Sometimes it can be hard to write about this class. But this difficulty doesn’t come from a lack of words or ideas. It comes more so from an overabundance of words and ideas as well as the reality that nothing I can write will be able to make anyone else truly understand and appreciate how …
Category Archives: Music
Cooking, Music, and a Low Stakes Way to Practice Ethnography
A few days ago one of my spanish house neighbors asked me how my block was going. I responded that it was great and that I had just spent all morning cooking over zoom with my class. She then asked what class I was in, and when I responded that I was taking Musical Lives …
Continue reading “Cooking, Music, and a Low Stakes Way to Practice Ethnography”
Listening is an Art
In block 3, knowing that I was going to be in this class, I asked Professor Carrizo what it was going to be about. After all, a class titled Musical Lives of Song and Migration could be about a thousand different things. Her response, that it was a class meant to introduce many of the …
Getting Started in Music, the Supernatural, and Otherworldly Realms
Hi there! My name is Sam Seymour and I am the student blogger for Music, the Supernatural, and Otherworldly Realms. This is the first year this incredible course is being offered at Colorado College, and it is being taught by the newest addition to the music faculty, Liliana Carrizo! In this class, we are exploring …
Continue reading “Getting Started in Music, the Supernatural, and Otherworldly Realms”
Do White People Suck at Irony?
As we enter the third week of class, a pattern I’ve noticed in our discussions of white consumerism in hip hop is a consistent misconstruing of the racial navigation of white artists. I understand that’s a mouthful. To put this issue in context, let’s go back to 1986. It’s November. Artists such as the Sugar …
Recapping Week One: Flow, Layering and Rupture
It’s 8:44 PM on a Sunday. The night has shaped up like most other Sundays past; I’m tackling a weekend’s load of homework while flipping through my liked songs on shuffle. My usual rotation of Action Bronson, Flatbush Zombies, and Mos Def is suddenly interrupted by something different. A steady four count and then…“Hey girls, …
Continue reading “Recapping Week One: Flow, Layering and Rupture”
Week 3: Recollections of a Band Nerd or is it Band Geek?
As sixth block draws close, so does my time as a blogger for this course. The past few weeks and especially this previous week has been a comforting notion to my past as a band nerd/geek. The correct terminology has long been debated, with band geek having been notoriously prominent. Nonetheless, this week our class …
Continue reading “Week 3: Recollections of a Band Nerd or is it Band Geek?”
Week 2: Don Giovanni: A comical and serious opera
This week we watched Don Giovanni, an opera buffa collaboration arranged by the well-known Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the Venetian poet Lorenzo Da Ponte. Although Don Giovanni is categorized as an opera buffa because of its copious amounts of comedy, it is also accompanied by several somber and serious themes. The elements of humor integrated …
Continue reading “Week 2: Don Giovanni: A comical and serious opera”
Week 1: The Class of Three Making Mistakes
Have you ever had a class fewer than five students? Well, our Music in Western Culture course (MU150) this block consists of only two students including myself! At the beginning of the first week, I was a little intimidated by the class size. A class this small means that class discussions are fueled by only …
Continue reading “Week 1: The Class of Three Making Mistakes”
Barong in Bali
This week in Bali, our class had the pleasure to witness a traditional performance of the Barong–a mythic creature of major importance in Balinese theatre and religiosity. This lion-esque beast contains two people controlling the costume, with one in the front and one in the back. Though seemingly a stage prop at first blush, the …
