I've been wanting to post a new blog post for a little while, but last week I went through a really bad insomnia spell. I only slept three hours in almost a four day period, and even that wasn't restful. It made me feel physically sick, but my brain races so fast, and doesn't shut down like it should for restful sleep to come. I finally started sleeping again, but the whole insomnia spell was super hard to get past. Physically, my body was so exhausted, but I had things I needed to do and get done. I'm super glad I'm past it now, but during was horrible. The only thing that helped was watching or reading. It helped my brain focus on one thing instead of racing from one idea or thought to the next.
Anyway, I am glad it's over, and I can finally get back to normal. I have been working on something brand new, but I am not ready to reveal it quite yet. It was just going to be something I do by myself, but I've been finding it super exciting to get a team together to tackle this idea. It's going to be awesome if we can get things going. It's going to start small, but the ideas we have will help us build and build upon it, and if we are able to get things started up, it's going to be something really fun and neat. A couple other people I do projects with will be a part of this new venture. I will announce it later. What it is, and what we would like it to be will be fun to announce.
A few weeks ago, I published a blog post about how I feel people should be educated better with the arts, and from a younger age, especially film. Movies are such a huge part of the art world, and it's sad that kids can't watch anything older than 1977. I say 1977 because Star Wars was released that year, and it's still so huge, it doesn't come across to little kids that it's an older film. I am so surprised at how many kids can't watch movies in black and white, or if they aren't in a wide screen format. I was thinking of coming up with a list of a lot of comedic films to share here on my blog, and while I was thinking of things, there were a lot of films that are older, like silent film era. Some of my all-time favorite comedies are silent films.
The Freshman, Sherlock Jr. and City Lights, Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, and Charlie Chaplin. They are true masters of both comedy and craftmanship when it comes to film. There is a scene in City Lights where Charlie Chaplin took close of fifty takes because the film required the specific shot to be perfect. You would be surprised at how much silent film is written like films with audible dialogue. I feel that kids should be required to take film studies classes starting in 7th grade, so that they can be educated at an early age.
I remember when Elliot was almost three years old, and we watched Fantasia 2000, one of my all-time favorite animated films. The original is great too, but there are a few musical numbers that I absolutely love. Elliot loved that movie, and he would talk about Duke, who is named after Duke Ellington in the Rhapsody in Blue number in Fantasia 2000. Even at close to three years old, Elliot understood that stories could be told and loved without a single word being spoken. Now that he is older, he still really likes it, and he understands how important classical music is. Think about any of your favorite films. Now think of the music from them. I am willing to bet that music is a big part of why you love certain films so much. How cool would Star Wars be without the music throughout it?
I fell in love with classical music when I was in seventh grade, and I had to choose between band or choir, so I chose band. I played the Clarinet for a little bit, but I was able to switch to the Bass Clarinet, which I loved playing, and since there weren't very many Bass Clarinetist out there, it was a ticket to scholarships and my music director at Dixie College, where I went before I left on my LDS Mission to Detroit, was also the conductor for the Southwestern Utah Symphony, and I was asked to join them to play Bass and Contra Bass Clarinet. Contra Bass Clarinet was fun because it was so low, sometimes it just felt like vibrations instead of music, but it was also powerful.
Deep deep deep in our DNA, there is a part of the neurons in our brains called spindles. These spindles translate sound and feelings into our brain, and cause huge feelings and thoughts. Think of it like a domino. You may not focus on one domino while they are all falling down in order, but you see the whole effect. There is an amazing short animated film I saw at Sundance called "Song of the Spindle", which is so funny, but amazing. I will post it here!
My ten year old niece, Lizzy, played the violin in her first Elementary School Orchestra recital earlier today. It wasn't like going to the Symphony, but hearing the kids playing their instruments, and playing parts of some of the greatest pieces of classical music ever written was still shining through. They did a good job. It made me think back to when I was first learning how to play the clarinet. I know it wasn't perfect at first, but it was still great. It was awesome to see ten year old kids learning to play, but most importantly, learning to love music. When I started with the clarinet, I never dreamed that I would ever learn how to play the guitar, and while I'm not an incredible guitar player, I have learned to love music, and love certain genres of music, to a point where I am able to perform the guitar in front of people, and sometimes, just because you aren't as good as other people who play the guitar, or any talent from music to sports, it doesn't mean that you love that talent any less. I may not be the best at the guitar, but it doesn't mean I can't recognize guitar masters. In fact, knowing I'm not as great as others makes me love the things I can't do, or can't do yet, even more.
The arts are so important, and it's sad that they are treated as electives while we are in school, because I feel that the arts should be taught to kids while they are very young so that they can appreciate the arts and feel inspired to crate art that can inspire others. I believe that everyone is talented in at least one area of their life. Whether it's sports, music, theater, film or painting. There are tons of different kinds of arts. How are kids supposed to learn what they love if they aren't exposed to it before the world teaches them something they might be super talented in is boring or stupid.
What if people are talented at more than one thing? I don't understand how my dad can thing going to the Symphony is really boring, but he can watch golf on TV for hours and hours at a time, but if he would have been taught about music and music appreciation before he was older, he wouldn't consider it so boring. I also think that if I was playing golf all of the time, and I was wanting to play it better, I would appreciate golf on television better. I don't enjoy it like my dad, but I can appreciate the talents of the players, and appreciate that my dad loves golf and wants to play it better than he does now .I think that the arts and talents are the best part of ourselves. I'm not saying I'm perfect at talents and artistic abilities, but I'm trying.
There are so many things I love that I felt might be dorky at first, and I am so glad I have been able to develop a curious mind. For example, I was in the seventh grade when Magic the Gathering was released. I saw the kids playing it, and thought they were geeks and associated the game with being a geek. However, one day I was substitute teaching a high school class, and the kids had the last fifteen minutes of class as free time, so some kids broke out their Magic the Gathering cards and started playing. I was kind of bored, so I went over, and asked about it. They were super excited to share the rules, and even gave me one of their pre-built decks and let me play with them. It was a lot of fun. I'm not a big Magic fan. I don't own one single card, but I do like to play online every now and then. It's a really fun game. It also helped me learn how much I love playing board and card games, something that I am really into. I love spending the time with friends and family playing games together.
I guess this whole blog post leading to this point is that we need to be open minded and try to learn or experience things that we don't know about or understand because, there are things out there that you might love, or are very talented at. I feel that kids should be educated on the histories of all of the different genres of art. The world is full of bad stuff, we know that, but it's the arts and talents we have that make us love and appreciate this world better. They bring strangers together in a spirit of peace, and I think that's awesome.
Anywho, I am off to bed. Thanks for stopping by. I hope that you are all doing well, and being safe. I went to the store earlier tonight, and they used to have signs on the floor telling you which way you needed to walk down the isles so that you were staying your distance from other people, and they were all removed sometime before business today. It made me super happy. It's another small step back to normality, at least if you considered life before the pandemic normal, lol. I will be back soon with a new blog post. I have a few ideas in mind I have been wanting to do. Take care, and I will see you soon, at least in the written world.
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