Ending of the Year.

Now, done with all but the very last of exams, I have many things to think about on the subject of what has turned out to be a rather interesting semester. First and foremost, though I have no prior experience with a college level English class, I must say this class has over all been very beneficial to my writings.

I was interested in the different forms of writing and how to write a proper paper. It was also a nice change to realize that the process could be interesting for myself as well as I tackled subjects I never thought I would and learned a lot in the process. As a student there was little fluff in the actual course and the way it was taught.

The other students also made the class interesting as each and every person gave a good presentation; some of the topics I was thought of as uninteresting turned out to be rather the opposite. I also think the fact that everyone was able to come up with a good concept and create a good paper really speaks of the tactics found in group revisions and personal interactions that Mr Kulak gave as well as the fact that students are more capable than they may think.

In conclusion, I can say this may have been the most interesting class this semester and has been more valuable than I thought it ever would be.

Auditory communication with visual aids for dummies

Maybe not strictly for dummies Oral Presentation is something that, I feel should have been looked at and taught more in my high school (and not just to the students). We never had a communications class, though I felt it should have been mandatory. Just in general, that and philosophy should jump start questions in people that I think needs to be asked as they grow older.

But enough of my rant on the public school system of Virginia. You want to convince some one of anything, work in groups, and make a product, then you need some sort of effective form of communication

Presentations are, to many people including myself, a performing art. As such they should be regarded highly. There will never be a single perfect method of oral presentation as it will always depend on your topic, style and limitations imposed. Though that is not to say that there should not be a sort of standard to be keep to.

I personally am not all to keen on the oral presentation aspect unless I know very well the people I am communicating with. In many cases I personally feel comfortable in a Socratic seminar rather than anything else just so I do not have to always be the center of attention.

I also feel as though it is a skill that is best learned through practice. The TED talks in particular are very good presentations similar to those we shall do in there over all style and theme. In this way, it seems best to aim for something such as this where you can start with a question and end with the audience wanting more and wondering what to do with the information presented to them. I will do my best to make things comical and interesting, but I will need at least some degree of practice in order to accomplish that.

Final Paper

The final essay was a rather interesting experience. I had to go through an extensive editing process on many successive brain dumps which culminated in, what i felt was a rather successful paper. My sources surprised me and for once Tumblr was actually beneficial to my studies.  http://deadmau5.tumblr.com/post/25690507284/we-all-hit-play

Deadmau5 talked about rather passionately about his position on EDM which surprised me. He was actually very critical of others praise for his live performances say that he thought that what he did was nothing special and that he truly shined in the studio as a producer. The fact that he was willing to bash what he does really says two things: first that he values his fans; second that he is actually almost modest and; third, that he does not give a damn what other people thing of his posts so long as he can talk.

Another thing to point out, Deadmau5 actually posted in an ask me anything type format which allowed some  fans direct communication. He along with many celebrity musicians have things like twitter and facebook accounts for themselves or fans but rarely do you get the opportunity to have an ask me anything and actually communicate with these people. Mind you, he is not as famous as say Justin Bieber, but still, on places like Reddit and Tumblr as well as other forums people can get real access to information on a person and what they do relatively easily which is perfect for someone who is starting in music production or singing or even science (I know Morgan Freeman did an ask me anything as well as Neil deGrasse Tyson)

It is strange to live in a world where I could potentially speak with anyone on earth, its quite humbling especially considering that I talk with people on the west coast daily via skype and actually have had the opportunity to get advice on a song of mine from a... well I want to call him a profession musician, from Moscow Russia.

But back to the process of the essay. It was mainly a counter to my previous papers, talking of the dangers of these technologies and what some of their potential influences may be on us, as a society as well as as consumers in the globalized market. It truly felt like my best hipster rant about the mainstream I have ever made.

In the end it was actually quite enjoyable to write this paper even if I did have a hard time focusing. Perhaps next time I should put a timer on my WiFi.

Overview of Essay 2

I had a hard time differentiating what was said in my first essay from what I was analyzing as much of what I speculated about and brought up in my 1st essay was supported by the sources I found in my second essay. All the books I used contained in depth information which really added depth to what I mentioned. I also found that as a result of the work shopping I was able to incorporate more themes and levels of analysis that I had overlooked prior.

 I certainly found it to be a challenging write when trying to understand what exactly my subject, the culture of music and how it has been changing in pop via technology,  was and where to search. I managed to keep myself interested though as my subject is something more than a hobbies to me (I make my own music) and found ways to make it appear interesting to an uniformed reader. Even though I did use some technically information, it was necessarily in order to convey what exactly what going on in my articles and I did provide explanation on what exactly certain musical terms meant.

Over all, I learned quite about myself while writing this and had a positive experience. One thing worth mentioning is that there are different types of audio engineers (one covering the DAW or digital audio workstation, one for the actual recording and one for mixing and mastering generally speaking) which in turn sent me down the rabbit hole until I came up with this Beauty http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEjOdqZFvhY Which I am not even half way through.

And now I suppose I will leave you all with an interesting song. http://soundcloud.com/emerson-hurtatis/marconi-union-weightless

Music and Youth culture

Most of my sources are actually books that contain a section about my specific topic. I am going to orient this discussion around youth culture since the late 1990's onward to the present day and how it is effected by pop music mostly from a technical standpoint.

Thankfully, I have 4 books all on the subject.

For the sake of time (and sanity) I will only look at one book and one internet source.

First is Pop Music, Pop Culture. By Chris Rojek, which is the most recent as it was published in 2011.
He Starts with distinguishing Pop versus Popular music saying that Pop implies a short life and is a dismissive term as well as being a completely different genre in how it is organized; rock, rap, and techno can be Pop, but Pop is not built of a musical Genre but as a collection of Genres.

He uses very technical terms and, as a musicologist (those exist?), analyses the counter arguments in the opening alone to a superb degree citing several definitions of "pop". He also goes on to say and I quote "for those under-30 demographic, the normal ways of producing and consuming music are microchip-based." The book itself is splint into chapters pertaining to The Field of pop music, theoretical perspectives and the mode of production(which is what I mainly want to focus on).

Second is an article from Slate on the subject of popular music growing in a simple, predictable and perhaps boring way over the past 60 or so years. The analysis is rather plane and to the point saying that, according to a study done by the Spanish National Research Council where they used a computer to analyze nearly half a million songs, they found a clear evolution or devolution, in musical quality. They say that the music has  become "blander and louder" than it used to be, which is strong at creating imagery that could be misleading. 

At first glance I thought I could use the analysis in my study to introduce my topic and show off the dynamics of this generation. now after close analysis, I can say that it has only some flaws near the introduction, after which it becomes rather technical and in depth. The fact that the website was once owned by Microsoft would support its credibility. The article also linked to a yYoutube channel, The Loudness War , discussing the actual change of the depth of the sound mixing (which was a point in the article that volume was being vamped up) that has resulted over the years which actually provides some interesting insight into the pop music that is effecting pop culture. (Plus there is a whole college level audio tech tutorial that is almost 40 videos long that I am geeking out over)

With regards to Logic and YOLO

If you only life once, then you should do all you can to make life worthwhile.
If everyone else likes to be irresponsible and/or party in a manner that degrades their life, then that should be what makes my life worthwhile too.
You only life once
therefore I should be irresponsible and/or party in a manner that degrades my life

Bandwagons are infuriating. Time and time again, no matter where you look, you will see people doing dumb things justified by sayings like YOLO and the mindset that If I don't like something no one should! If you take a look at the many modern songs, take Nicki Minaj for example and any of her, "i'm a gangsta who has sex and all yall are just jealous," who actually manages to get some airtime on the radio, and pop culture influences (look at any of the magazines near the checkout of a supermarket and tell me what you think) that are essentially telling kids its alright to get drunk, have sex and break the law on a daily basis then destroy their futures. See above pic.

Why is it implied that the only way to be happy is by partying and getting some boring job so you can make money and spend it on things you don't need so you can continue the cycle of mundane work doing something you don't want to? Maybe I have just seen too much of this thing happening ending in tears or fights over something that no one likes that it really stands out to me but we can do better.

So then how do you fix this?
First off, don't imply that everyone likes partying and being irresponsible. Those things are not going to benefit you at all on the long run just like disrespecting others won't earn you respect.

Second. Don't say that you need to do what everyone else does or think that others doing things you don't like or understand is flat out wrong. I'm not saying somethings are not inherently wrong or implied as such (killing stealing rape etc.) mostly because I don't want to get into a debate about Cartesian Skepticism, but rather to say that maybe you should think twice before judging someone who has a different opinion than you.

Lastly, you have to find out what is worth living for ( its not part of the logical argument  I know, but it is needed to make it sound) and then do that, not run around in circles pretending that you are happy and that everything is fine.

Also...

So do your thing.

Maybe instead it should read something like this.

If you only life once then you should do what makes your life happy and meaningful
You only life once.
therefore you should do what makes your life happy and meaningful.


And with that my rant is over.

Reflection on Essay #1

Essays can be fun and if nothing else then interesting. That would have to be the main thing I have found out about writing. The process also seemed to be very different to that of writing in high school where much less "fluff" was involved. The information found via the group discussion was also very prurient to dispelling what I thought I knew about essays; I understood writing much more from a fictitious narrative perspective versus as a formal paper. I did notice that my style revolved mainly around rhetorically presenting information and questions so as to direct the reader as opposed to showing the information, I included connections.

The topic of the essay itself made me question who I was as I went along and what I was doing with in my own musical ventures. Over all, it inspired me musically to do more and create more, writing included. I was truly able to delve into my topic which I found to be more and more intriguing as I went along.

Last but not least, I was pleased with the end result and thought it was very enlightening to find the significance in what I was writing through the rhetorical situation, audience and overall goal of my paper