Blog #1: My Musical Culture

     Hello to anyone reading! My name is Taryn. This is my third year here at Converse; I'll be graduating this coming December with a B.M. in Music Education. Since coming to Converse in 2018, I've done a lot of things. I've changed my major and career plans a bunch of times, I've been involved in student government and residential life, I'm on the swim team, and I've been in quite a few performances here at the PSOM. However, before coming to Converse, I wasn't nearly as involved with extracurriculars or music. 

    I grew up in a very small town outside of Columbia, SC. I can't say that my family didn't care about music, because both of my parents LOVE music, just not the classical kind. I was raised on strictly 70s and 80s rock/pop--The Eagles, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Queen, CCR, etc, but the only classical music exposure I got was choir at my high school, plus going to see The Nutcracker at the Koger Center. When I came to college I had no idea how to play an instrument, I had never seen an opera, and I could just barely read music enough to squeak by the sight-reading portions of my audition. Deciding to study music in college was less a question of passion and more one of money-- I was lucky enough to get a music scholarship, and I needed all the help I could get to pay for this place I was trying to convince my parents to send me to. Thus, in August of 2018 I walked through the doors of PSOM as a music freshman. 

    I wouldn't say that I never looked back. In fact, my lack of knowledge about basic theory, standard repertoire, and general cluelessness to all things music gave me a lot of insecurities and a bit of imposter syndrome, especially during my first year. Did I really belong here? Were the constant headaches from staring at one chord on a piece of paper worth it? Did everyone secretly hate me and think I was stupid? Did I need to just give up and move back to the farm? Luckily I managed to (mostly) overcome those feelings, and I discovered that music was so much more than just a way to pay for school-- it had a rich and exciting past, present, and future, and there was some kind of music for everyone. I love the idea of always getting to learn something new-- there's always some piece of music I haven't heard, some new composer I get to discover, some obscure 17th century opera I get to watch... you get the idea. 

1. Music that is important to me 

    This is a song by The Eagles, my dad's all time favorite band, called Take it Easy from their 1972 debut album. As I mentioned before, I grew up mainly listening to 70s and 80s music, but this song is particularly special to me because of a memory I have. I was probably about 13 or 14, and my family took a week long trip to Folly Beach. I was obviously in the throngs of teenage angst, plus my dad and I didn't really have a lot in common. I mostly thought of my dad as some guy who gave me money sometimes. I had brought a friend with me on our vacation, and I was mostly spending time with her, but one day my dad asked me if I wanted to walk to the pier with him. We walked down the beach and when we got to the pier he bought us ice cream, then as we were walking around we came across a guy playing the guitar and busking. My dad gave him a $5 and asked if he knew any Eagles, and the guy started playing, you guessed it, Take it Easy. My dad and I didn't really say much, just sat and ate ice cream and watched the water. But after that I made an effort to be a little nicer to my dad (as nice as a 14 year old girl can be) and I started listening to the Eagles myself. 

 

2. Music that has helped me through the pandemic

    I had to think about this one for awhile. I've listened to a lot of music since March. I recently have gotten into listening to vinyl records, which is fun because normally the old classical records are only a few dollars. I was going to share my collection with you, but I thought I'd share something a little more fun. Since all of this mess started I've started watching a lot of comfort shows-- mostly cartoons or animated shows that make me happy. I decided to rewatch Steven Universe, which if you haven't seen I HIGHLY recommend. A quick synopsis: the show is about a young boy named Steven who is half human and half crystal gem. The crystal gems are essentially aliens, magical gemstones whose bodies are made out of light. His mother, Rose Quartz, gave up her form so that he could be born, and he now has her gem and lives with the rest of the crystal gems: Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. His dad, Greg, is a musician/ex-rockstar who has passed his love of music down to Steven, so most of the episodes have one or two songs within them. While they can sometimes be cheesy, the show has a lot of good messages and is really quite beautiful. Here's my favorite song from the show (if you don't listen to anything else, please listen to this one!) and my favorite quote from the song: "Is there anything that's worth more than peace and love on the planet Earth?" 

3. Music I really don't like 

I really, REALLY, hate atonal music. Music History IV was a nightmare for me. Occasional weird harmonies are fine, but an entire piece (or an entire OPERA) where I have no idea what the tonal center was, if there even was one? 0/10. A total headache. What is the point? Anyways, here's a Shoenberg piano concerto we listened to in Music History IV. My jaw was more or less on the floor the whole time. What is the point of listening to music that doesn't sound like music? 

Edit: I just remembered that we were supposed to try and say something respectful about it anyways. My previous comments still stand, but I will add that I often get into arguments with my girlfriend, who is a fantastic artists, because she absolutely despises contemporary artists like Pollock, and says that it isn't real art, to which I reply that art is less about what it's supposed to be and more about what someone takes from it, meaning that if someone looks at that and really thinks "wow, that's a great piece of art", then how can you say it's not? I suppose music is kind of the same way. There are some people out there who love atonal stuff-- they love analyzing it, figuring out what's going on, and good for them. Still can't stand it though.