Professors and teachers who try to inject their own personal beliefs into their curriculum rather than attempting to be balanced should be fired. If they have tenure, it should be revoked.
Quote from: Verbatim on February 22, 2018, 07:52:45 PMProfessors and teachers who try to inject their own personal beliefs into their curriculum rather than attempting to be balanced should be fired. If they have tenure, it should be revoked.Uh, that’s already the case for primary school teachers. Injecting bias would be a violation of the captive audience doctrine.
As it turns out, if you love music, one of the worst things you can ever do is try to learn how to make your own.What makes music interesting to me is how, unlike other art forms (such as film), it's actually pretty difficult to pinpoint exactly what makes a song so appealing to you, even if the reverse isn't true. It's much easier to shit on music you dislike, because people tend to know exactly what they don't like to hear.I couldn't really tell you what I like to hear in music, though. I just know it when I hear it. When I listen to "She Loves Us" by Swans, I can try to describe all the things that make it wonderful—it's an aggressive, malicious, spiteful, slow-burning 17 minute track with an extremely repetitious guitar riff with loudly barked vocals and vitriolic lyrics—but unless you 1.) hear the song yourself, and 2.) actually enjoy it, you probably won't understand the appeal of it. I can only describe to you how the song sounds, and why the song appeals to me. But I can't describe to you why I think it's a good song, objectively speaking, so I can't tell you why you should enjoy it.This isn't similar to film, where I can pinpoint to you all the reasons why The Godfather is a masterpiece. Nobody who appreciates film as an art form dislikes it, and even if they do, they still respect it. That's because we have somewhat of a real palpable standard for what makes a movie good, or at least, more so than we do with music.Music is probably the most subjective art form ever, if such a thing were to be quantified. There's no technical standard for what makes a good song, and there are so many artists out there who go out of their way to shatter any attempt to bottleneck the art form into any set of arbitrary rules. The bottom line is that music, first and foremost, is about how it makes you feel, and that to me is what separates it from other forms of art in this day and age. It's a very traditional way of looking at art. Those who want to think read books, and those who want to feel listen to music. In general.It gives music sort of a precious and almost magical quality to it, but this all goes out the window once you actually start learning how to make music.I've been wanting to learn how to play the piano for a long time, but I've just been too intimidated by the sheer amount of practice. I hate practice and work more than anyone else. I just wanna be good at stuff. If I could be a natural talent at just one thing, I could've been a happy person. But I'm not a natural talent at any one thing, so I have to waste time learning shit, and it's the most frustrating and miserable thing in the world for me.Anyway, so I've been teaching myself a little bit about how piano playing works, and I've decided that music is kinda ruined for me forever. Not that I can't listen to it, not that I can't ever play it, but I'll never think about music the same way again, and I kinda detest the shit out of that.Without getting too much into the technical aspects of it, music theory is basically just us trying to apply math, science, and objectivity into the abstract of music as a means for us to understand how it all ticks. Normally, I'm all for that. I do that with other art forms, so why would it matter with music?Well, I kinda forgot what I listened to music for in the first place. I don't listen to music for the technical aspects of it. I listen to music because it makes me feel a certain way. When you try to apply math to a feeling, you kill the feeling. That's kinda why they tell you in high school not to do book reports and shit about your favorite stories, because you might wind up hating it in the end, because you've just sucked out all of the wonder and mystery and nuance. You know why you like the story, so when you analyze it for hours, it loses all meaning and you become numb to it.What I've learned from studying music theory is that nothing is sacred. Music isn't magical or special. It's all just math. The more I get into this stuff, the more disillusioned I become with it. Everything has a name, no concept has been untouched.Most people who enjoy making music don't seem to go through this crisis, so to understand how I feel, try to imagine yourself as a kid watching a magic show. And it's so cool, when it's over, it inspires you to become a magician yourself. You believe in magic. You saw that dude pull a rabbit out of an empty hat with your own eyes. You wanna be able to do that when you grow up.So you grow up and discover that magic isn't real and it's all just sleight of hand bullshit. Either you give up your dream, or you become a magician anyway, but if you become a magician, you have to find a way to existentially reconcile the fact that your childhood wish never really came true, because magic isn't real and you never really could learn how to perform it.I always struggled with reading sheet music when I was in high school choir. It wasn't that it was too difficult for me, or anything. I think my mind was just rejecting it, because I want music to maintain its mysticism for me so dearly.My options as of this moment are to either stop trying to learn how to make music, lest it all becomes ruined for me forever, or try to find a way to reconcile my inhibitions. I'm just not sure if that's a real possibility for me.kinda more of a blog than a hot take but w/e we'll take it
Well, I kinda forgot what I listened to music for in the first place. I don't listen to music for the technical aspects of it. I listen to music because it makes me feel a certain way.
Quote from: Verbatim on February 23, 2018, 10:34:10 PMWell, I kinda forgot what I listened to music for in the first place. I don't listen to music for the technical aspects of it. I listen to music because it makes me feel a certain way.I like to get into the technicalities of my favorite songs to really find out what clicks with me. Its had the opposite effect for me where ive started to appreciate it more.Its made me excessively critical though.
Video games are the lowest art form, but it has the potential to be the highest.
what the next lowest might be
Quote from: Mardy Bum on February 25, 2018, 02:16:54 PMwhat the next lowest might beblacksmithing I guess
Quote from: Verbatim on February 24, 2018, 10:53:45 PMVideo games are the lowest art form, but it has the potential to be the highest.Can you elaborate on how it’s the lowest and what the next lowest might be
Art is a product of human activity, which is innovative in any way.
art is anything that strives to be art.
Intention is the defining trait.