The music major ostrich.

 I stumbled upon a meme called The Music Major Ostrich. Cracks me up :) Enjoy.

Quote

  "Music is the vapor of art. It is to poetry what reverie is to thought... What the ocean of clouds is to the ocean of waves."
-Victor Hugo

The Erlkonig

  In music history we have begun to study romantic era music. Today he talked a lot about Schubert. We listened to a song of his, Erl Konig (The Elf King), in which the lyrics are a poem by a German poet. Here is a link to the song, and I have written the English translation below. An informative footnote: The Elf King is like the Danish equivalency of Death, or the way we think of Death as physical form. The singer has different tonalities and emotions depending on which character he is singing for. There are three characters: the father, the son, and The Elf King. Anyways, listen and enjoy. :) But make sure you read the words along with the music, otherwise it won't make any sense..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XP5RP6OEJI

Who rides, so late, through night and wind?
It is the father with his child.
He holds the boy in the crook of his arm
He holds him safe, he keeps him warm.

"My son, why do you hide your face so anxiously?"
"Father, do you not see the Erlking?
The Erlking with crown and cloak?"
"My son, it's a wisp of fog."

"You lovely child, come, go with me!
Many a beautiful game I'll play with you;
Some colorful flowers are on the shore,
My mother has some golden robes."

"My father, my father, can't you hear,
What the Erlking quietly promised me?"
"Be calm, stay calm, my child;
The wind rustles through dry leaves."

"Do you want to come with me, fine lad?
My daughters should be waiting for you;
My daughters lead the nightly dances
And will rock and dance and sing you to sleep."

"My father, my father, can't you see there,
The Erlking's daughters in the gloomy place?"
"My son, my son, I see it well:
The old willows seem so gray."

"I love you, your beautiful form entices me;
And if you're not willing, I shall use force."
"My father, my father, he's grabbing me now!
The Erlking has wounded me!"

The father shudders; he rides swiftly,
He holds in his arms the moaning child.
Barely he arrives at the yard in urgency;
In his arms, the child was dead.

Chinese Zither

  I went to a concert on Friday night called the World Music Concert. It was three hours, packed full of music from different cultures. It was very interesting. I enjoyed it very much. I met a music therapy graduate student who got her undergrad in China, and she just moved to Ohio to get her masters at OU. Her primary instrument is the Chinese zither. Of course, I had never heard of it before, as I'm sure you haven't, either. So here is the song she played. It was pretty awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IE5UE_82_Q

New song

  I've been working on a new classical piece (oxymoron?) by Mozart. It's challenging, but I like it. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-THIU5Mu_I

Update

  Hi!
This quarter is going by fast! Recreational instruments is indeed interesting. We start accordion lessons on Friday. We have taken one guitar test, one recorder test, and one ukelele test. I got an A on everything except that stupid guitar.. :P

In music history we are just wrapping up learning about the classical period of music. Today in class we spend the majority of the time discussing Beethoven, and we heard this piece in class. I just love it, so I thought I'd share.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5favl2Qtx0
Also, today in music history class, we learned that the entire 9th symphony including all movements is over an hour long, and when modern inventors were creating the idea of the CD, when making the decision of how long it should be, the main deciding factor was that it had to be long enough to contain Beethoven's entire 9th symphony, and that is why CDs play for over an hour. Interesting tid-bit :)

Winter quarter!

  As a continuing music student, my class schedule is, again, insane. Most of the music classes are only worth a couple credits, sometimes none (but are required.) It's a little ridiculous. So, again, I have 9 classes. Yuuuuuck.
This quarter I have 19 credits, as opposed to the 17 I had last quarter. As far as classes go, I am enrolled in:
Theory II (3 credits)
Dictation and Sight Singing II (1 credits)
Piano (2 credits)
Piano Lab (0 credits)
Performance Lab (0 credits)
University Singers (2 credits)
Intro to Child Development (4 credits)
Intro to Music History and Literature (3 or 4? Can't remember.)
and Recreational Instruments and Materials. (3 credits).

  In Rec. Instruments, I have to learn to play the accordion, recorder, guitar, baritone uke, and dulcimer. So far it's fairly fun, I guess? I have mixed feelings about that class. I can't really decide if I like it or not, but it's alright. I guess the worst part about it is having to carry my guitar all the way across campus three days a week. I'm building those arm muscles. *flex*

  Today in Music History, we talked about the elements of music some more, and started talking about the stylistic periods of music, to be continued during the rest of the week. But, in an attempt to keep this post short, I will now share a beautiful piece that Dr. Barte (Mus. Hist. Professor) shared in class today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh31j6L95Ok