A quick blog post before the President’s day weekend.

As we approach studying opera in the Classical Era, I came across a recent blog by NPR’s Tom Huizinga where he compares and contrasts how listeners equally “hate” opera and rap.  The article is compelling.  Both genres requires effort to appreciate and have a polarizing effect upon listeners.

Huizinga wrote, “In an age when more and more music is available to anyone’s ears, are we turning into lazy listeners? Is it too easy to download too much, to acquire everything but actually hear nothing?” I was reminded about the comment in class about melody versus rhythm? Does it belong with this discussion? It certainly applies in that opera is about melody and rap adheres to the rhythm. But, perhaps I’m just struck with the idea that it’s easy to access music, but difficult to “actually hear” and comprehend the music.

I also wonder if it is fair to compare these two genres. Will this comparison make opera-lovers want to know more about rap? Or vice versa? And to go a bit further with this comparison, is it fair to compare at all? Like the “top ten” list by Tommasini, what is the purpose of this comparison? Is it to unite audiences? Did it succeed?

Take an informal poll of the comments. Are they different on the actual blog versus the comments on the FB status post? What type of affect did this article have on the readers? Are you surprised?

Here are two songs from my iPod.  What similarities do they hold? (musically and thematically)

Kanye West – “Gold Digger”

Mozart’s Don Giovanni – “Il Catalogo e Questo”