The Tragic Decline of Music Literacy (and Quality)

Culture is driven toward the top or toward the bottom....If money drive culture guess where it will go?

An example: how for a century Hollywood was never able to tell a story about the most extraordinary visual show there is on par with Chinese emperors history, and an essential piece to understand occidental history, the one thousand years story of the Byzantine empire? No Ben-Hur is NOT about Byzantium and dont count at all....Nor crusades film which are mostly about Europeans going against Islam...It is very instructive that crusaders films never speak of the remnants of Byzantium either... They go acting like Byzantium empire never exist at all... 😁 Hollywood was and is propaganda masquarading in art....Chomsky wrote about that...Where is Chomsky in american TV?  the most influential linguist is unknown in america and he is also one of the most interesting historian of the American empire...Nowhere to be seen.... 

Not a single movie about Byzantium  i can remind of.... is it not extraordinary? An ignorance so deep?

The first comic book i read young at 6 years old was a comic book about Trebizonde and Byzantium but it was written in french.... It alert me immediately....Ay 6 years old.... I take greek course and latin for years that was helping for sure...I only learn to read but that serve me for life and it was later my job main point....It is another story. 😊

How can you distinguish head and tail in your life in north-america with a so abyssal ignorance?

How can a democracy can ever exist? For sure appearance of democracy is important but it is not a really working democracy...Anyway no empire can be a democracy sorry....

History is the only tool box of critical thinking , there is NO other...

Then so go with music what has begins long ago with the forgotting of history....Music is sounds selling industry....I am almost unable to listen to 95 % of what is made commercially or popular in the last 30 years...Classic, jazz, Indian and Persian music and a bit from others cultures made my night and day...



«Music is the only way to touch the soul with your hand....»-Anonymus Smith

«Music is history whistling in the ears or only ears buzzing»-Anonymus Smith

I have always had music in our home.

As a former musician right into my 30’s I taught my children an appreciation for all types of music.

All 3 of my children played in middle school, high school and at University. 2 were offered music scholarships as well as academic. They both chose academic scholarships studying Chemical Engineering and one is studying Language and has a job teaching English in Japan.
I think it starts in the home, and if the child has an interest they will pursue music in school. My oldest son played in the OSU ( Oklahoma State) Jazz Band, the Percussion Ensemble and in a Jazz Ensemble. He’s has had the pleasure of sitting in on a session with Snarky Puppy at UNT.

But the one thing I can not keep my kids from is the peer pressure of listening and liking RAP.

I did manage to teach them an appreciation for Hockey and Moto GP.

Lucky childs.....

Congratulations....

@mahgister,

"Hollywood was and is propaganda masquarading in art....Chomsky wrote about that...Where is Chomsky in american TV? the most influential linguist is unknown in america and he is also one of the most interesting historian of the American empire...Nowhere to be seen...."


Err.. Chomsky does tend to say unpopular things, which in this day and age especially are liable to be banished to the further reaches of the university library - or your favourite search engine.

These are worrying times for anyone interested in preserving historical integrity. For instance historical truth can now easily be airbrushed out, or carefully selected to only present only one side of the story.

With digital manipulation this process can make the truth from the fake very difficult to discern.

Once again the value of archives is demonstrated. Just as precious out of print vinyl is sometimes our only link with certain performers and performances so are those out of print books which encapsulated the feel of the the times in which they were published.

Hindsight can sometimes be a wonderful thing, but it can also be a terribly destructive one.

Truthseekers must tread carefully.

There is a way....

One of he first great anti British revolutionary and patriot for the liberation of India before Gandhi , was Sri Aurobindo Ghose...

The British jailed him like many Indians....

In his captivity he decided that he must liberate the world and not only India.... He then pacifically spend the rest of his life meditating, writing the biggest metaphysical spiritual poem in all english litterature,Savitri, and become one of the truest spiritual man of his century...

He never was impeded by hindsight....He recreated yoga.... And spoke truly in advance of all we actually sees around us....


«Seing is not hindsight nor foresight, it is touching the center or putting a veil on our head, calling it red or blue dont change the fact that it is a veil»- Anonymus Smith


«You remind me of my wife asking why i dont like the green bow tie and not the red one she give me at the same time the day before...I dont like bow tie anyway»- Groucho Marx