Why I Will Never Be Able to Own an iPod Nano

So I was going to write one huge blog about my dementia when it comes to music, and I spent about three hours writing it before I just decided to give up and write the whole story in smaller chunks (sorry Danny...) that are less boring to read . So here's the first part:

I think I listen to music differently than other people. A lot of my friends seem to believe that each song holds a story in its own, and after listening to a song you should be able to draw out a message. I believe this too, but I like to take it a step further. I believe that the entire album is one big epic, and each song is just one part of it. Now this is not always true, but I don't care. I'm still going to try to find an overarching theme. I'm not talking about concept albums; they are made with the direct purpose of telling a story over a multitude of songs. I'm talking about the reason an artist made a song, and why he put it before one song and after another. There has to be a reason why the order is in the arrangement that it is. Maybe the producer put it there because that's the order that would best sell cd's? But that still doesn't make sense to me, because you don't know how the songs sound until after you buy the album. And yet even with this, a lot of albums end up having the same type of song order. You usually start out with an intro song (this is not entirely true, and this is what the second "music post" is on), then two or three songs that seem to fit the mold that the first song set (again, second post), and then the "breakout single" from the album comes a little before the middle. Then a few songs after that that are usually more experimental (as in it doesn't seem to fit the mold that the first few songs fit), and then it starts winding down with either a last shout of excitement or a continuous slowdown, depending on the genre of music.

Now, I know that outline is completely generic and is probably wrong at least half the time, but that's ok with me. As my brother's senior quote states, "Never let a few facts stand in the way of a good story". I take that to heart with many of the things I say. Anyways, I believe that each song has a connotation to it, and probably all of you agree with me. At the end of each song, you are feeling a different emotion, whether it's excitement, heartbreak, or just relaxation. A good album to me will transition each emotion to the next, which is why I think the order of a cd matters a lot. I can't understand how people are able to have only about 50 songs, all of which are singles, on their mp3 players and just listen to them over and over again. I don't see how that can be fun. Maybe that is the point of music, to just relax and listen to the music and to not think so much about it. But I can't do that. Actually, that's a lie. I can do that, and I have done that, but not for very long. I don't want to just sit there and mindlessly listen, I want to figure out what is going on in the head of the artist when they wrote this. Why do The Shins have a tambourine come in at 0:55 of "Sleeping Lessons" and then never bring it back in? Why is the last minute of "Hold Me Down" by Motion City Soundtrack a synth piano melody when the instrument had not been played the entire album? Am I the only one who cares about this stuff?! Music is a medium for artists to express themselves, and so if they put something on a song, there must be something they are trying to convey. In concert band. there is always a legitimate reason as to why a part is in the piece. I think there is too for songs. Am I just crazy? Maybe artists do just add things because they sound cool. But I refuse to believe that, because I have to think that artists are people just like you and me, only they are more apt at putting their emotions and expressions into words and sounds. I wouldn't throw in a tamborine at the intro to a song (and an album) and then never put it back in for no reason, and I refuse to believe that an artist would too.

After dissecting a song, you have to put it back into the whole cd to really get a feel for what the artist is trying to say. This is perhaps the hardest thing to do, because you are essentially getting into the artist's head for his deepest, perhaps even subconscious, thoughts. Maybe he did just play a bunch of random songs and put them onto an album. But they have to be all connected, because he wrote all the songs at around the same time period, so they are all coming from the same viewpoint. If the lead singer goes through a tough breakup, even the happiest songs will have a taint of sadness, even if he doesn't realize it. I won't go into too much detail about that, and I'm sure a lot of you don't feel that way, but again, I'm ok with that. Anyways, song order matters a lot to me, because it provides an insight into that larger message that the artist is trying to convey. I think this is why I spend so much time on cd's that I give people.

It is well-documented (mostly by myself) that the cd I gave Ray-Young Tsao took me over 20 hours to make. Now I know that sounds ridiculous, but trust me, it isn't. It only took about 45 minutes to pick all the songs, but I then had to determine the connotation of each song and then decide what order they should go in so that the cd would flow. On the surface, my cd's are only about songs; below that is a journey that takes you through a spectrum of emotions (somewhat like Aladdin's magic carpet). I tried to stay relatively light with Ray's cd, because he is a jovial chap (ala Tejas). Anyways, I still decided to take him down one short path of seriousness, which I like to do with cd's. The song needs to be powerful, and it helps if it talks about something intense. You know, I just came to a realization. I think I don't care that much about lyrics because the tone of the music is much more important to me than what the singer says, at least on an album or my cd's. A song's connotation isn't usually brought about by what the singer says (although it often is indirectly, because the sound of the song usually revolves around the message of the lyrics). In my cd's, good lyrics are excellent, but how a song sounds is more important. I grew up on classical music, so that might be why I feel this way. And by the way, when I say "my cd's", I mean "the cd's that I make for other people", not "cd's that are in my possession". Just thought I'd clear that up. Anyways, back to Ray's cd. I brought in the sober moment by stringing together "Last Night" by Motion City Soundtrack to "Lions Roar" by The Hush Sound. This set the mood perfectly for "Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap, as the apex of intensity on the cd. After that, I brought the mood back up rather abruptly with "The Electric Version" by The New Pornographers. The connotation of "Hide and Seek" is really an ending note, and I think it's better to pick the album up with a quick jerk rather than gradually bringing it back to speed. Ok, I can go over Ray's cd all night, but I'm just using it as an example. My point is, it can take so long to figure out exactly how one song should transition into another song. Even if Ray never figures out consciously that each song flows from one to another, hopefully he will like the album more because it just seems listen-able. There is a certain pride to be had in picking a random group of songs and arranging them into an order that is aesthetically pleasing. I guess it's just a gift. (oh modesty...)

Ok, so this post is a lot longer than I expected. But this is important stuff that needs to be said. I think it would be so much more pleasing to make my own music and put it into an order that conveys a message rather than take other people's songs and arrange them. Although doing the latter is like crack, so I don't know. But back to my original point, and the title of the post. I can't just sit there and listen to the same songs over and over again. I want the artist's entire album and figure out how each song relates to the others. There is also the reason of me being unable to have a favorite song for more than a few weeks, but that is for another day. I need to be able to get inside an artist's head and figure them out. More about music in the coming weeks.

Notes: After rereading this post, I need to amend a few things:

1) I do care about lyrics, but not when I am making a cd for someone. Lyrics are really important when I'm analyzing a song by itself, which I do before I piece the whole cd together, but when I'm making a cd for someone else, I don't really take them into account. Although at the same time, perhaps they are indirectly important because I like a song more because it has good lyrics and therefore am more inclined to put it in a cd. But I digress.

2) The way I talked about Ray's cd sounded like I spent 19 hours moving songs around on a playlist. I am taking into account time that I put the playlist on my iPod and then listened to it to figure out if something is missing. And I made a lot of changes to the playlist, at least 25, so I don't know if saying that it took 45 minutes to pick the songs is really true (see: my brother's senior quote).

3) To all the people i've made cd's for in the past (most notably: erica chan, aaron garg, vera lee), i know those cd's weren't all that good (with exception to some of aaron's classical cd's... those were incredible). I didn't really have a large collection of music when I was making you those, and none of the songs were really that good. But, I thought they were good when I made them, but my musical tastes are constantly changing (more on that on another post). So I'll probably think the cd I made Ray and the one I just made Austin about three days ago (note: writing this way after I posted the original) weren't very good either in about 3 months. But seriously guys, sorry for the bad cd's.

Senior Year Goals

Ok, this one is pretty self-explanatory. After watching "How to Achieve Your Childhood Dreams " by Dr. Randy Pausch (the guy who wrote "The Last Lecture") during Youth Group last Sunday, I've decided that I'm going to make some goals for myself to accomplish by the end of Senior Year. Some of them seem random, and that's because they are. I find that it is sometimes easiest to achieve abstract levels when you're reaching for concrete goals. So here is the list, subject to change, and I will continually update it throughout the year with other goals or completion of goals. I might re-post it later so that it stays on the first page

My Goals (in no particular order and to be achieved before graduation):

1) Get at least a 90% on a calc quiz/test
2) Ace a chem quiz/test (subject to change depending on how hard the quizzes get)
3) Play a high C on mellophone
4) Get into college
5) Begin learning how to play guitar
6) Ride a roller coaster
7) Get into County Honor Band on French Horn
8) Compose an awesome song (might be done automatically with the music theory final)
9) Read at least three Lit books in a row without using Sparknotes
10) Start participating actively in online forums
11) Ask a girl to Senior Prom
12) Tell my Mr. Zarco jokes in front of Mr. Zarco (some of you know what I'm talking about)
13) Register to vote
15) Have an incredible dream
16) Ditch a class
17) Watch all episodes of Dragonball


so that's the list right now, but I'll probably end up adding stuff when I remember it and putting updates when I reach a goal. If you want to suggest any goals just leave a comment.

UPDATES
3) Play a high C on mellophone: Complete! I hit it today during sectionals, and then proceeded to hit it again. And it was an actual note, not just a squeak or something. One down... (10/8/08)
9) Read at least three Lit books in a row without sparknotes: Finished, actually a long time ago. I read The Odyssey, Oedipus Rex/ Antigone (I'm going to count that as one book since they're pretty short) and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, all done through classic reading and taking notes. (12/13/08)
7) Get into County Honor Band on French Horn: Success! And I got third chair! This goal was one of farther-reaching goals I set for myself, and I really did it to motivate me to practice. I didn't really expect to got in, but thankfully I had a good audition and not too many people tried out. Now, I need to learn the rest of the solo so I can play it for my church... (12/13/08)
5) A couple of weeks ago, I had my first guitar lesson wih Danny Lulu, and so i'm about halfway to becoming a virtuoso. I can play about two-thirds of the opening chord progression of Dispatch"s "Questioned Apocalypse". Jimi, here I come. (3/2/09)
10) Well, I started a youtube account, and I've commented on a few videos (I even got into a discussion about Bush's prior knowledge [or lack therreof] of 9/11 before it happened... sweet!]), so I'm going to go ahead and cross this one off the list. Side note: I have had my youtube account for a few days less than 3 months, and I am at 1,680 views. Which is about 500 a month. That's probably not good. (3/2/09)
1) DONE! It took me approximately 22 weeks of taking calc to get at least a 90% on a quiz or test, and finally, the day has arrived. I got a 51.5/57 on the chapter 9 test, which is a 90.35%. Look, I didn't sy it had to be a lot above 90%... anyways, this semester I am doing a lot better, which is really frustrating because I'm really not trying. I've gotten A B+ and an A- on our two tests and a B+ on our one quiz. I would have an A- in the class on the six weeks, except that my homework grade is about a 70%, so i'll probably have a B. But if I had those test/quiz scores last semester, I would have an A- because I had like a 97% in homework last semester. But I'm not going to complain. Now the only thing I want to do in that class is make 3-D graphs on my TI-89 (haha 83s and 84s, maybe if you got a real calculator you could do the same...muahaha)... I've already spent the last 2-3 weeks doing this, and so far I've made Zorro's trademark slash "z" thing, a waterfall, a cabbage field, and eyebrows. More to come on the 3-D graphs most definitely. (3/10/09)

Cultured Indeed

So I guess it's time to update... senior year has definitely been taking up a lot more time than I expected, and I haven't really even gotten to college apps or studying for the SAT II in October. But those will wait until at least tomorrow. I've had a number of things in my mind that I've wanted to talk about, but they're all pretty long. Perhaps tomorrow? Perhaps the weekend? Perhaps later tonight when I get bored of doing homework? Only time will tell. But to tide you over (since so many of you depend on this blog to make your day), I will put up a paragraph that I wrote in Literature after an Odyssey quiz a few weeks ago. Some background: After staying up reading The Odyssey for four hours late last Thursday, I came into Lit expecting to ace the reading quiz, only to fail miserably. As i dishearteningly filled in guesses to questions that I should have known, but could not remember, Mrs. Head told the class that after finishing we will be writing a personal essay, which is like a practice college essay. Here is how I write after giving up on school.

Prompt: Describe three aspects that define you.
My 3: intelligent, cultured, faith (this paragraph is just on "cultured")


I like to think of myself as a cultured man. Politics, the economy, satire; all are things I have become acquainted with. I like wry humor with my lox bagel, thank you very much. A touch of sarcasm with the world news is greatly appreciated. "As the man sits yonder, sifting through the memories of the life he once led, but now follows, a golden eagle flies overhead, but to no unsuspecting eye. 'Tis indeed the life of the modern farmer." True, True. But alas, often times my wit abruptly comes to a close when those near me fail to comprehend it. It is in these times I come to see myself as above my peers, and yet oddly below them, for they are not weighed down by the troubling thoughts of reality. A paradox indeed. But fear not, for in a scant 300 days I shall find myself in a university, the gated community of education. The place where books are written, not read. Where discoveries are made, not modeled. I shall suckle the teat of wisdom, waiting for the milk of knowledge to refresh my parched throat of curiosity. For it is here that I receive infinite amounts of time to dedicate towards such paramounts as writing awkwardly vivid metaphors and conceiving made-up quotes.