An Open Letter to Classical Music

Dear Classical Music,
We have had an interesting friendship, you and I, over the course of the last few years. I first met you long ago. We would meet late late at night, with you under my pillow to keep my brother in the top bunk from hearing and waking. I was charmed by your mystique, your flowing majesty, and your uncanny ability to lull me to sleep. Even though we were just friends, you were by my side through many a cold night. It was an off and on friendship. Sometimes I would kick it at Country's house, where I could wear a t-shirt and jeans and just be myself. And there were many hot summer evenings we missed because Classic Rock was having a party at 97.7. You didn't ever really have to worry about Smooth Jazz, she was never even in the picture, but I know you were jealous of Oldies.

But I chose you when I went to college. We began a serious relationship. I chose you over friends, over sleep, over the math, psychology, and ed departments. It was just you and me, and we were going to take on the world.

We had our tough times. Ear training was an exercise in frustration, and Theory I straight up tried to break us up! Piano proficiency even took a whack at us, while Performance Anxiety clung to our backs like leeches. But we powered through! We put in the time and effort. Don't you remember those long nights, all alone in the practice room working out our issues? Sometimes we despaired to ever find joy in our relationship. You were dissatisfied with my lack of commitment, and I just thought you didn't have that much to offer. We were one big dysfunctional relationship.

We ended it gracefully. We had a couple recitals and everyone came, but the fire just wasn't there. When graduation came I told you I needed some time off. Time to go back to comfortable Country for a while. And I had met someone new: Top 40. Yes, I made some token gestures. I bought a piano and I started playing guitar, but I still needed a lot more space. And Top 40 was just so exciting!

We've been a long time apart now. We hang out at the piano occasionally, or the clarinet or guitar, but largely, you've been gone, just like I asked you to be. I would be lying if I said there was an empty space where you used to be, although there might be just a crack.

I had a conversation with a friend the other day, about what makes music really music, and I confess I said some terrible things about you, things that I now regret. When I revisited that conversation I realized how much I've turned my back on you, and I didn't like that.

I miss you. You know me well, and I know you, although you will always be a mystery to me. We've been through far more than Country, Top 40, Classic Rock, and even Oldies. So let's hang out a little okay? I found your address at 89.9 here the other day. We've been good friends, let's not let that go okay? Hey, how about you, me and Philip Glass sometime this weekend?

Sincerely,
Bryce

PS: I was hanging out with Classic Rock most of this winter. She's so into partying that she just gets annoying after about 5 minutes. And as for Top 40? Can you say shallow?

March is book reading month!

That's right, I'm unofficially declaring March to be book reading month, despite the fact that it is already American Red Cross month, Colorectal Cancer Awareness month, Women's history month, and (only in the Philippines) Fire Prevention month. Thank you Wikipedia.

The fact is, I really like reading books. This morning I didn't get out of bed before I finished Malcolm Gladwell's What the Dog Saw. Today I'm going to restart Leon Uris's Trinity. I have The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman and The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells. And those are just the books that are sitting within 3 feet of me right now. I'm going to the library in a couple of hours to drop off Mr. Gladwell, and I'll have to walk out without looking too hard, for fear of finding something to check out.

I just like books a lot. Sometimes I wonder if reading books all day is really that much better than watching a show on TV (maybe not...I just read that Tom Hanks has a new HBO show about WWII in the Pacific, a la Band of Brothers...it ought to be really good!), or even sitting around playing games on my computer.

Actually, if I get too far into this argument I start thinking about the value of ALL the things I'm doing on a daily basis. I'd rather not delve too deeply into that existential-crisis-waiting-to-happen right now, though it is a good thing to think about.

I'd like to think that reading books forces me to think, but they don't always. Books give me all kinds of new ideas, but so do TV shows. You can learn new vocabulary from books and TV alike. Come to think of it, after hours of reading, my eyes are just as buggy as after hours of watching TV, so what's the real difference? I suppose it's in the purpose. TV is all about attracting the most viewers, no matter how they do it. There are a limited number of time slots on TV, so TV producers always go with the show that garners the most attention. Anybody who has something to say can figure out how to get a book published, and once it's published it's put up to public scrutiny and its fate is decided by the New York Times book reviewers.

You hear about books. You are told about shows. People write articles about books. People write advertisements about shows. Maybe that's it. The people who want you to read a book often have very different motivations than those who want you to watch a show.

So read books, I guess. But don't hate on TV. Contrary to what some people will say, it isn't the great Satan of our time. It probably isn't even in the top 10.