Recently my husband and I had a fascinating conversation about music. He loves music, and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of popular music from about the last 50 years. He is one of those people who can "name the song and band" after hearing just a bar or two of a song. He can also tell who is singing a cover version. On the other hand, I am often surprised to discover that music from an advertisement is actually from a real song....I really am hopeless when it comes to contemporary music. I enjoy listening to it when he turns on the stereo, but I wouldn't think to do it myself.
I love listening to classical music, and foreign and indigenous singers whose lyrics I know I can't understand, so there's no need trying. I played the french horn in our school orchestra - I am not naturally musical, but had a fabulous teacher. (French horn is a good instrument to play if you are not in fact very musical - you sit near the trumpets and trombones, who are usually quite musical or at least very confident and cocky, and they either drown you out or blend you in, so no one notices your mistakes). I loved playing in orchestras and bands. Creating music with others is very fulfilling; a real pleasure.
As I was saying, I love classical music. I loved learning about musical theory, history and the lives of the great composers. It is a source of great sadness to me that I am not actually musical. I was one of only three students banned from our primary school choir membership of which was compulsory!
To cut a long story short, I know a lot about music, but can't actually 'do' music very well. Nevertheless I am very grateful to all those who helped me learn, and who patiently covered for me in various bands and orchestras over the years. And the fascinating conversation I had with my husband made it all worth while.
He asked me about scales, and how you can tell if a piece of music is in a particular key, and what the difference is between major and minor keys, and why we need sharps and flats. In other words, about three years of music theory condensed into a half hour conversation. So I sat him down at the keyboard of our (digital) piano and showed him. It was a really special feeling, firstly to actually know more about something than he does, but also to be able to teach him a little more about something he loves. It was so refreshing (and sadly, unusual) to be having an in depth conversation that didn't revolve aroung the children or the household or work or finances. Eventually our discussion led us to the internet, where we found sites that got right into the maths and physics of music and harmony, where we both learnt something new together. And while we'll never have to rely on our understanding of musical theory for a crust, that time spent talking and sharing was for me so precious.
How often, at school or uni, have we sat in class thinking (or saying...) "Why do I have to do this? This is sooo totally irrelevant to me. I'm no good at this, why do I have to learn it?" The fact is, we can never know when something we have learnt may come in handy, when we may be grateful to those who made us learn a language or an instrument or a sport or a skill. Even learning something at which we are hopeless gives us at least a greater appreciation of the efforts of those who excel.
For which of education's 'irrelevancies' are you grateful?
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Monday, December 13, 2010
A soundtrack to Christmas
Looking for a soundtrack to Christmas? I would like to give a plug to transit jazz , a really talented group of musicians who take their inspirations from traditional Christian music, and well- and not so well-known Bible verses.
Their music is easy to hear and to listen to (ie it's nice to have playing at dinner, and stimulating to actually listen to), with vaguely familiar refrains which infuse a sense of the sacred with the profane (in the old sense of the word...).
Whether you hold strong Christian beliefs or not; if you like jazz, or if you would like to like jazz, have a look and a listen!
Their music is easy to hear and to listen to (ie it's nice to have playing at dinner, and stimulating to actually listen to), with vaguely familiar refrains which infuse a sense of the sacred with the profane (in the old sense of the word...).
Whether you hold strong Christian beliefs or not; if you like jazz, or if you would like to like jazz, have a look and a listen!
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Tripod - 'Bard' Lyrics
This is the closing song from Tripod vs the Dragon, which I feel encapsulates the spirit of the kids (and adults) who play/ed D&D.
In a circle on the hallway floor
Teacher held you back again
Drawing ogres in your textbook margin
Keeping your eyes down and dodging oranges
On the bus trip home
Every day you're battle-scarred
You'll grow up to be a bard
You'll grow up to be a bard
Hurt yourself at sports again
You're not made for mud and wind
Limping home through quiet streets
Sprinkler spits a snare drum beat
Kids down on the vacant block threw rocks at you
For talking to yourself again
Days like this are way too hard
You'll grow up to be a bard
You'll grow up to be a bard
You'll tell your own daughter stories
She'll get some dice of her own one day
They can trademark the name all they like
It's all ripped off Tolkien anyway
'Cause dragons and dungeons go way back
They go back a long, long way
And they won't go away
They won't go away
Meet you by the art room door
In a circle on the hallway floor
Made up a new map last night
It's got a dragon and a wizard fight
Once the ranger and the theif get here
We can lock the door
Shut the noise out from the yard
then we can let down our guard
You'll grow up to be a bard
You'll grow up to ...
You'll grow up to be a bard
You'll grow up to...
Lyrics provided by LyricsMode.com
Bard
Meet you by the art room doorIn a circle on the hallway floor
Teacher held you back again
Drawing ogres in your textbook margin
Keeping your eyes down and dodging oranges
On the bus trip home
Every day you're battle-scarred
You'll grow up to be a bard
You'll grow up to be a bard
Hurt yourself at sports again
You're not made for mud and wind
Limping home through quiet streets
Sprinkler spits a snare drum beat
Kids down on the vacant block threw rocks at you
For talking to yourself again
Days like this are way too hard
You'll grow up to be a bard
You'll grow up to be a bard
You'll tell your own daughter stories
She'll get some dice of her own one day
They can trademark the name all they like
It's all ripped off Tolkien anyway
'Cause dragons and dungeons go way back
They go back a long, long way
And they won't go away
They won't go away
Meet you by the art room door
In a circle on the hallway floor
Made up a new map last night
It's got a dragon and a wizard fight
Once the ranger and the theif get here
We can lock the door
Shut the noise out from the yard
then we can let down our guard
You'll grow up to be a bard
You'll grow up to ...
You'll grow up to be a bard
You'll grow up to...
Lyrics provided by LyricsMode.com
D & D rules O.K.!
This is the message of Tripod's hilarious show Tripod vs the Dragon, which I saw last week. For the uninitiated, D&D is Dungeons and Dragons, a role playing game (real life, in the broadest sense as opposed to virtual/second life type role playing....), that was very popular amongst a certain demographic during my highschool days, the late 80s/early 90s. The typical D&D player was male, smart, apparently quiet, secretly funny and is now employed by multinational engineering firms, software companies, insurance companies or google. And up to three of them, I suspect, have formed Tripod!
D&D is played using a pair of 20-sided dice, and a series of very complex instruction manuals which are referred to constantly as the players choose characters and establish their strengths and weaknesses in areas such as courage, intelligence, fighing ability, loyalty etc. A quest is undertaken, with the random rolling of the dice determining the characters' fates and degrees of success in achieving their goals. As you can imagine it is very complicated, and games could last many days! I have fond memories of a group of boys in my class at school who could usually manage to find a quiet, warm corner to settle into with their dice, rule books, and complex, specialised jargon.
This is the culture embraced and celebrated in Tripod vs the Dragon. A trio of male friends, now adults, meet weekly for an afternoon of Dungeons & Dragons, dropped off by their wives with plentiful supplies of soft drink and chips. They, and the audience are drawn into their quest, and follow their adventures. The set is quite sparse, an armchair, a keyboard and a huge white sheet suspended midstage. The story is told through song and semi-scripted comic patter. Being comedians, Tripod engage in repartee with the audience, and it isn't always clear what is spontaneous and what is planned. Much of the action is presented through shadow effects with lights on either side of the sheet. The effect is brilliant, so simple yet innovative and hilariously entertaining.
I won't tell you much about the story, suffice to say that it's a fairly standard quest of our heroes (a priest, a magician and a fughter who wants to be a bard), seeking to destroy a dragon, having adventures of the mind, body and heart on the way....
The closing song epitomises the message or, if you like, the moral of the story, that it's ok to be a 'nerd', and have specialised, eccentric hobbies and pastimes; it is possible to transcend a highschool life of being a library refugee, but do you really want to? As someone who was friends with D&D players at school, (despite never being invited to play), I was filled with a warm nostalgic glow! A night of happy, rather than cruel or sarcastic, laughter was just what the doctor ordered! I came out feeling refreshed and uplifted.
D&D is played using a pair of 20-sided dice, and a series of very complex instruction manuals which are referred to constantly as the players choose characters and establish their strengths and weaknesses in areas such as courage, intelligence, fighing ability, loyalty etc. A quest is undertaken, with the random rolling of the dice determining the characters' fates and degrees of success in achieving their goals. As you can imagine it is very complicated, and games could last many days! I have fond memories of a group of boys in my class at school who could usually manage to find a quiet, warm corner to settle into with their dice, rule books, and complex, specialised jargon.
This is the culture embraced and celebrated in Tripod vs the Dragon. A trio of male friends, now adults, meet weekly for an afternoon of Dungeons & Dragons, dropped off by their wives with plentiful supplies of soft drink and chips. They, and the audience are drawn into their quest, and follow their adventures. The set is quite sparse, an armchair, a keyboard and a huge white sheet suspended midstage. The story is told through song and semi-scripted comic patter. Being comedians, Tripod engage in repartee with the audience, and it isn't always clear what is spontaneous and what is planned. Much of the action is presented through shadow effects with lights on either side of the sheet. The effect is brilliant, so simple yet innovative and hilariously entertaining.
I won't tell you much about the story, suffice to say that it's a fairly standard quest of our heroes (a priest, a magician and a fughter who wants to be a bard), seeking to destroy a dragon, having adventures of the mind, body and heart on the way....
The closing song epitomises the message or, if you like, the moral of the story, that it's ok to be a 'nerd', and have specialised, eccentric hobbies and pastimes; it is possible to transcend a highschool life of being a library refugee, but do you really want to? As someone who was friends with D&D players at school, (despite never being invited to play), I was filled with a warm nostalgic glow! A night of happy, rather than cruel or sarcastic, laughter was just what the doctor ordered! I came out feeling refreshed and uplifted.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
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