there is a higher abundance of good grades and good students. Except the second part is not true... or at least not in a significant fashion. Is it true that students nowadays probably have a better opportunity to obtain an education, yes? Hopefully? But even if this is true, it is insignificantly true at large and this is why. When a college or employer looks at the credentials of an individual, the question is not whether the candidate has credentials (hopefully he/she does) but what those credentials signify. Back when a high school diploma was more difficult to obtain (the abundance of paper money), having a high school diploma said more about that individual (currency). Now, high school diplomas are handed out to inadequate "graduates" and since there is a larger abundance with (this is the assumption) a worse on average education, the meaning of a high school diploma has gone down.

Ironically, the school system devalues itself through the incentives given to award students a diploma. A high school, school district, state and country as a whole want to have the best education system possible so that they can, in the future, strengthen their economy. Essentially, current society invests in future society in order to get return later in the form of i.e. tax. If more students are getting a higher quality education, then the educational investment is legitimate and should theoretically payoff. However, the education system is flawed in a manner which simply lowers the standards of graduation and thereby deceptively posts "improving" statistics. However, what these "improving" statistics really mean is that credentials such as a high school diploma or a bachelor's degree have less meaning and that people who have legitimately earned these degrees are more difficult to distinguish from the crowd. Basically, new demographics are required to determine expertise which is a pain-in-the-butt for everybody involved.

Glad You Came by Memory

Rock vs. Pop

When we discussed categorizing in general, and music specifically, in class, our teacher, Mr. Ajjarapu explained that he personally categorizes all music into rock vs. pop. A more appropriate label would be rebellious vs. socially acceptable. I can follow the thematic nature of the classification system but I don't find it useful to my evaluation of music. Rather than thinking about revolutionary vs. conforming, I classify music by how it makes me feel.

The reason I classify music in this manner is because I listen to what intensifies my mood at the time or changes it to one more preferred. If I go on a run, I listen to energizing, rapid, bass-heavy music loudly. If I feel happy, I'll listen to Colbie Caillat, Zac Brown, "Just Another Day in Paradise", The Mowgli's, Bruno Mars et cetera. If I feel passionate, soulful, I might listen to Hunter Hayes, Ed Sheeran, Train, et cetera.

I think the reason we all choose different methods of classifying our music is based on the manner in which music serves us. For example, I utilize music to affect my emotions, manipulate my emotions. I believe that Mr. Ajjarapu classifies his music the way he does because he has become so educated in music and all of its variety that he is seeking out new styles, musical ingenuity, creativity. This is why while he can still appreciate pop, the value of rock is far greater. May he correct me next class on whatever part of my analysis he considers incorrect.

What I Do on a Bad Day

Covering I Won't Give Up by Jason Mraz Take 2

So I try to always record the first time I play a song to show the authenticity of my progress. I mixed things up a little bit in comparison to the last cover because I thought it sounded better this way. The early mistakes made at the beginning are made up for at the end, at least in my mind.

Why Dedication Sucks...

So here's the thing, I strongly dislike starting new activities, whether a club, sport, or new TV show and  this is why. When I begin something new, I stick with it until it is done. Whether that is eating a 14-inch  meat-lovers pizza, a spontaneous weekend run or the lovely education I receive at Anderson. If I start something, I dedicate myself to finishing it, plain and simple. Sentimental reasons to quit and even logical reasons to quit are disqualified, solely due to the inner drive to complete. This may sound exaggerated but sometimes this drive actually endangers my health.

I went running the day after Christmas with my new running shoes. At the onset of the run, I was feeling maybe 5-6 miles. As I was approaching my house on the way back, I decided that I wasn't sufficiently tired enough and therefore added another 7 miles. After these 7 miles, not only was I "sufficiently" tired, but also entirely dehydrated, as in I could only see one letter of the newspaper at a time, and had to crawl to the bathroom for water because the arches of my feet were in so much pain. Yes, that was dedication at its finest.

Now this weekend, dedication sucks for completely different reasons. I was hoping to attend ACL with my girlfriend and friends this year until dedication got in the way. We have a football game vs. Del Valle on Friday and I made a commitment to the football team. I have a soccer game on Sunday, which makes a three day pass essentially useless. A Saturday pass would be cool but... monetarily it would just make me feel like an idiot. Anyway, I'll end on the positive note that dedication is saving me around $200 on an ACL ticket this year...

You're Beautiful by James Blunt

I haven't played this song in a while and was interested in how much it would improve if I played it twice. While neither of the two sound nearly as good as the song in a previous life, one can get the gist. Before shedding judgment on the video, if that is what you would like to do, just be thankful for the fact that I did not attempt to sing along to the song...

and #2

Carefree to Soulful Bruno Mars

I think it becomes very apparent in these two videos how much more difficult it is to sing and play the piano at the same time (at least for me). Although granted trying to imitate Bruno Mars' singing is sufficient of a challenge in of itself.

The Lazy Song

When I Was Your Man

(the lesson learned from this song especially: I need to play through my mistakes and not stop)

The Rebellious Spirit of the Beatles

The Beatles were popular for a multitude of reasons. However, a standout factor was their aspiration for  innovation, rebellion through ingenious song writing, new sounds, you name it. They broke free of the genteel, refined ways of their society and simply let loose. They rewrote the definition of entertainment, obliterating its previously mellow connotation, vivifying music into a carefree, rampant paradise.

The comedy showcasing their songs only augmented their predisposed ability to provoke a perpetually dedicated fan base into manic episodes. The movie's humor is in part outdated at this modern time but one can still catch glimpses of time-withstanding comic such as a soldier dressing his fake wound with ketchup in the background, the blatant disregard of authority by The Beatles or the "clean old man".

Historically, I do believe it is important to know a little bit about where our music comes from as The Beatles influenced a plethora of other bands. They also encouraged my mother to sing inappropriately loud when at home so everything has its pros and cons.

Cover of Jason Mraz- I Won't Give Up (in the making)

A Tribute to Marvin Gaye Starring Marisa Hudson

So while taking a study break... we honored Marvin Gaye. There's something so honestly passionate in his soulful voice that makes "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" irresistible! Enjoy!

Collide- Howie Day

Sort of a cover, although I only did a little rearranging of the sheet music I found. I also realized in retrospect that the singing is pretty mild and definitely off-pitch at points. The importance of this attempt is to be able to expand on the volume (almost non-existential), annunciation and general quality of my voice while playing the piano. The most positive take in this instance is recognizing a lot of room for improvement. The piano playing was rather solid and the mistakes that occurred were fairly well covered. The computer also has problems doing the sound of piano justice.

The Beatles- Twist and Shout

Listening to The Beatles movie was obnoxious today and before berating me with opinions let me explain why. I enjoy The Beatles, I'm not a Beatles maniac, but I enjoy The Beatles. I do not, however, enjoy listening to an hour of girls screaming their lungs off. It is absurd and possibly unhealthy. My ears may be permanently scarred from the auditory atrocities committed by the ladies in the movie.

When the Beatles song "Twist n Shout" came on, my mood changed drastically. It's an incredibly upbeat song and reminds me of Feris Buellers performance, which I think may be even more entertaining. Once again, maybe not a popular opinion.

I have to admit that I realized today (three days after the good stuff up there), that the Feris Bueller version of The Beatles is just a higher quality recording of the other youtube video I found. I'm slightly embarrassed.

Playing by my Own Tune

So I experiment on the piano... and I'll let the song do the rest of the talking.

A few mess-ups but in general not too shabby?

Ed Sheeran Into The Stage Head Over Heels

I have a strong dislike of music that I hear too much about. When Justin Bieber came on the scene, I contracted the Bieber fever. I contracted the Bieber fever in the sense that I wanted to regurgitate last night's traditional German delight everytime he became a topic of conversation or his song was played on the radio (immediately followed by switching the station). One Direction was no better, although my girlfriend Marisa, props to her, pointed showed me one of their songs which doesn't follow their stereotypical noise.

I found this style of music extremely similar to Ed Sheeran. In fact, I believed it was so similar that I had my best friend attempt to guess who performs "Little Things". First guess, and an educated one at that, Ed Sheeran. As Mr. A mentioned in class, Ed Sheeran was definitely a bandwagon artist and I didn't want to roll down the hill with everybody else... I'm just that sort of individual. This changed however when I escorted my little sister to the Taylor Swift concert. The next ten minutes are well worth watching.

I reevaluated my initial prejudice and determined that Ed Sheeran was well worth giving a shot. So I downloaded a solid assortment of his songs. "Drunk", "The A-Team", "Give Me Love", "You Need Me, I Don't Need You", "Small Bump" and "Lego House". Mr. A. you may enjoy "Cold Coffee", give it a shot?

Feel Good Music

Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard both made feel good music. I would like to say though, that Little Richard clearly had the more powerful voice of the two as can be seen by the difference in the following two videos. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFq5O2kabQo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4NquCaWIQI

However, rather than focusing on what makes one better than the other, let's determine why both of these two esteemed artists were so popular and still deserve attention. They both pioneered a form of loud, up-beat piano in combination with a form of oral serenading that was both ridiculous and ridiculously vivifying. I beg to make the case, that Bruno Mars, in his song "Treasure", drew some inspiration from Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire". The "mine oh mine" at 1:40 sounds familiar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPvuNsRccVw

Furthermore, the Bruno Mars band setup looks a lot like the live performance from Little Richard. Hopefully, the uplifting musical spirit of Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis will prevail!

Rocking and Rolling

In class, we talked about why the gain of access to cars after World War II was such a significant social change. While everybody else was mostly sitting in class waiting to hear the answer, I began thinking that we all knew what it was. As a 16 year-old teenager, what one desires most is independence. Yes, as any satellite nation, as any colony knows (can you say 1776), independence is glorious, liberating and scary. With the independence gained by teenagers during this booming time of change (the 1950s), a new culture was born of rebellious (not so new), musically divergent teenagers. With the ability to drive off and have intimate relations without the fear of parental discovery, with the ability to distance oneself from the protective bubble that is one's home, rock and roll was able to spawn roots. I find it to be true that with the commencement of rock and roll, the addition of the electric guitar and the increasingly faster exchange of ideas, culture, the dawn of contemporary music began.

Let's Get Introspective

As I've grown up, I've found beauty in almost every form of music, ranging from jazz to classical, hip-hop to pop, rock to solely someone tapping their pencil on a desk in a rhythmic manner. I have a distaste for Justin Bieber but have to admit that the musical part of his songs (excluding his voice) can be catchy as well. The only other music I tend to object to is the Middle Eastern prayer music my dad plays at 9 in the evening, some dub step, emo and heavy metal. Since I play the piano, I've also been drawn towards songs that can be played on the piano... which is almost everything.