The thing that jumped out to me most about today's class wasn't necessarily something about the class itself. I found the discussion about the definition of music very interesting, and since I am a musician, that should come as no surprise. However, what was most interesting to me was that I found it just as interesting when we had almost the same conversation (right down to the use of, and debate about the value of, John Cage's ""4'33") in Music Theory I, which I took my freshman year. This is not a bad thing, though. I found that conversation interesting then, and I gained plenty of insight from it, but because of the context in which it was being presented I was only looking at it in terms of music. Now, having the same conversation in a totally different class, I can look at it as it relates to a much broader field of topics.
Also, today's class reminded me of a quote from one of my favorite musicians, Tom Waits. He does a lot of the sort of found sounds and unorthodox uses of things in his music. He said,
"Everything is a potential instrument, it depends on how you use it. I remember I was doing Swordfishtrombones and somebody took a stool -- a metal stool -- and started dragging it across the studio floor to move it out of the way. And I said, "That's really thrilling. Do that again and abundantly and carefully and repeatedly, please." It sounded like bus brakes on a big city bus. So I like things that fall outside of the spectrum of what we consider traditional instruments and acceptable sound. I love all that." (source)
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