West Minster

I recently went on a baseball trip to New Wilmington, PA and I realized that we were in Amish country and noticed how in tune they were with the land. They were preparing their crops by using horses and not damaging the air with big tractors. Also on this trip I looked out the window and noticed in a stream in downtown New Wilmington that their was a little shack that about ten cars were parked out in front of and I saw that the people were fly fishing in the river and it made me think of how no one in our class had never been fly fishing and there it was fly fishing at its finest.

Over Christmas break my family and I went to Key West, Florida.  This was the one of the most beautiful parts of Florida that I have seen yet.  We have been all over Florida but this was by far my favorite so far.  It was really cool, we got to experience the whole island.  My family went jet skiing, boating, deep sea fishing, went to a state park there, and watched the sun set at the most south point of the United States.  It was a lot of fun and was just a real nice experience.   We got to see parts of the environment that you just don't see in Kentucky, like coconut shells, all of the different species of animals, and a whole lot of different scenery. If you ever get a chance to go to Key West I advise you to take that chance. 

Eavesdropping Eternity: An Idea and a Question for Beethoven to Ask Cage

Dr. Langguth posited what Beethoven and John Cage might talk about in the Afterlife - how would they agree or disagree, for example.  Would they reach a harmonious conclusion?  Well, I found some quotes about the significance of music for Beethoven (the source is brainyquote.com) :

"Music is the higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy."

"Music is the mediator between spiritual and sensual life."

"Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowlege which comprehends mankind but which men cannot comprehend."

"Music is the wine which inspires one to new generative processes, and I am Bacchus who presses out this glorious wine for mankind and makes them spiritually drunken."

"Tones sound, and roar and storm about me until I have set them down in notes."

"Music should strike fire from the heart of man, and tears from the eyes of woman."

Actually, this is very similar to Bugbee and Cage at least in the purpose of music.  For Beethoven, music is a spiritual experience which allows the communication of emotions and the senses, capturing them and translating them into the spirit - or, maybe the opposite, where the formal rhythms create sensations.  Maybe both.  Beethoven captures music's "immediacy" which makes it a "mediator" without any conceptual "go-betweens."  Bugbee says music first awakened him to the need for reflection - particularly, reflection on experiences from which his philosophy flowed.  For Beethoven, music also serves this function.  Music hijacks the soul in that it strikes us at the most vulnerable cord in our hearts, that hidden level without thoughts or concepts.  Music is presentation.

So where is the difference?  The difference, according to a blog called "Sympathies Enlarged," is Cage's revolt against harmony as the fundamental unit/principle in music as opposed to duration.  Thinking about some of Cage's work, this makes sense as the PBS video showed sheet music with notes lasting for different lengths of time - that is, the intervals create pattern.  However, I do wonder what makes that in itself any more or less "artificial" Beethoven?

<< Dr. Langguth, I have one question:  I stumbled on a blog called "Sympathies Enlarged" with a URL that says "for the birds tmc."  What class was that for? >>

(Blog 12)

Beauty

All of the arguments that we've read about so far, discussing what's aesthetically beautiful or not, have been relatively easy for me to understand and agree with. There is no way to tell someone their opinion is wrong and something they think is beautful really isn't because you're not them, and you can't see how things may appear to their eyes. Our experiences and knowledge have a lot to do with why certain images are attractive to us and others aren't, but to me you can look at something without being educated on it and think it's beautiful from a different point of view. Maybe a sunset doesn't appear to be anything special for one person, and another might think it holds true beauty because their seeing it and thinking about it from a spiritual point of view, to them thats how it holds value. If an object like a flower is just pleasing from a physical perspective like its color, than it usually doesn't hold your attention for very long. Whatever does hold you're attention, and you think is aesthetically beautiful, typically is something you have some sort of interest in, and that would make it a lot more meaningful.

Bog 10-My house

I live in Erlanger, Kentucky which is literally 2 minutes from Crestview Hills.  We started this blog to talk about places and one place that really brings beauty is my house.  Recently, my brother and I were doing some yard work and we were finished, I sat down on my back porch to relax.  While I was sitting there, the night was creeping in and it was one of the most beautiful sky scenes I have seen.  It was bright orange and pink surrounded by darkness.  Because of this class I have really began to appreciate what the world has to offer.  It was so beautiful and I couldn't stop looking at the sky.  I got my mom to come out and see, and of course she took pictures.  I really do appreciate nature and all the beauty it gives to us, even when we aren't paying attention.  

2 Cellos

Ok so I don't know about all of you but I'm the occasional U2 fan. I have a friend of mine who is OBSESSED with music and one day he should me these two amazing men! They play cellos, acoustic and electric, depending on the song. One of my favorite U2 songs is "With or Without You" and so while trying to find out more about these guys I found that they had done a version of the song. I heard it and almost cried it was so amazing. Yes silence can be beautiful as can a lyrical song, but I think the most beautiful is the combination, a non-lyrical song can say more sometimes than any lyrical song. I urge you all to listen to this song and check these guys out. They are mostly a cover-band style doing songs from Guns'n'roses to U2 to Michael Jackson. I don't watch Glee but I have also been told that they have performed on that show as well! Check it out and hopefully you'll be able to appreciate the sound as much as I did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=0UyEtlJfG_Q

My Place

Places such a Myrtle Beach, SC, Panamana City Beach, FL, Mackinac Island, MI, are all distinct places which I have had aesthetic and eye-opening experiences. Probably the most important one that I left out is the barn. I know "the barn" seems like such a plain, ordinary place, however, to me it is where I discovered who I truly was, as well as encouraged me to grow in more ways that one. It taught me responsibility, education (realm of horses, from their anatomy to the way they think in some senses), most of all, it taught me of who I am. I struggled for many years with my emotions, anxiety, and waves of depression. When I was a Freshman in high school, I finally began to take horse back riding lessons. This was hte best decision I had ever made. My parents had cut me off money-wise in regards to sports since they had been paying for every sport I had ever wanted to do and eventually, with the exception of softball, I had quit. I had a job and they said if I proved to them that this was something that I would stick with, they would eventually chip in; so I began to pay and stuck with it to this day. In another blog I had posted, Mackinac Island, I brought up how the smell of manure can be strong on the streets, this may sound weird, but to me, that is a comforting smell -- do not mistake me, it's not a good smell, but to me, I know that means I'll be ok. To make sure that I could keep up my lessons, on times that I was short on money, I had worked it out with the owner of the barn I was riding at that I would muck (clean-out) the stalls and feed the horses - this experience, dirty as it was, was where I learned that when I was feeling anxious, sad, or any other emotional aspect I was experiencing, I could come to the barn and work out my issues on the stall. Horseback riding did the same thing just a little less messy and smelly. I have not been able to ride for the past year because of school work, work, and medical issues and I can honestly say, not being at the barn and riding, I can notice a difference in the way I hold myself. Bugbee had it right when he said we need to understand ourselves so we can be true to ourselves and our perceptions. I would not give up my experiences for anything in the world that I had/have at the barn, it is part of me!