hist 390

This week we only had one class that mainly composed of people explaining what they found through their Digital Scavenger Hunt. I didn’t take many notes on that day but, one thing that was hysterical to me was when professor was referring to different singers and beats being available on GarageBand as “products like seasoning.” Having the ability to choose a singer named Andre, that sounds like a black guy, or Clark, a man that sounds like a hillbilly, singing incoherent words and make a song sound comprehensible is wild. Is it even music anymore?

This comes back to the beginning of the semester when we talked about how we like to not think hard about the music. Our brains are constantly using mental shortcuts in everyday life so, applying it to music is weird but understandable. Instead of having a complete orchestra, a spacious room and a singer, all we need now is someone who can hear and has downloaded music software. I can just imagine a wannabe “music producer” living in his parent’s basement thinking he’s a hotshot because he can place pre-made beats together.

I feel like the shortcuts we use now, such as technology, has made music less memorable. We remember old singers like Frank Sinatra, Bessie Smith, etc. because the music they made was with real instruments and with real professionals. Yes, yes, yes, music engineers and singers today are professionals and a computer is an instrument blah bah blah. I’m just curious in two hundred years, what song is going to be considered a classic from the 21st century. Probably Beyoncé because… well it’s Beyoncé.

The video of the guy showing the history of heavy metal umlaut through Wikipedia was informative but strange. I just kept thinking to myself, “this guy must be really bored or is a really boring dude to create a video about a Wiki page.” The fact that people all around the world are able to look at the same page is crazy! The “battle” between the vandalizer and the “wiki cop” was hilarious to me. It was immature but, I guess I find laughter in the pettiest things. On a serious note, it was amazing that two strangers were able to edit a page within a minute. I tried to find the page today but it seems as though the title has changed from “heavy metal amulet” to just “heavy metal music.” I did not know that Wiki has editors constantly checking the page to make sure information is accurate and is backed up by evidence. Poor Wiki has a bad reputation among high school teachers. I think it’s actually a good source of beginning information and should be encouraged. Screw you high school teachers!

Filed by aa16007 at 5:54 pm under Uncategorized
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