A Busy Week For Me, The Last Week Of School Before Exam Leave 🥳 But Also Oh My God Now I Actually

a busy week for me, the last week of school before exam leave 🥳 but also oh my god now i actually have to,, do, the exams,, holy shit,,,

wholesome student life things that we should collectively start romancizing

waking up and being genuinely thrilled to go to class because today is THAT CLASS you love so much you’d like it to never end

coffee breaks with friends, chatting and joking about this particularly hard essay and the prof’s mannerism

coffee breaks on your own, as you absent-mindedly watch the people around you, while thinking about what you’re working on

finding this book you’ve been dying to read for so long, and borrowing it from the library

the feeling of excitement that goes through you whenever you remember The Book is in your backpack

understanding everything during demanding classes and being genuinely interested in the subject

buying a New Special Pen and taking colorful notes that look super pretty

not being able to shut up about your school projects (no your friends dont really care about the intricate details of what you’re working on, they don’t even have the same major as you, but they’re happy to hear you rant with such a burning passion)

actually doing the extra reading and having your curiosity so piqued by what you’re reading that you go on and on and suddenly its 1am and what happened

printing the project you’ve spent so much time and energy on and feeling the paper’s warmth

actually submitting that project without feeling awful about it because you know you did your best and aren’t responsible for what happens next

when you finally finish this Super Hard And Important Essay at like 3am, open the window and feel the cold night air on your burning cheeks and everything is dark and quiet and you can see the moon and you’re at peace with everything for a few minutes

when this professor you admire says you did a great job and/or that you’re talented!!!!

realizing two concepts that seemed so far away from each other and that you discovered in wildly different contexts are actually interlinked, then Realizing™ things and linking concepts/works/articles to each other at the speed of light & being super excited about it

being so deeply immersed in your work that you didn’t realize two hours have passed

finding the Perfect Spot at the library

that Pure Joy moment when you FINALLY understand that super obscure sentence/text

when you feel anxious because you’re not done with your homework & the deadline is super tight & your friend tells you they aren’t done yet either

same but with an even more intense relief feeling when you realize you both haven’t even started yet

when the professor starts a new reasoning and you can predict what the next idea/the final conclusion will be

when the professor mention your favorite novel/author/fictional character in class and you feel like your internal screech of joy could shatter glass

the Academic Salt™ that has you like 👀👀

when the professor tears apart an author or scholar you hate and you’re like YES I WANT BLOOD GIVE ME BLOOD

when you learn that Cool New Fact that makes you reconsider your whole life

leaving the library after a long productive day and feeling like nothing is real but experiencing everything more intensely

leaving the library at night after a long study session and everybody has left already and its just you and the long neon-lit corridors then stepping outside and smelling the crisp night wind

feel free to add your own!!!

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saurenson

5 years ago

Do you have any ideas on how to improve the accessibility of classical music? Playing the instruments, watching performances, etc.

that’s kind of a broad topic. there’s the issue of classical music not being as accessible to people who have a lower income, younger people, historically excluded ethnic groups, people who want to go see a symphony perform and not get dirty glances for wearing jeans to attend the concert, people who want to clap between movements without getting dirty glances and feeling “uncultured,” and so on.

I could make a post in detail about all of these particular aspects, and people can feel free to add their opinion on the subject to this post, but I’ll say this:

we gotta stop pushing the idea that mozart was like the best classical composer ever. he was obviously talented and made some good music, but non-musicians think that mozart’s music is what all classical music sounds like and so they don’t feel the need to listen to composers who wrote drastically different musical works but can still be heard in the concert halls. classical music is a broad genre written by thousands and thousands of people over hundreds of years, and today, and we have a more diverse group of composers than ever who are currently writing music. I think that everyone can find at least one piece of classical music that appeals to them, but so many people don’t know this.

we gotta stop intellectualizing classical music. write program notes that make sense and help audiences relate to the composer. tell us that berlioz’s dad wanted him to have a practical job so berlioz got his medical degree and turned around to become a composer, and maybe save the music theory terminology that makes very little sense to the average audience member for your doctoral dissertation. help audiences relate to the music and they’ll be able to understand it better. classical music hasn’t been for the educated aristocracy in years but people keep acting like it is.

we gotta let people know that anyone can learn classical music. my mom recently told me that she doesn’t have the right hands to play piano and that she thinks reading sheet music would be too hard. you can play piano with small hands and it’s simple to learn to read sheet music, it just takes practice for it to become automatic. you can pick up an instrument at any point in your life. if you have the desire, do it, and don’t listen to some idiots who say you’re “too old” or aren’t fit for it.

we gotta let students learning classical have fun with it rather than kill their creativity and yell at them for their mistakes. I nearly quit piano because of something like this and today I absolutely love any chance I can get to play an instrument. that is a huge shift in perspective, and it’s because I can make mistakes and learn from them without getting shamed, and I have had super encouraging teachers, parents, and peers.

we gotta show students performances that feature people that we can kind of relate to. a lot of old orchestral performances have orchestras that are just white guys and no one else. show a newer video of the same piece that has at least some diversity. is there a young girl interested in playing bass in orchestra? show her a video of a woman absolutely shredding on double bass to get her interested and show her that women exist in the profession. representation matters.

we gotta drop the draconian concert hall etiquette. I think going to see an orchestra concert should have similar etiquette to going to the movie theaters. don’t talk during the performance, laugh if something funny happens (some classical music is genuinely supposed to be funny), clap when appropriate (it’s so disappointing when the first movement of a symphony ends with a flourish and everybody is still. it is legitimately uncomfortable!), and wear what you would wear to a movie theater. it’s going to take years for this to happen, unfortunately, but as someone who plays in orchestra, I don’t feel disrespected when audience members clap between movements or wear hoodies. I’m just happy they’re there and that they’re enjoying their time.

everyone feel free to add your thoughts and experiences. this is a broad issue and it’s something we need to address.

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