Posted on 09/09/2012 7:19:11 AM PDT by WXRGina
I think that a lot of it is just laziness. When I read a sonnet by Shakespeare, I marvel not only at the beauty of the words and how they’re put together, I also marvel at the time and effort and care spent in crafting something so beautiful.
Yes, You Tube is an excellent source of the classic music. That Wayne King version of “Dream a Little Dream of Me” is a peach! I love it!
I will give you a couple of examples of what some of the “core students” considered art. We were taken to a gallery to view some “art”.
A female student had taken dead tree branches made them stand upright and hung rubber chickens from them with string. Then 2 male students had emptied out an old garage, painted the rotten boards and every single thing in the garage, red, and rebuilt it and put all the (now red) objects back into it. That’s art, right?
The painting class that I was in was instructed to read a book entitled “The Pot That Was Not A Pot” and be inspired to make a painting from that inspiration. The book made absolutely no sense, probably written by a drugged out abuser. The instructor was not impress with my painting, I would have been dissappointed if he had been.
There are still some talented artist out there, painting beautiful landscapes, still life and portraits, beautiful art has not died.
Does anyone here remember the little songbook used in schools of America until the last decades of the 20th Century?
Perhaps the abandonment of such a "shared" knowledge accounts for some of your own feelings.
The poignant old love songs, the simple and lovely songs about nature, about patriotism, about love, and about sadness and loss became a part of the backdrop for education.
Pride in the flag, in America's brave history of freedom--these were instilled in the hearts and minds of children in the schools of the nation.
Note that in the entry of "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean," there is an alternate verse which was suggested by the NEA. Yes, that is the same NEA organization which later became a coercive power center for the "progressive" ideas which now dominate and threaten to destroy American liberty and sovereignty.
I hold in my hand "A Golden Treasury from the Bible," "selected by Joy Elmer Morgan, Editor, Journal of the National Education Association," which included Bible verses. According to the Editor, "The Bible expresses the highest aspirations of mankind. In it are the ideas that have inspired, comforted, and lifted humanity for generations." This was only one in a series of "Personal Growth Leaflets" published by the Hugh Birch-Horace Mann Fund and distributed by "The National Education Association, Washington, D. C." The First Printing was in 1939, and the thousands distributed continued for years thereafter. They continued until the so-called "progressive" forces imposed a "different" agenda for the schools of America.
For any who, like the writer here, miss the comforting and uplifting sounds of the music of America--contributed by every segment of its then-populations from all over the world, perhaps those persons can sense that a much larger force has been at work to "change" its foundations, all in the name of "progress."
and Clint Eastwood's take on the situation:
Those are surely typical examples of modern “art”!
You are correct, Ditter—beautiful art has not died. As long as people who have good, pure hearts remain, there will still be good art (I consider myself one of the good artists, even though I rarely paint or draw lately).
Hey, I am now 77, and I strongly suspect there are a lot of us old-timers with that Lone ranger feeling—Hang In! there are only a few of us real Americans (not AINOs, Rinos, etc) left standing...
Take care and Straight ahead!
Semper Watching!
*****
AMEN, GunnyG!
There are still some people that make good music, and here is a really nice "feel good" song: The Jive Aces "Bring Me Sunshine"
You can experience a strong antidote to this modern slop by going to your next Barbershop Harmony Society concert (the old S. P. E. B. S. Q. S. A., Inc.), or Sweet Adelines show.
These well-trained amateurs personally propagate the excellence of singing by performing both old-time and newly-written harmonies, not by merely listening. And there is just such a chapter of singers not very far from any wannabe singer in the USA. Support them by your attendance at their shows. They will sing for you on request.
Excellent idea! Thank you!
For me, I loved barbershop harmony from my youth. One Christmas present was my first pitchpipe when I was 14. Sang in high school choir with a fine director. Took voice lessons in college. Sang in church choirs. helped start a SPEBSQSA chapter that became District Champion 7 years after our first meeting. Member of competition quartets. Performed in quartets entertaining at local business and social club dinners, senior citizen gatherings, hospitals, etc., sometimes for money, sometimes not. Directed another chapter chorus and revived it when on its last legs.
I love Barbershop.
You’re no doubt a marvelous talent! Harmony is lovely!
I find this trend especially pernicious in the churches--of all denominations, and in all regions of the country--where the electric guitar is driving out the organ and the choir.
That’s right; the church is looking more and more worldly.
Some years ago, a teenage girl told me about the "mega-church" that she attended. I asked her if it had an organ, and she gave me a blank stare. She had never heard of an organ, and I had to explain what it was.
By the way, my father was a vocal music teacher and a church choir director. My mother sang in the Old Fashioned Revival Hour Chorus Choir radio broadcast, and her voice was heard by millions around the world.
Music is in your family spirit! Bravo on your Dad and Mom! Your Mom, a radio star!
I am wary of “mega churches.”
My mother passed away last year, but she can still be heard on Old Fashioned Revival Hour broadcasts over the Internet--bootleg versions available on some sites as well as those from the official site. She never soloed on the broadcast, but I think her voice was better than that of the two designated soloists.
She left in 1957 so she could give her kids a religious upbringing in a real church--the Methodist Church--but she and my father would sing in many choirs over the next several decades.
I’ll bet you miss her very much.
I’ll give the old broadcasts a listen!
I love the choir’s singing! Dr. Fuller had a very long radio ministry.
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