Swing in the Classroom: Blog Entry 1

Greetings, from Max Kleger, to you all. I am a senior here at CU Boulder, and after four and a half years attending this fine institution am finally ready to graduate in December. I have had a grand total of three majors: first History, followed by English Literature, and finally last (and best) Film Studies. The arts comprise my greatest passion and joy (outside of my delightful fiancee, nature, puppies, and perhaps good food) in my life; attempts to hone my writing in regard to expressing and dissecting art are ongoing. This is a round-about way of saying that I take writing seriously, not to mention pleasurable, not to mention vital to my character. It’s ultimately the greatest dream of mine: to contribute to the artistic conversation through words and ideas that enlighten and enliven the cultural climate.

After film, music is the most instantly rewarding art for my being. There should be no limit to what one can hear, how one can hear it, and what that music means to an individual. Music need not have boundaries, and likewise I try to never impose boundaries on what music can do for me. I’m not done growing as a listener or appreciator, and in my most honest moments I know that there will always be something to test me in my tastes.

This connects back to O’Steen’s piece in a fascinating way. That article helps elucidate the nature of the changing times, how one generation’s rebellion is another’s stodgy relic; but perhaps more importantly O’Steen hits on a fundamental truth about music (and art in general), which is that it operates on a continuum. There are not walls separating genre from genre and style from style. These are man-made stipulations, used to categorize and organize for purposes both practical and silly. Rather, music builds up to itself, blends into itself, and ultimately merges with itself to create exciting new avenues of adventure and experimentation. To study one form is to learn a great deal about another. To memorize the history of one movement lays the groundwork for the aesthetic breakthroughs of the next. One should never block off aspects that seem low or stodgy; to embrace all possibilities is to gain a deeper understanding of what you experience, and thus to further the means to expand your perception on life’s joys.