Kickoff: Music and Politics
This entry is the first in a series of entries written for my “Music and Politics” class. We must compose semi-regular entries about how music relates to society, politics, and our culture.
As the Drake football team edged past the Upper Iowa Peacocks, the band sat in the back of the stadium, entrenched in an epic battle of our own.1
Almost every time we needed to play during a break in the game, Drake would turn on the loudspeaker with prerecorded music. Eventually, we just played during the breaks even when it meant playing against the loudspeaker music. But a few things struck me about the music they played over the speakers:
They spliced the “de-FENSE” drum beat incorrectly. I don’t know how they managed to mix that one up, but the “de-FENSE” theme lurched forward in 9/8 time. Good thing our actual defense didn’t follow suit.
Every song awkwardly faded out in the middle of a phrase. Someone decided that it’d be easiest to shove a ten-second fade on the end of each ditty rather than finding a suitable place to crop them. The interludes left you feeling as though something was missing.
The Drake Marching Band’s purpose during that game was to wrestle with the loudspeakers. We may as well have not attended; the small crowd didn’t seem to mind.
Thanks to the accessibility of prerecorded music and effective speakers, the audience no longer needs a marching band to receive musical support. The band’s role largely remains as a historical novelty; our physical presence is our only advantage over the prerecorded music.
You’d think that universities would go with one or the other — either have a band that actually manages the music, or have a loudspeaker instead of a pep band.
Instead, we face an unenjoyable battle between the new and the old, between technology and people. Even those controlling the loudspeaker can’t decide when they want the band to play rather than turning on the loudspeaker. If they’re going to run the loudspeaker all of the time, as they did in last night’s football game, they may as well just drop the pep band altogether.
Technology has given everyone the power to place music into any aspect of their lives. Physical bands and orchestras are more cumbersome to manage, move, and maintain than prerecorded music, and in many cases the prerecorded music sounds better than a live performance. There are few practical reasons to actually maintain a live pep band or marching band other than for its historical or aesthetic value.
Will the marching band become a relic of the past? Probably not in the foreseeable future. But it may see a slow demise as the band’s heydays slide deeper into history. Our grandchildren may one day view the marching band as some of our generation2 view the orchestra: a historical artifact with little relevance to society.
Pushing Toward the Finish Line
It’s only the beginning of December, but already I have a substantial to-do list formulated for the projects I need to get done before the end of the semester. I’m surprised at how quickly after Thanksgiving things start piling up on the drive to Winter Break.
My most difficult class, Music History, will involve a lot of studying to prepare for the final; I imagine that’s where the bulk of my work will lie. Another time-consuming task will be the final project for MIDI Techniques, in which I need to compose and orchestrate a piece digitally. For that class in particular, the final project encompasses the entire grade for the course, so it’s important that I do well.
The rest of my classes are substantially easier. Meteorology, for all intensive purposes, is done — almost all of the work for that class involved completing online assignments. I will need to study some vocabulary for Music Theory and complete another post-tonal composition, but that shouldn’t pose too much of a problem.
My only computer science class, Advanced C++, will be fine.
In addition, I will need to finish memorizing the three pieces for my piano jury (I’m playing Un Sospiro by Liszt, a Bach prelude and fugue, and one of Haydn’s sonatas). That may take some time too.
Add a smattering of jury accompaniments and some online projects, and I’ve got plenty to keep me busy through the end of the semester.
At least there’s a leisurely four-week break this year. It will be nice to have some downtime.
As for blog posting, I may not be churning out posts like fresh butter, but I’m satisfied with my intent to work toward more frequent posts.
