Music Appreciation

That's what the class was called at my alma mater. At Columbia, all Freshmen had to take the 'Core Curriculum.' It was composed of 2 semesters of Literature Humanities (from Homer's Illiad to Doestoevsky's Brothers Karazmov), 2 semesters of Contemporary Civilization (from Plato's Republic to Sartre's Existenstialism), 1 semester of Art History (from cave paintings and Palenque to Warhol), and 1 semester of Music Appreciation (from Gregorian chants to Weber). It was the best education that anyone could ask for or prescribe. The scales fell off my eyes and I became a civilized human being. Thank you Columbia! The football team never won a single game while I was there for 4 yrs. (Except the last homecoming game against Princeton. Thank you Princeton!). The quality of education was second to none. The only schools that were harder to get into than Columbia back then was Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and CalTech. [Damn. If the SAT weren't so fckn early in the morning. 9am for a 3 hr. test. Come on. That's farmer Bob hours! My mother had to drag me out of my bed that morning too as she did for all of my teen years. "Mom, just 2 more minutes. I'm getting up!"] Now, only Harvard, Princeton, and CalTech are more 'selective.' None of them had or have the 'Core.' They're softcore porn :).

Anyway, this morning, for some insane reason and twist of soul, I woke up craving for some classical music. Mozart's Requiem came to mind and I played it on my iTunes, speakers full blast.. Lacrimosa. Shamefully, Mozart was the only classical music that I had on my iTunes. I ripped it from a CD that I had a few years ago. All of my classical music were bought on CDs and they are in storage now (about 30 CDs). It's a shame. Because from time to time, the only music that can placate my soul is classical music. It fortifies me and makes me feel civilized again.

Music appreciation was a 8:30am class. Every Tuesday and Thursday from 8:30am to 9:50am. It was divine. I looked forward to going to that class eventhough it was so early in the morning. I would walk in there with my notebook (back then notebook computers weren't invented yet :()) and I would plop it down on the desk and close my eyes. Students slowly started droning into class while the music was piping through the small classroom with a east-facing window as the sun broke in. We had a great professor. I lucked out. He never made us memorize dates and we never had a test or essays, just 3 quizzes. The key to getting an 'A' in that class was showing real appreciation for the music... meaning.. sincerely kissing the professor's ass. He was a great guy. I got an 'A'. Mostly because, I really did appreciate the music.

So, this morning, after I listened to my Mozart, I went onto the iTunes store and started digging for more classical music to download on my iTunes. To my satisfaction, all of my classical music inventory in my mind came back to me. I was thinking and browsing, Strauss, Schumann, Lizst, Bartok, Ravel, Debussy, Beethoven, Chopin, Schoenberg, Bach, Grieg, Barber, Holst, etc. etc.

I'm so glad that I was and am educated in the Humanities and my loving parents foot the whole bill. Back then it was appx. $38K a year. Now it's appx. $58K a year. Wowaweeewa. Sex explosion :()!

You know... when I hear nowadays about how America needs to have more math and science in schools, I roll my eyes. Fine. Do it. But the Indians and the Chinese out number us and those drones will always outnumber us in that area. Sure, do it. Why not. But for me, I think that our strength is in creativity. Think Apple. We need the worker ants... the engineering nerds to put the circuits together and do the plumbing. But at the end of the day, what wins is the humanities... our humanity stamped on the circuits. The rest of the world will catch up (most have already) and surpass on tech things. But who can surpass us in music, movies, love, and freedom?! (except the Italians, the Spaniards, and maybe, the French.) The real stuff that life is made of and the stuff that people all over the world aspire to.

I hate to say it because it sounds so American. But America is the greatest nation on earth. That's why so many outsiders come here to live and/or visit. We're not perfect by any means. (e.g. I think that the Americans work too hard and too many of them think only of money, position, and status). But compared to rest of the world, this is where it all happens and can happen.

Btw, when I say 'America,' I mean Manhattan. It's ridiculous. But I really can't imagine people in America living outside of Manhattan or San Fran (maybe L.A.). Note: New Jersey is NOT America. They're outsiders to me as well. So loud and dumb.

Back to the iTunes store :).