Tell us about a book you have read that you found especially challenging, stimulating, or provocative. Explain why it made an impact on you.
"Never lose the groove in order to find a note."
- Victor Wooten (The Music Lesson)
In 1997, I was on vacation, sitting on my couch and flipping through channels, when I happened to watch a video of a bassist... he was playing to a familiar Christian tune, and he seemed pretty skilled, but to my immature ears (at 15, I was very much a rebel, in spirit as well as taste), it wasn't worth listening to more than 15 seconds. Unconsciously, I blocked the ingenuity in his playing from my aural receptors and switched to a random channel.
A decade later, around 2008, a friend gave me his bass guitar, and I started to practice. I was lucky to have a plethora of resources on the internet: videos, articles, books, websites, and forums. Cyberspace seemed to have it all. I practiced regularly, developing an appreciation for the nuances of the instrument and its players. Tone, articulation, dynamics, timing, scales... there were innumerable parts of a performance to learn from, to appreciate.
But ever so often, I would find myself obsessing over things that in retrospect now seem relatively trivial. I started practicing scales religiously, chord patterns, and esoteric lines from Eastern music that sounded important. I came to believe that the best thing I could for myself as an aspiring musician was to have as many scales and chords memorized as possible. Little did I realize that there was more to the game than what notes you had to play with.
I saw him playing the same song again, his interpretation of "Amazing Grace". Immediately, I was locked into the spirit of that song. His expertise with the instrument blew me away. I looked into more of his playing, his books... I had to learn something from this man; if not his musicality, something about his way of life. Clearly there was something special, something unique about this human being.
The Music Lesson is Victor Wooten's first book that is not strictly instructional. It contains a series of semi-fictional encounters between him and a character named Michael. It also describes his learning process in a 'parable' -like form, relating how he too had an approach toward music that was tainted, colored rather, by his own ignorance and presumptions of what it meant to be a musician.
An elemental message of the book would be how music is a language, not just an art-form. One can be artistic in the way one uses a language, but music is a language first, a medium of expression, before it is an art-form.
He explains this concept in a very unique, accessible manner. Here's how I understood it:
When we are born, there is so much about the world that we start to take in, interpret, and react to. One of the first things we learn is our language. We try to speak to our parents, try to tell mom or dad, 'I'm hungry!' or 'I'm happy!'... We feel the urge to talk to them and share our feelings.
Of course, mom and dad are accomplished speakers of their languages, and they initiate a freestyle flavor of communication, where there is as much room for mistakes as there is for proper communication. We start to 'jam' with them. The mood is playful, oohs and aahs, coos and caahs, babies so often seem to enjoy it no end, and yet it is a learning experience! When babies (language amateurs) make those mistakes, adults (language professionals) would playfully repeat those mistakes right along with us!
In 3 or 4 years, that baby that cried because it could not speak suddenly starts talking its parents' ears off, asking more questions about the world than they care to answer!
A passage describes how if a starting musician were to start off jamming with professional, accomplished musicians, it would not take that musician decades of experience to play skillfully; it would take a few years, perhaps less than a decade, as it took for the baby to speak.
There is a strong truth to that message; one often sees musicians born into musical families that are able to develop a skill much faster with practice than, say, a child from a family without professional musicians that goes to music school. Even children that grow up in musical environments (performance venues, studios etc), that get a chance to communicate with people more musically experienced than themselves seem to exhibit a better understanding of music than their peers.
These days when I pick up my bass, I feel less 'hindered' by my prior approach. I feel a certain kind of peace, a freedom of expression. Wooten's book helped me realize for myself that I needed to practice expressing myself as much as I did everything else (technique, scales etc).
It's easy to acknowledge a fact, but a student only truly realizes the fact for him/herself when the master explains it the right way. Victor Wooten did that wonderfully for me with his collection of vignettes he calls 'The Music Lesson'.
The video that I mention at the beginning of this essay is available on youtube. Search for "wooten amazing grace".
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Hope I didn't blowout on the cheese! Thanks for reviewing.
There wasn't a word limit. Think it's too long?
that baby that cried because it could
a baby isn't an animal, so can't use "it" here
Is it too long? no, it's quite a novel way of structuring and I do praise you for that.
However, I do have to point out that this essay doesn't completely answer the prompt, which is
especially challenging, stimulating, or provocative
and
impact on you
Although you say that the book taught you something, you didn't emphasize on how the book impacted you or how the book was ESPECIALLY challenging, stimulating, or provocative. Honestly, I don't think that the admin cares about what you got out of the book didactically, but more emotionally.
Also, the goal of writing this essay, as well as all others, is to convince the reader that you are the perfect candidate, and you can only do that through hinting subtlety at your skills and strengths of character. In this essay, the reader doesn't really see what strengths you have, except perhaps music, and a bit of psychology. Although you write beautifully, I am not particularly impressed with you as a person from the little you told in your essay. (not an offense, but simply pointing out what this essay is lacking)
Furthermore, the essay is a bit distracting because you switch drastically your thesis, and even now I don't get what your main topic sentence is. You started off talking about music, but then switches to some baby/psych stuff. I think that you ought to put some thesis in your "intro" and start right off with your main idea instead of waiting till the middle since that could confuse the reader.
btw, hasn't the deadline passed?
pretty effective essay! I'm applying for UM too!
excerpt:"
The Music Lesson is Victor Wooten's first book that is not strictly instructional. It contains a series of semi-fictional encounters between him and a character named Michael. It also describes his learning process in a 'parable' -like form, relating how he too had an approach toward music that was tainted, colored rather, by his own ignorance and presumptions of what it meant to be a musician.
An elemental message of the book would be how music is a language, not just an art-form. One can be artistic in the way one uses a language, but music is a language first, a medium of expression, before it is an art-form.
"
Maybe some form of transition is needed. Feels a bit sudden and awkward.
I am not sure about this, but might be of some use to you.The structure of this essay is made of many paragraphs. It felt like a maze when reading it and it is slightly fragmental. Maybe a bit more focus would be better.
Oh, it is for NOT for humans, that's for sure. You can't say: this person did this, it blabla. instead, it's this person did this, he/she blabla (to be politically correct)
dictionary.reference.com/browse/it
If you look carefully at the examples, NONE replaces a PERSON with the pronoun it. It's ok to say "It's John", but not to say "It did this this this" to replace John. The pronoun "it" was created for and only for inanimate/nonhuman things.
"Never lose the groove in order to find a note."
awesome, that is good advice. My brother also gave me some similar advice recently: If you hit the wrong note, definitely don't let it trip you up. In fact, you should take time right away to play that measure again with the same wrong note, so that it seems like you did it on purpose.
You write really well. I am a few paragraphs in, though, and wondering when you are going to start talking about that book.
Little did I realize that there was more to the game than what notes you had
to play with at your disposal. or... what notes you had in your repertoire. or... what notes you had in your arsenal.
Thanks, by the way, for all the great help you have been giving other members recently!
Hey, this may be a misconception about the phrase "every so often" or it may be just a typo:
But
every so often, I would find...
Many readers, for this kind of essay, prefer to see you swiftly answer the question and then explain... instead of doing a big build up before getting to the point. I suggest experimenting with a different sequence:
Paragraph 1:
The Music Lesson is Victor Wooten's first book that is not...
Then, in para #2, you can give the story about sitting on the couch, flipping channels, etc. try putting that para that introduces the book up at the top. Because that sentence you currently use as the first sentence of the whole essay is not particularly exciting anyway, not worthy of your excellent writing!
in ender's game, the brother keeps calling him bugger lol.
ender's game is a good one!!
I guess that guys are less likely to get offended than girls
I think it was more about the fact that it was my sister's kid; parents don't like their little buggers to be called it, but the little buggers don't mind.
I still believe that grammatically, you can't replace a human being by "it".
Well here is where we have to think of what "grammar" actually is. Grammar has no compassion or sentiment; it's just a set of rules for nouns and verbs, etc. As far as grammar is concerned, we are all "it," and if grammar was an alien spaceship, grammar would probably grind "it" all up for use as fuel.
Using "it" dehumanizes baby, so does the use of "it" in such a way supports/promotes abortion?
Yes, good call! I am sure we have subtle effects based on our uses of various words, for sure. Similarly, I think it is harmful to refer to a group as "you guys" because it does not acknowledge the girls, and it is a poor idea to always say "he" when we need to use a pronoun.
So, it definitely is better to call the baby he or she, but what do you do when you are writing about a baby from the perspective of someone who does not know his/her/its gender?
We have no qualms about asking "Is it a boy or a girl?" when we see a baby, but we don't ask "Is it a man or woman?" when we see/hear about a person of unknown gender. Most of the time, at least.
But consider this: *doorbell rings* "Who is it?"
"It" is obviously a person ringing the doorbell.
and check this out: From dictionary.reference.com/browse/it
it
1 /ɪt/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [it] Show IPA pronoun, nominative it, possessive its or (Obsolete or Dialect) it, objective it; plural nominative they, possessive their or theirs, objective them; noun
Use it in a Sentence
See images of it
Search it on the Web
-pronoun
1. (used to represent an inanimate thing understood, previously mentioned, about to be mentioned, or present in the immediate context): It has whitewall tires and red upholstery. You can't tell a book by its cover.
2. (used to represent a person or animal understood, previously mentioned, or about to be mentioned whose gender is unknown or disregarded): It was the largest ever caught off the Florida coast. Who was it? It was John. The horse had its saddle on.
SO why can't a baby be called "it"? Do tell me if I'm wrong.
