Kids Speaking Up: The Rhythm of My Pulse

http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/0122_the_rhythm_of_my_pulse/

By Sio Tepper, Kids Speaking Up

A generation moves away from great forms of music.

A few days ago, while driving to a friend’s house, I began my routine task of flipping through the radio stations to find just one good piece of music to listen to — a seeming impossibility these days.

But to my pleasant surprise, it landed on a station that was playing this beautiful jazz piece that had a sort of Latin twist to it; as it turns out, it was a piece by Miles Davis.

I drove on in complete euphoria as I listened to this newfound masterpiece, one of many in the currently hidden realm of genuinely good music. My spirits lifted as I started to wonder, contrary to my pessimistic beliefs, if humanity is beginning to cease its lack of appreciation of purely awesome music.

As I pulled up to my friend’s house, I decided I would ask her what she thought of the piece, as a test for my hope. She stepped into the car, and before I even had the chance to open my mouth she said, “Oh, man, change the station! I don’t want to listen to classical music!” Humanity had failed me again.

I was appalled by the ignorance that was so blatantly inherent in my friend. She had mistaken jazz for classical music. While I know I cannot base an entire population on one person, there is no denying that this episode with my friend is perpetually playing in different forms in our society today.

As an aspiring musician, I cannot live without music. And as I fully immerse myself in the sublime world of music and explore all of its hidden marvels, I can’t help but stop and think about the fact that I am one of a small minority of people of my generation who feels this way toward music. I don’t understand the absurdity of this notion; like the many people who listen to rap and claim they hate jazz, when rap is a direct product of jazz, or the ones who mistake jazz for classical.

However absurd it may be, it is self-evident that people of my generation have a lack in appreciation of purely good music. The majority of people my age have probably never heard a piece by Bach, let alone know or care who he is.

It is this absence of knowledge and admiration that leads me to my greatest fear — that the future holds no place for the good music that I cannot live without. The future is in the command of our generation, and with most of my generation ignorant and against many great forms of music, I wonder if the small minority is strong enough to sustain the spirit of that good music that keeps me alive.

Sio Tepper is a junior at Santa Barbara High.

http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/0122_the_rhythm_of_my_pulse/