Showing posts with label ethnomusicology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ethnomusicology. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Time Travel Blogging

The most unhummable genre ever. Rap. Or even hip-hop for that matter.
I don't know why, but I've had Shutterbug stuck in my head and I only know 3 words in the entire song. Makes humming the tune very inconvenient.

This is why I like singing Jazz. I am expected and sometime required to make lyrics up. screw up the melody. tie in another lick from a different song. They call it improvising. I call it convenient.

I studied Ethnomusicology at UCLA and (am still!) a 2 credit performance away from graduating. I was never smart enough to apply for a degree in Biology, or Poli-Sci. Too much demand from summa cum laude graduates with 'school newspaper editor' and 'president of the geological archiving club' on their applications. So I picked an obscure degree. Musicology. Sort of like choosing to play the Oboe or Hammered Dulcimer to guarantee a slot in the orchestra. No on plays the hammered dulcimer (except the eccentric beatniks I ended up hanging out with). It turned out my plan for irrelevence in a Bachelors Degree worked. Kids out of highschool were signing up for Psychology Majors. I was poking around in the clearance rack of Bachelors degrees. Jackpot. Now I escape an hour away from my parent's home in Orange County and into the Brentwood-Wilshire-Sunset BLVD, Los Angeles' smelly and awkward arms of freedom! Musicology = Independence. Sign. Me. Up.

Don't mind the Caveat: I was accepted as a Spring semester student, so I opted to take extension classes until I could officially enroll one semester after all of my smarter and more capable friends did. After the first semester had completed and I was enrolled, I decided to change majors and try for the Jazz Performance program. The only way to take that as a specialty was to Major in Ethnomusicology. So therein lies my (near) Degree of choice.

Even in my rebellion I was practical. So after my audition - I was officially studying something I could wrap my limited brain around. Music. Jazz.

And as I peer back into history for a moment, I am glowing with delight.

Reflecting on the past is healthy. When I write of these memories now, I am nostalgic. But it never felt as good then as it does in my memory right now as I type.

Satan can steal our moments. he is a thief that seaks to steal, kill, and destroy. And he tries to throw one over on us. I'm on to it. And I will take my moment back like an indian giver. I will enjoy Right Now! I will love it and pretend I am 10 years fast-forwarded and writing about how great it was. I am future blogging my today experience. I am a time traveling blogger. Buckle up.

This is my victory in Christ. Enjoying today. Sign. Me. Up.