Blog Post Nummer Eins

I'm choosing to make my first blog post about something very near and dear to my heart...which I imagine is what your supposed to do for a blog post anyway. But it's something that really affected me, and I wanted to share it with whoever would be interested; hopefully it'll give you a little more about who I am and where I come from.

Today, I heard one of the most horrifying things anyone has ever told me. A friend of mine told me that he believed that in ten years, the genre of classical music would be, for all intents and purposes, dead. That scared the hell out of me. Let me tell you why.

For those of you who have read my story "Notturno, con amoroso," you'll know the first chapter lays out my OC Capriccio's backstory: what his special talent is, how and when he got his cutie mark, what that cutie mark looked like, and how he's currently putting his talents to work. Now, I would argue that most Bronies and Pegasisters who have an OC like to make their OCs an idealized version of themselves, and frankly I'm no different. Capriccio encompasses everything that I wish I could be; I even took his name from one of my favorite pieces, Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnol. But he's not just who I wish I could be, he's also who I intend on becoming. I'm a senior at a small college in the South, and I'm currently working towards getting my B.A. in music composition. The experience has been indescribable; I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. And right now, the goal is to earn my Ph.D. in composition and perhaps become a music professor. I've even got a couple of MLP-related projects going; a cello and piano piece inspired by Octavia and a collection of short symphonic works inspired by the "Cutie Mark Chronicles" episode. Those should be finished...eventually. (Once I graduate, I will no longer have access to an iMac, Logic Pro, Finale 2012 or East West's Orchestra Synthesizers...and I won't have the $5000 or so to pay for all those. Hard times.) As cliche as this is going to sound, I actually credit the show for helping me realize what it is I actually want to do. For a while, I had planned on going to dental school after undergrad. The goal was to make money so I could live comfortably, but I was never really sure if that's what I wanted to do. After watching the show, I finally realized that the career path I had chosen was way off the mark from what it was supposed to be, and I decided to make a change. And thank God I did; I've never been happier with my life, and I haven't even finished school yet.

So you can understand why the prospect of classical music as a whole disappearing off the cultural landscape scares the living daylights out of me. That's what I expected to focus on for the next 50-60 years, and suddenly it's on the brink of becoming irrelevant? It seriously frightens me that our society as a whole is moving away from a genre of music that was considered popular since the 16th century and was so influential in helping me shape the path my life is going to take. And I certainly don't mean any disrespect towards anyone who is inspired by contemporary music. I still very much enjoy works by guys like DJ Alex S., Micthemicrophone, and The Living Tombstone. They're very good at what they do, and I'm very glad they have the talent, the resources, and the cajones to put themselves out there. I'm pretty vocal about my dislike for rap music, and "Sonic Rhyme Boom" still blows me away every time I hear it. Even so, I don't think this cultural shift should come at the expense of nearly 500 years of musical tradition by incredibly talented men and women. I firmly believe that classical, orchestral music still has a place in our society, and I intend to help keep it that way. A member of the community mentioned to me that he wished there was more classical music being written; I'm taking that wish as a challenge to myself, a way to help me better myself as a musician and a way to contribute something to the community that I identify myself with. And I hope to be able to share that with you in the near future.

Thanks for reading,
Capriccio

P.S. If you're inspired to listen to any classical music now (and come on, how could you not be?), I suggest you start with Jean Sibelius's "Finlandia," Beethoven's "String Quartet op. 127," movement I, Aaron Copland's "Rodeo" (especially if you're an Applejack fan) and if you're feeling adventurous, Bartok's "Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta," movement IV (easily one of my favorites, but gave me a headache the first time I listened to it).

P.P.S. I'll be updating "Notturno" soon, particularly when midterms aren't slapping me upside the head.