Music Stuff Part I

Another post about how I realized something.  This time I felt like I should tackle music.  I’ll try to explain it better this time. 

As a kid I just listened to the radio, so basic pop.  I didn’t really have any musical style I liked more that another, it was just “oh something is on right now.” This idea didn’t really change for a long time.  The only minor change I could say occurred is I really liked classical.  First reason is because if an elementary school kid said he liked Dvořák  or Mendelssohn, then he is known to be smart.  Second reason is because it just sounded cool.  Classical music forces people to go through the whole emotional band.  A whole orchestra is so dynamic (pppp to ffff if you know what I mean).

Sadly, I thought I could mimic this ability on the guitar, but boy was I wrong.  One can’t compare guitar to an orchestra, can’t even compare it to a violin and piano.  Go to a recital and all I heard is “oh that violin was great” or “that piano was amazing.”  What is a middle school guitarist supposed to do?  Guitar doesn’t have the dynamic capacity as other instruments, so we were pushed back and were forced to play simplified versions of classical pieces. 

My Guitar for Seven Years

Still, at least I could play music.  Instead of just hearing it, I could actually mimic it.  The most fun was guitar quartets.  Yes we had guitar ensembles, but unless I was first chair (which I was only a few times), I just felt like one of the crowd.  Being in a quartet was much more fun.  One plus is four guitars are louder than one (take that violin and piano!).  Second is I got the feeling of playing in a group.  It isn’t just learning notes and regurgitating them out.  No, I had to listen to others and mold my playing to fit in with the overarching music (they did the same for me).  In the end, we didn’t sound like four guitarists, but one collective. 

Guitar Ensemble.  Here I Played Guitar 3, but Previously Played Guitar 1 when in a Trio

Don’t really know where I was going with this.  I have a lot of stories from my guitar days, but there is no point talking about my past.  I guess the point was my shifting viewpoint of music from something I passively listened to to something that I actively created.