Music and Critical Thinking

I have just realized that I totally forgot to do this blog, so I am doing it now. The topic? Well, hopefully the title explains it all. If not, then let me put it simply: I plan to say how my major (music) incorporates the idea of critical thinking into its curriculum.

To answer any question marks appearing above your head, yes there IS critical thinking in music, whether it be analyzing, composing or performing it. And even though I am a percussionist, there is STILL critical thinking. Heck, there is still thinking in general going on back in the section. Believe it or not, we just don't drool like cave bats with rabies and hit random objects with sticks whenever we fancy. In fact, it has been proven that people who can keep closer to tempo and play beats more accurately are smarter than others. TAKE THAT!!

Anyway, back to the original topic. Music does indeed have critical thinking. When composers create music, they have to take certain chord progressions and make melodies with them. They have all these tools to use in order to make the music sound pretty, angry, or the saddest thing on earth. The are endless combinations about which chord progresses the best into this one other chord and what notes should follow an augmented 6th. Think carefully about how many songs there are. Really carefully. Although many of them use all the same notes, they are placed so differently that they can get a tottaly different song out.

Another way for critical thinking to be used in music is when you are playing it. The performer has to think about the atmoshpere of the piece being played, and adjust his playing to fit the appropriate mood. Other wise you could end up with a heavanly chorus from the orchestra while the triangle player is playing like he sees bats out of hell.

Which all comes down to another point: The performer should probably figure out when the piece being played was created. This would help get the best effect that was meant for the piece. For example, baroque music was meant for certain instruments during the baroque period. If the same music was used with instruments today, like a heavy metal guitar, it probably would not have the same affect as a flute.

This is only the tip of the ice berg when it comes to critical thinking and music, but, alas, this is where we must stop. I hope you have all enjoyed this post, as I tried to add some color to what would have been an otherwise mind numbing assignment. Hopefully your mind is inspired now to critically think about anything in a "more fun" way.

Pope-ism and Nazis

In his article, Goldhagen relates the pope's way of thinking and the Nazi beliefs because he was hoping to stimulate the readers mind into critically thinking about both sides. The ideas from both the pope and Nazis were similar: Their way is the best way. Some differences are that the pope didn't put people in ovens if they disagreed with his beliefs and the Nazis actually learned form their actions about creating a "superior" race. Meanwhile, the pope only believes that his religion is correct, and he hasn't learned when to stop trying to convert people while the Nazis were burning people left and right before they learned they were wrong.
The article also says that the pope was in the Nazi Youth program, which meant that he had to agree with some of the plans and ideas that the Nazis believed in. Basically, the only reason why he quit the group was because he didn't like the violence which was bestowed upon all the Jews and everyone else.
The purpose of this article is for the reader to look past all the righteous bias that the pope generates as well all the negativity from the Nazis. Critical thinking requires a state of mind that is willing to listen to both sides and release most, if not all, biased thinking. What better way to excersize this than to take the most widely known "pure" figure and compare him to a group that is hated throughout most of the world and is basically a symbal of death?

Changing Thoughts on "Back Home"

Surprisingly, my ideas have not really changed about the California Dream, or about the song "Back Home". I still feel that this song truly represents how I feel about the dream. It indicates that people leave their home and everything else in their life behind to try and make it better in the promising state of California. When they live in CA for a while, they realize that life is just as difficult, if not more difficult, in the place they moved to, only this time they have to start over in making friends and finding some one to love. The person realizes that they had been foolish in throwing their life away, which wasn't as bad as it seemed, in order to try and make their life better. They lost the chances to enjoy their life back at home. They didn't appreciate what they had before they left. This is what I think about the California Dream, and the song pretty much covers it all. While I was looking at the song, it only reinforced my decision for picking it as the song that I picked to write about.