My brother recently purchased the set of Lord of the Rings extended edition movies, and so we were watching some of the special features today. Did you know that lots of the angelic-sounding music was sung by a boys choir? The young blond-haired kid who was the main singer sounded great! I wish I could sing that well!

Hello muddah, hello faddah
Here I am at Camp Granada
Camp is very entertaining
And they say we’ll have some fun if it stops raining.

I went hiking with Joe Spivy
He developed poison ivy
You remember Leonard Skinner
He got ptomaine poisoning last night after dinner.

All the counselors hate the waiters
And the lake has alligators
And the head coach wants no sissies
So he reads to us from something called Ulysses.

How I don’t want this should scare ya
But my bunkmate has malaria
You remember Jeffrey Hardy
They’re about to organize a searching party.

Take me home, oh muddah, faddah
Take me home, I hate Granada
Don’t leave me out in the forest where
I might get eaten by a bear.
Take me home I promise I will not make noise
Or mess the house with other boys.
Oh please don’t make me stay
I’ve been here one whole day.

Dearest faddah, darling muddah,
How’s my precious little bruddah
Let me come home, if you miss me
I would even let Aunt Bertha hug and kiss me.

Wait a minute, it’s stopped hailing.
Guys are swimming, guys are sailing
Playing baseball, gee that’s better
Muddah, faddah kindly disregard this letter.

While playing guitar today, my mind drifted back to the idea of an ocarina. Unfortunately, I have neither the money to buy one nor the materials to make one, or so at least it seems. In my search for ocarina-ness, I found several good videos on youtube, including the following three. The first is an ocarina made of broccoli, the second some guy playing an ocarina, and the third a quite enjoyable ocarina-based song that has many more instruments.

Broccoli Ocarina!

Guy Playing an Ocarina

Espiritu Andino - Ocarina

Ballroom dance class is quite fun! The last two weeks have been spent learning the basics of Two Step, including the two step basic, free spins, outside and inside ladies turns, walking, and pivoting. I feel like I’ve got it down pretty well and can fairly easily lead it. We have just started learnign the Rhumba, which has a much more confusing basic step that I am not really all that solid on. We have also learned the New York (or New Yorker?) move for Rhumba, in addition to the Rhumba basic, and one turn. The last thing we were taught today was a second type of turn, but we had very little time to practice it. In any case, dancing is great fun, and I look forward to continuing my learning of Two Step, Rhumba, and eventually Jive, Cha Cha, Tango, Waltz, and some other things.

The Creative Zen Vision:M 30GB mp3 player has been given back fm radio recording capability. This is good news, as I am hoping to get one, maybe for Christmas! The Creative Zen Vision:M is my top pick over the Microsoft Zune or Apple iPod because of its fm radio recording and voice recording capabilities. It also has better video output resolution.

I was given my first “Best Answer” on Yahoo! Answers! The question I responded to is If God does not exist, how is musics music? I found this an interesting topic, especially since I have been taking an acoustics class this semester, and so I responded by explaining the basics of beats and dissonance. In a sense it is a very simple topic, though it is amazing that it works as nicely as it does. Dissonance is based on relative wavelength or frequency. The way sound waves interfere is the key to music.

Arts education is crucial to enjoyment of life. It opens up new ways of looking at the world around you. It teaches you to appreciate beauty and nature.

Personally, I am more musical than graphical as far as the arts go. Music teaches patterns and comparison, observation (listening), teamwork (though it can certainly be done alone), consistency, leading and following (in a band with a conductor), design, attention to what is appealing, and the relation between music and art and emotion.

Graphic art (which I know little about) teaches structure, how things are made, design, patience, attention to what is appealing, contrast, strength and quiet, and expression.

All forms of arts teach expression, how to express ones feelings and understand those around you. They give an appreciation for design. They foster creativity in all areas of life. They inspire.

My life without music would be missing one of the most wonderful forms of beauty that I have ever encountered, and happiness would be much harder to find. Without the creativity that comes only from the human mind, life has little meaning, but the ability to think for oneself in ways unique to you is the way the world changes, and the method by which great events come to pass.

Engineering might pay more, but the arts are the key that unlocks the wonder of humanity, the wonder of life!

(I am a Penn State University student presently studying Physics and Math, but thinking about changing to Meteorology, Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science, or Geosciences. I have grown up listening to almost all kinds of music and playing the trumpet and guitar.)

Fanfare for the Common Man, as performed by Taliesin Orchestra on their album Sacred, is a heavenly song (hence the name of the album) that puts me at peace whenever I hear it. I stumbled across it when looking for a “victorious” or “celebrating” song to fit my roommate’s mood. He mentioned 2001: A Space Odyssey, which I always associate with Fanfare for the Common Man due to similar sound. The other two songs that I have heard from the album, Adagio for Strings and The Lord’s Prayer, are similarly uplifting. I hope to come into possession of the remainder of the album in the near future, perhaps as a Christmas present.