So, as you all know, I love film and music very much. It's funny. I always loved movies and watched them all the time when I was little, but my love for music took the drivers seat for a little while. I played a few instruments throughout my middle school and high school years, and had scholarships to three different schools. I chose Dixie College, where I had a few other scholarships, and was only there for a year before leaving on my LDS mission. I was in the Dixie Symphony Orchestra, but my professor asked me if I would like to play in the Southwestern Utah Symphony Orchestra. I got the scholarship playing the clarinet and bass clarinet, but they needed an E flat Alto clarinet and a contrabass clarinet, which made sounds so low that I it just felt like it was vibrating, lol. I was also in the musical theater program where I played Orin, the sadistic dentist in Little Shop of Horrors, and a few other little characters. I was also an ambassador, which basically was me driving a golf cart around and give campus tours, and to be honest, that golf cart was a chick magnet. I was actually able to pay for my acoustic/electric guitar with scholarship funds since I had more scholarship funds than I needed. I'm not bragging about this, I'm just saying this to talk about another thing, which I will get into right about..................Now!
My nephew is playing my old clarinet in his band and jazz band class at the same middle school I went to, and he loves it. He had an awesome solo in his concert last week, and I was really proud of him. I think what made me proud, is both my dad and my brother-in-law are jocks, and they don't much care for classical music or instrumental music, and seeing my nephew playing made me think of how playing in the bands and symphony orchestras was that it gave me a great appreciation for music of all sorts of genres, not just classical. It helped open the door for me to teach myself how to play the guitar, which has been awesome. I used to tell people that I could go to a Punk Rock or Ska show on a Friday night, and hit up the Utah Symphony on Saturday night and have it be just as awesome of an experience. I know that there are musical appreciation classes taught in school, but as electives. I remember when the film Mr. Holland's Opus came out for two reasons. The first was before the film was released, my American History teacher in 8th grade made us enter an essay contest where we would choose a song we felt was very important. It was a national contest. First place got a trip and tickets to the Grammy Awards, when they were actually awarding musicians that had talent. Then second and third place essays received a t-shirt with the title of the movie on it, and had their essays posted in a pretty popular music magazine at the time. I wrote about the song "Streets of Philadelphia" by Bruce Springsteen. It was the mid 1990s, and the HIV and Aids viruses were talked about almost daily, and the song reflected that emotions and struggles to people dealing with the viruses. I still have my shirt in my closet.
Needless to say, I was obsessed with music, the Beatles were, and still are my most favorite band, but there are others I love pretty close, but not close enough. But I love music, and all different kinds music. I'm glad that my dad's side of the family have me loving sports, and love my mom's side of the family for the fine and performing arts appreciation that I gained from them. I think playing music has been incredible, and I will never regret it, and my nephew is kind of in the same situation that I was at his age.
You know, we go to school, and we learn math, languages, history, physical education and other classes we are forced to take, but when I'm not studying, I'm listening to music, playing music, or watching TV and Films. There has been so much I have learned from the arts, and the cool thing is, I can't draw worth a darn, but I can play the guitar, or writing, and although that is technically something we are forced to learn, writing is artistic as well. We all have different things we are all into, and some that aren't, but the point I'm trying to make is that I feel things like Music Theory or appreciation should be required along with math and science, as well as having Film Theory or appreciation classes that are required credits. The things I do in my life that I love were only briefly touched upon going through middle and high school. You tell me what person on this planet doesn't feel moved and inspired through music and movies or television. All of those required subjects are needed, they really are, but when I sit down at my computer or pull out my guitar, or drive in the car, most of my life has me surrounded by artistic things I love. The things I love and surround myself with are what make my life happier and have a better quality of life as well.
There is a YouTube channel with guy who watches old movies, mostly comedies, but he watches them for the first time, and it shows the films, but it shows the guy reacting to them. He's a riot to watch, and I get excited to see how he is going to react to things in my favorite comedy films, like Blazing Saddles and Wayne's World, lol. He has his email posted if we have ideas. I think I have already mentioned the Organ Loft in Salt Lake City in an earlier post. You go there, they show silent films, and the building has a 2,000 piece pipe organ, that's right, 2,000 pieces, and a guy comes out and plays the organ to the silent films that they used to do before recorded sound was invented when movies started to have talking, lol. Anyway, I told him that he should watch and react to the 1925 film, The Freshman with Harold Lloyd. It's my favorite silent film, and it's one of the funniest and cutest romantic movies I have ever seen. It's also free to watch on YouTube. They have the whole film in one video, it's a little under an hour and a half, but it's incredibly funny.
Anywho, I sent the guy the request and he watched it and loved it, and we have been having little conversations about it, but earlier this evening he told me that he can't do a reaction video to it. Not because it was a bad movie and not funny, or that the acting was bad, he said that people won't watch his videos if he does black and white films. I think it's so so so sad that the youth of today can't or won't watch a movie before the year 1977, because, you know, Star Wars, lol, but it got me thinking in the same way again. In a film class I took in college, there were about 35 people in the class, and only two of us had seen Star Wars, so my dang professor made us go in and watch the original trilogy, which everyone ended up liking, but everything in that class that was in black and white were the ones that people in the class would just tune out and write uninspired papers about it. During the pandemic, I have realized just how much I love going to movies, theater or concerts. I miss them terribly, with the exception of going to the movie theater when they actually release something brand new.
I know that sports, music, and film are things that just about everyone loves and appreciates, and we aren't taught those things in school from an early age. I say down with Elliot about a year ago, and we watched the Jerry Lewis classic 'The Nutty Professor", one of the greatest comedies of all time, and Elliot only laughed a couple of times, and told me it was too old. With how much American culture is based on sports and entertainment, we aren't doing a good enough job teaching our younger kids and teenagers to appreciate older films or music. I was substituting a family and consumer science class, and the teacher wanted me to show the kids a little documentary about the Beatles and how they changed the world with their music, beliefs and style. I remember a girl saying that they were too old to care about, so I asked her what she was into. I can't remember the specifics of what she said she liked and cared about, and having that background knowledge of the Beatles, music and art, I was able to trace everything she said she was into back to the Beatles. The cool thing there too, is like, The Beatles were inspired by other musicians, mostly jazz musicians from America, so there are roots in the Beatles music that tie into American culture, which also had other musical and artistic roots that inspired them.
I just think that the things we love in this world and we enjoy and use to entertain us, and give us a small break from life when we need it. I think that Music and Film appreciation should be changed to required classes instead of electives that barely scratch the surface of the things we love and hold dear to us.
Anyway, I said this was going to be a short post that turned into a long one. Thank you all for still visiting my blog. It's been almost a full year since I started it up, and I have no intention of slowing it down. I appreciate that you all care about what I think about things, or share. It's super late, and I need to get into bed here, but I will have a new post soon. I hope you are all safe, wearing masks, and getting your vaccine shots so that we can get a hold of this Covid stuff and kick it's butt. I'm really missing so many things I love to do when there isn't a global crisis going on. Anywho, Have a good morning, afternoon, evening, or night. I will write again soon.
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