Shout Out.

"I am now satisfied that the future music of this country must be founded upon what are called the negro melodies. This must be the real foundation of any serious and original school of composition to be developed in the United States."-Antonin Dvorak

I liked this quote. I like the idea of finding a "Native" form of music and making oneself focus upon it. I like that jazz was seen as popular, and thus vulgar. I liked the rest of the quote which goes "... These beautiful and varied themes are the product of the soil. They are the folk songs of America and your composers must turn to them."
Even though it's a focus on "American Originality" with songs that didn't have their origins in the US, I think that works. I'm not a melting pot advocate, but I do like the idea of merging cultures and creating a shared heritage. I think that's where we gain our sense of American pride, or maybe it's me (admittedly, not too great at this whole patriot thing), through the emergence of a new and shared culture that blends the old world and the new.

Not much to say on this this, other than, sometimes, distant, distant, distant relatives can be pretty cool, right? And that you should all check out the "New World Symphony" at some point, because it's pretty rad. (Also, it kind of explores this issue of merging a new idea with the old, all with a visitor/outside observer to the US. Seems to be a common theme).

Oh Sigrid (Mostly getting my thoughts on Blog)

My final paper has proven to be far more vexing than I previously anticipated.  Writing about the early 1900s, whilst fulfilling my love of that era, has presented its own set of difficulties.  Perhaps the most irritating would be my annoying tendency to interpret the past through my decidedly fish-eyed lens, attempting to make my "interesting historical figure" into nothing more than a Beth surrogate, with ideas and ideals that are far too atypical for her time period.

To counteract this, I've been focusing a lot on Sigrid's Christian faith, which comes to her far more easily than it has ever/will ever come to me.  But is there a point where it becomes too cloying?  Her father was a pastor for a small farming community (decidedly Norwegian, to balance my decidedly Czech heritage) which would account for her strong faith.  She's far too nice, far too blonde, and just a tad boring.

But I wonder if I'm focusing far too much on who she is and then deciding what she symbolizes? It's probably my creative side dominating my academic one (not that they're unable to coexist in this setting, mind you), but has anyone run into this problem?  Do you find it better to plan out your person's purpose first and then tailor their day around it, or is the inverse true?