2nd Blog Summary

Well unlike my last blog summary I've decided that this time I would take it a bit more serious and try and do the best I can. So in reading the recent blogs I have found some interesting posts. For example, Nonsensical ramblings had a group of well...nonsensical ramblings. They didn't really have much to do with class but at the same time I found them very intriguing thoughts. Nonsensical discussed Christmas music and how it seems that only new artists and unheard of artists do Christmas music. I think this is true most of the time but most popular artists do at some point do a Christmas song or an entire CD. Nonsensical also wrote about the movie School of Rock(a great movie, you must see it) and the music in the background of TV commercials. I know that I have also done this, watched a commercial just for a song. I remember an ipod commercial last year that included a song called Vertigo by U2. I loved it when that commercial came on because I really enjoyed the song. Some other blog posts included a summary of Jamboree and the FYS class as a whole. The FYS review was a positive one and shone a great light on the program. The Jamboree one was a little more constructive. Not that it's a bad thing because everyone is entitled to their own opinion. In my opinion the Jamboree was a little bit of a downer yes, but it really only needs a little improvement to make it a blast. I also noticed how there were some recent posts about grades, including my own. I think that in cases like this you reap what you sow. You are only going to get as much out of the class as you put in. If you put in a A+ effort, that is exactly what you are going to get. If you put in no effort, you just wasted your time and you are not going to get those two credits that you should have been working to get. The last few blogs I will talk about included a blog about an extra credit paper about Kitty Wells and a post about country music. The Kitty Wells paper is actually about a song she did called "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels." I've never heard of this song but it has got to be an interesting one with a title like that. The last blog was about country music. Jweb posted about country music and how he really wasn't a big fan of it. He also discussed how he was glad to see that when we talked about country in class it was actually about old style country from the 30's, 40's, and 50's and not the quote "Hot country" music of today. Although country isn't my favorite type of music, new or old, I still think that people should offer the same chance to listen to every type of music and to enjoy it. Because even though you may not like a certain style of music there are people out there who do. All types of music, rap, pop, country, jazz, blues, heavy metal, and so on, are good in their own ways to different people. They can all be called good types of music because they all require talent to do and unless you can do whatever that musician does and do it better, you have no right to say that it is bad.
I would like to thank Mr. McPhee for a wonderful semester and I am glad to say that I took this class. Although at times I may have thought otherwise, now in the end I realize how much fun this class actually turned out to be. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

After receiving my grade for FYS I realized something. We have not done a whole lot of work out of class like most FYS sections. I thought that this was really good until I saw my grades today and realized that I didn't do so well. So now I really wish I could go back and just talk my head off and make tons of blog enteries because I really am not happy with my grade. But obviously I realize that most of this is my fault as I did a very bad job sometimes of being involved in class. I really wish that I could have known my grade earlier so I would have known that I have to get my butt in gear to raise my grade. But all I can do now is just hope that there is something, anything I can do to improve it, if even just a little.

Blog Summary for November 7

Well in my search for recent blog posts I realized that there was not a whole lot of recent posts. But I can still deal with that. Most of the recent posts have been related to blog summaries, discussion summaries, podcasts, and jamborees. Through my searching I have found that most of those summaries deal with the podcasts and jamborees. It seems that most people have enjoyed the podcasts and some have had some trouble downloading them. Jamboree seems be blogged about more and more as it gets closer and as what the classes have decided to do begins to take shape. I could see the number of blogs increasing soon and really getting high in numbers right after the Jamboree as then I would think everyone should have something to write about.

Episode 5

"It's a hard time in the country, out on Kenny's farm." --Harry Smith

With most of the nation in severe drought and the economy in an extreme depression, many people felt the clench of a hard life. Harry Smith simply wrote what he saw and experienced. He wrote about the depression in this song simply because at the time, there really wasn't anything happy too write about.

Episode 4

"And for his deep commitment to presenting folk music as a vehicle for social change." -- 1991 Grammy Presentation to Harry Smith

This quote is a great one; folk music has always had a lot of meaning in it, and Harry Smith had very meaningful lyrics about life and life's lessons. That shows how it is not the sound that makes folk, blues, and country music different from other types, it is the meaning. Folk, blues, and country lyrics almost always derive from personal experiences of the artists that teach lessons about life, love, and happiness.

Episode 3

"I'm leaving in the morning (echo) I'm leaving in the evening (echo)" -- Peter Seger

This song by Peter Seger shows some traditional African song style. It has a leader singer who sings a phrase which is then followed by a chorus of people repeating the phrase. This is a technique which we talked about in class which started in Africa and was continued by African slaves in the U.S. It is also still used in much gospel music of today.

Discussion Summary 10/12/06

Today in Roots to Music we started our discussion with a visitor, Eagan Heath. Eagan is a student a UMM who happens to play banjo. He played some songs and talked about the banjo and banjo playing. For example, a banjo, unlike a guitar, has only five strings and has its highest string on top. Also, the type of banjo playing that most people are used to hearing, which involves picking the strings with finger picks is actually fairly modern. In the early 1900s banjo players did what was called clawhammer which involved playing with the back of your finger or fingernails. Eagan then went on to play a song by Harry Smith called Coo Coo Birds. Here is part of that song.
Ah the coo coo,
she's a pretty bird
never wobbles, as she flies.
After Eagan performed Tyler also did his performance, which was a song by Skip Jones. The song included an interesting form of tuning that involved tuning the guitar down so the two E strings became D strings. Skip Jones was born in Mississippi in 1902 and made a recording deal with Paramount in 1931 before he vanished until 1964. When he reappeared he recorded new songs and performed until he died in 1969. One reason that he may have disappeared for so long was because the great depression had just started and record companies couldn't make any profit and because in even good conditions contracts with performers were already shaky. After Tyler performed we had another performance by Lindsey. Lindsey decided to write a report about Muddy Waters and exactly how he had many connections with more modern artists. For example it was Muddy who helped Chuck Berry to become on of the first great rock n' roll artists when he directed him to a good place to play. Muddy also went to Great Britain where he played with his electric guitar and helped to start the British Invasion as soon many rock n' roll bands formed i.e. The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

Initial Blog Questions

Why did you sign up for a roots music FYS section?
It seemed like an interesting class and it fit into my schedule.

If you could take 5 pieces of music with you to a desert isle, what would they be?
"American Pie" by Don Mclean
"Saturday" by Elton John
"Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen
"Si Volveras a mi" by Josh Groban
"The 9th Symphony" by Ludvig Von Beethoven

What's a piece of music you associate with a parent, grandparent, or someone you know well that's at least a generation older than you?
"Country Roads" by ?

If we all decided to replace the national anthem with a new song, and everyone agreed that you got to choose, what would you recommend?
"Indiana Jones Themesong" by John Williams

What kinds of music related performance stuff (if any) do you do?
University Choir

Given the readings and what (little) you know about Governor Blanco, if you had a chance to ask her one question, what would it be?
When will New Orleans be "New Orleans" again?