The Digital Past

Music is the displacement of people according to Professor O’Malley, and I am finally starting to agree. I love music, but I listen to a lot of fairly modern music, where I feel the displacement isn’t apparent unless you have studied previous music. Like I love country music, and I never would have thought before that it was like minstrel show music, until I took this course. So I do now agree that music is the displacement of people and a lot of things, as music is meshed and copied in different ways. The most interesting thing we learned today though was how the European Tradition emphasizes “1” and “3”, while the Afro-New World tradition emphasizes “2” and “4.” Like he said, once you hear it, you can’t unhear it. All night I’ve been listening to music while doing homework, except now as I’m watching the Caps game, but all I can pay attention for is the beat. I also have been to a ton of concerts and thinking about it, the clapping is almost always off beat. Although I haven’t seen Justin Bieber live yet, and no other artist has actually pointed it out.. so never knew! I’ve listened to music my whole life, and I’ve loved it. But after the things I’ve learned in this class, I will definitely be listening to music in a different way, probably with an even greater appreciation too.