post sixteen.

Here's my other late post.
One of the things I think are really amazing are a capella pieces, and the fact that people can make such great music with just their voices astounds me. Observe this college group (UCLA Scattertones) covering a song from Mulan.

Honestly that sounds just as good as the real one in my opinion. People can make things sound so great if you combine the voices together the right way. Here's an example of another good one, performed on Glee, and when you put it together in your head that these are just voices and not instruments, it blows you away. 

So, I think that acapella music is beautiful. It's kind of going away from rock 'n roll and the purpose of the class for a second, but that's just my opinion on a type of music that really astounds me and makes me love music that much more.

post fifteen.

This post is a little bit late. Oh well.
I'd like to talk about the difference between listening to an album all the way through and listening to just part of a song before changing it. When you're really in the mood for an artist, maybe listening to a full album is the way to go. If you're feeling upbeat, and want to listen to The Beatles, maybe Please Please Me is the way to go. But if you're feeling distracted, and just want to listen to one part of a song, I understand wanting to change it in between. Sometimes sitting still and listening to a whole album can be frustrating, because there are songs coming up that you want to listen to, and you don't want to sit and wait for it to come on.
So there is obviously logic behind both, listening to the full album helps you get more into the music, get a better feel for it, while listening to one song can just satisfy the fact that maybe you're in the mood for more than one artist and not just one.

post fourteen.

There's a lot of mixed emotions flying around my head.
I mean, I'm a teenager, of course it's going to happen.
But I feel like I can feel truly happy when I'm playing my guitar, or my piano, or singing, or any of the other instruments I have. Music is the only true thing I have a connection with. Maybe this is too personal to be sharing on a blog for a high school music class.
But, as short as this blog entry is, it's just for me to get this one thing out:
I don't see how some people don't have a strong connection with music. It's the only thing that makes sense anymore, in my opinion. A lot of people say "eh, music's cool, but it's not really too interesting to me", and I really don't understand how the one thing that keeps me, and I'm sure a lot of other people, sane, is written off as unimportant to others.

post thirteen.

Some songs/artists just need to be left alone.
For example, we listened to Piece of My Heart in class today. We listened to the Janis version, which was so full of raw emotion and feelings. She meant what she was singing, she was ANGRY.
Then we listened to the Faith Hill version. Just alone, it's hard to imitate Janis's emotions and it's hard to put the same feeling into the song, but when you add a cheesy 90s music video and a soft, country voice, it's almost laughable. The song should be left alone, because no one can sing it like Janis.

Another example is Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit". I've never been a big fan of Nirvana, but I think that song should go untouched. It's too good to try to be imitated. Observe the version above by Miley Cyrus.
Covers are great in some cases, for example, The Byrds did a fantastic cover of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man". The Beatles did plenty of covers, and they were all good. Some songs, however, should remain untouched in my opinion, because they just have too much emotion that can't be imitated.

post twelve.

I honestly think it's kind of hard to listen to another band and evaluate them on the same day once you've been listening to The Beatles.
When you think about the question that was posed in class about either finishing Help!, or listening to more Rolling Stones, the answer was a unanimous Beatles. The Beatles are very easy to listen to and they appeal to any kind of audience, as displayed by the millions of fans all over the world. For example, they are my favourite band, and I'm 16. They are Mr. A's favourite band, and he's not a day over 30. They're my mom's favourite band, and she's 55. They appeal to all ages, which is why I think they're so popular among the class.
I also admire the people who choose to share their opinion if they don't like The Beatles. I think that sometimes people feel overwhelmed by the positive reception, so they don't want to say "I don't think The Beatles are all that great." Points go to anyone who shares their opinion, for me. Good or bad, sharing your opinion is always good to do, especially when it comes to music because there's so many different forms of it.

post eleven.

I've seen a lot of people who are turned off to The Beatles after they hear their stuff from Revolver on. When their looks started changing, when they moved away from pop and started moving towards more complex things. I'm not trying to dictate what a "true fan" is, but it disappoints me when I see stuff like this. The Beatles are the most important band in the world to me, they have so much to offer, and their talent, musicianship, and chemistry (up until about 1968) are remarkable, to say the least.
In Help!, you start noticing their transformation more and more. Their hair is getting longer, the humour is different, their music is changing, even the nature of the film is different, to say the least. The Beatles were introduced to marijuana, which played a big part in their music. In Girl, you can literally hear them inhaling marijuana smoke. Got To Get You Into My Life, one of their bigger hits on Revolver, is written about marijuana.
So, while drug use isn't something I condone, it really changed and affected The Beatles as a group, and altered their music as well, for the better in my opinion. (For the most part, I've got a few things to say about Revolution 9.)

post ten.

Personally, I think that people need to pay attention to all types of music. I might have talked about this before, but when they say "all mainstream music is terrible!" or "music nowadays is just disappointing."   No, you're talking about a select few songs/bands you don't like. Call Me Maybe, Justin Bieber, Somebody That I Used To Know, things like that. You CANNOT say that all music nowadays sucks. There are many bands that you've probably never even HEARD OF that are around today. Have you heard every single band that's around? Every single one? No, so you can't go around saying all mainstream music is bad. Or all current music for that matter.