I can’t believe this is my last blog! This semester flew by. Looking back, I had to make a final schedule for my last semester before I graduate college. I only had one major class and one minor class and had three classes of my choice to take. I was struggling and constantly looking for what I could take. I came across this music class and thought it would be a good choice. I previously took another music class here and it was actually pretty hard! I chose music because it interests me and I didn’t want to take any classes that I knew nothing about or one that wouldn’t help me learn anything useful. I thought this class was interesting and fun. Although I had to work hard and study I felt like I could sit down and relax. Music just comforts me. I thought it was cool how we progressed from older music to newer. We covered so much! I like learning about new genres, new artists, new songs, and information. Some people may think blogs are a pain in the butt but I like it better than writing long, complicated papers. With blogs you can write your own thoughts and feelings and share it with others. My mom kept asking me just the other day how to get to my blog so she could read it. I think you can relate with others while reading blogs and look at everyone’s different thoughts. With music, everyone might have a different thought and opinion and I really like that. Clearly, we all have different music tastes but I could also see that we like similar things too. Going back to the questions you had about my Metallica/Thrash Metal presentation on what did I think about him going from “hush little baby don’t say a word” to yelling about nightmares. Well I thought it through and think that maybe that is what happened to him as a child. Maybe his parents told him it was going to be okay and just say your prayers and go to sleep. But when he went to bed the nightmares came and they didn’t stop. As you can see, the music video is very intense and some might think it is very odd that he is singing about this. I think their songs are relatable. They are about deep emotion, anger, sadness, feeling stuck or lost. Looking back, I listened to a lot of hard rock music that was depressing. A big part of why I listened and liked it was because I was depressed myself or felt the same feelings in which they were singing about. I think that happens with everyone at some point in their lives. You listen to anger songs when your angry, upbeat songs when your happy, sad songs when your upset. Or you could always listen to happy/upbeat songs when you’re feeling down to bring yourself back up again. When it comes to music there is so much to learn and explore, as I learned from this class. Now I can look into other genres and see what songs I like from them. I would be completely lost without music.

Last week we started music presentations in class. I looked at the handout given to us and noticed that I didn’t know many of the bands people chose to present on. I was excited to learn about these bands and listen to some songs. I don’t think I’ve actually listened to hardcore music before but maybe I have. It does sound similar to other songs I’ve listened to. I think because the music gets real heavy and the singer will yell or scream. I’ve never heard of the band Tribe Called Quest. The genre was very interesting. Of course I have heard of Guns N’ Roses before. For some reason I always want to mix them up with other bands like ACDC which is very odd. I think he has a very unique and high voice. I’ve also heard of Whiney Houston, Alice in Chains, Celine Dion, Destiny’s Child, Snoop Dog, Nirvana, Jay Z, Lee Ann Womack, and Falling in Reverse. Wow, I’m surprised I knew that many. Going back to Whitney, I know a couple of her really famous songs and I know how she can belt out notes! I also knew her from an old Disney movie, Cinderella. She was the singing fairy godmother. I never listened to Alice in Chains all that much. Man in the Box is the song that sticks out to me when I hear their name. I heard of them from listening to my favorite band, Three Days Grace cover some of their songs. I listened to some Celine Dion songs when I was younger along with other female artists popular in that time. It is kind of hard to explain her voice. It’s very throaty and she can hit high notes. Her songs are pretty catchy. I learned a lot about Destiny’s Child because I always thought it was just three girls. Beyoncé was always known and everyone else wonders “who are those other two girls??”I was never into Snoop Dogs music but I’ve heard of some of them. It was really interesting to see how he transitioned back and forth to many names and styles. Nirvana, how could you not hear about Nirvana?? I love a lot of their songs. I would listen to them a long time ago with my little step brother around. He ended up saying all the time, “Hey, wait, I got a new complaint.” Since I’m not extremely into rap I really don’t know any Jay Z songs. Not that long ago one of his songs featuring Justin Timberlake was playing all the time on the radio, so I know that one. I know he is married to Beyoncé too. Lee Ann Womack, how do I know her? Hmmm I think it is from her song I Hope You Dance. I must see her on television or somewhere a lot because I definitely know what she looks like. The video showed to us in class surprised me because it didn’t seem like her style. It was really different from I Hope You Dance. I didn’t understand why all the snakes kept appearing. I’m guessing it’s about struggling with hard times and trying to get over it. When talking about Falling in Reverse I find that either people really don’t like the lead singer or they really don’t like the lead singer of Escape the Fate, which is the old band he was in. I think that they both have good voices and I like their music. A while ago there was a huge controversy (probably more than one) about Ronnie (the lead singer). I can’t remember what he did or said but it made me not like him as much. Like it was mentioned in class, he did change their style and incorporated rap. I didn’t like the sound at all but I do like some of their other songs. Jumping back to the artists I didn’t know, Selena, Steam-Powered Giraffe, and Bonobo. I thought they all brought something different and interesting to the table. I can say that I’ve never heard or seen anything quite like them before. I enjoyed watching everyone’s presentations. They were all so different and I learned a lot from it.