Ok it has been WAY too long! But I feel so much for like myself again these days, and its back to writing!!
People really into musicals: OK, I seriously think that people that love musicals are the kind of people that are sorta rare. They love music for music. I know that musical music can be sorta theatrical, but I think its just THAT reason that they love it. Because the music is actually good - not pop, rap, modern day rubbish (which I enjoy, so I cannot really talk but I will anyway!). So what I mean is this: the lyrics are absurd at times, no matter what the song is about - BUT the fact of that matter is this: the lyrics are theatrical because the music itself is theatrical. Ultimately, its not about the point the lyrics are making in the song (like with most pop music). For these rare few, it has WAY more to do with the actual love of music - its complexity - This is the reason why I think people who love musicals and classical music love it so much! Anyway, that was SO random, but it needed to be said.
NB: I am a lot like this because I have been singing classical music and doing show choir for a LONG time... but I also love the trash on the radio. But you will notice that when you try to combine the two in a setting with the rare people who appreciate music beyond pop tunes and lyrics, THEY WILL DESPISE YOU AND LOOK DOWN ON YOU. Beware of trying to incorporate contemporary with classical or contemporary with musical. It only works in a few situations, but here are some instances where it does NOT work...
1. Mixing pop with show choir - show choir people LOVE a good pop tune... but it has to stick more true to the musical/theatrical style of music than to actual modern pop. If your show choir decides to do a Britney Spears or Lady GaGa song, you are done.. like, you cant do that.
2. Mixing pop with classical - trying to be a pop star/diva in a classical setting is what classical musicians (especially Instrumentalists) despise! You will note that the DIVA operatic Soprano of the group is always blond and ALWAYS despised amongst the entire choir. However, instrumentalists might even go as far to say that EVERY member of the actual choir, i.e., the singers, are all divas and need to go. haha, ITS SO TRUE, you know it is.
3. A place where the combination could work: I have found, at least at UVA, the place where classical can mix with contemporary without any issue is ACAPELLA! In the domain of acapella, it seems that the slight divergence of classical/proper singing can merge into this hybrid breed. The hybrid is a lot like pop music...however, the people singing it are the kind of people who understand and adore music for music. They enjoy taking trashy, poppy shit and turning it into a masterpiece. Acapella does seem to be the one exception.
For whatever reason, acapella slipped through the cracks...not to say it always will. You can never be too sure how humans will evolve to make something more or less elite and able to pass or fail the standards of pretentiousness. (God forbid we assume anyone at UVA be somewhat a slave to keeping up with the Jones')
However, in this particular instance, it reminded me MORE of this strange analogy that actually makes sense to me: its like acapella is to music how race is to partisanship/voting. We don't talk about race being a factor to voting unless one of the candidates is actually black, and then race is completely acceptable to talk about. And indeed race was amongst the common political discourse in 2008 and will undoubtedly be in 2012, constantly being an issue that activates the way people will think about a certain issue. Even though we all should know that race does not inherently affect how any one person will create policies that better our country, we will definitely fall back onto it as an indicator of how well Obama did given the history of this country and the remnants of hostility between races. Well, acapella is the same way. It is not exactly classical music.. and indeed, true classical musicians, especially those instrumentalists, probably despise the talented musicians that devote their time to acapella. For now, it is generally still somehow slipping through the cracks of acceptability. AND, for now people are pretty accepting that there is nothing inherently different about this hybrid breed of musician. But, I have a feeling that the acapella-ites will all make a decision to go ONE way or the OTHER.
Just like people eventually solidify as racial liberals or racial conservatives, I think acapella people will eventually decide whether to be a future acapella/pop star or a more conservative, true-to-the-fight classical musician!
SOOOO random.
<3
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