BAM.

Ode to the HFAC

Tonight I was at the HFAC (Harris Fine Arts Center, the music building at BYU) turning in a final project for one of my classes.  I went to the familiar 5th floor mail room to shove my assignment under the door with a note that said "put this in Neil Thornock's box" because OF COURSE I finished my assignment after the mail room already closed...I'm such a slacker.


As I was walking through the HFAC I passed a glass case that had all the professors that had ever worked in the BYU School of Music.  I read through each name, searching for the professors who had been here the longest or professors that I've had experiences with.


Richard Anderson.  Piano Professor, Theory.  Been here since the 70's.
2008.  Theory 1.  Professor Anderson tells me that if I wasn't tardy every day I would be receiving an A in the class but because of my sleep habits, I will receive an A- (as if that will make me change...I am secretly cheering for that A-).  He was such a nice and gentle giant.  Heart of gold.  When I received my grade for the class, it was an A. 


Jeremy Grimshaw.  Music History.  Pretty new to BYU.
2009.  World Music Cultures.  After 30 minutes of passing notes and writing quizzes that say "which of the following animals does Prof. Grimshaw most resemble?", Professor Grimshaw makes us stand up and practice the Ra music in India.  Although most of that class was spent giggling, I still remember a lot about what we learned.  Grimshaw made things fun and interesting.  He was just a good guy.


Randy Boothe.  Music Dance Theatre.
2008.  Voice Technique.  A rambunctious group of acting and media majors who don't know how to keep their mouths shut get told for the fifth time that we need to behave and take this class seriously.  We then proceed to all sing a phrase from "Memory" using the "belt singing" technique that we just learned.  It's a good thing our class is so light-hearted, because there were many cracks and yells and sorry singers.  Randy Boothe was very patient with us and such a fun teacher.  And oh-so talented.


Ron Simpson.  Media Music.  Been at BYU since the 80's.
2007.  Songwriting 1.  I'm the girl who sits in the middle of the classroom and tries not to look Ron in eye so he won't get mad at me for a potential stupid question I could ask.  The other songwriters are so intimidating to me.  For some reason Ron makes me, the shy little freshman girl, feel special.  Ron has been my mentor in college.  He's a man who has a lot more to him than meets the eye.  He truly cares about each and every single student.  He's retiring this year and he will be tremendously missed at BYU.


When I finished reading the names of so many influential people, I turned around and looked down at the HFAC lobby.  My heart skipped a couple beats.  It was like the reality of my life set in right there.


The HFAC had never looked so beautiful to me.


It was empty at night, but I imagined what it was like mid-day.  Choral majors practicing their conducting on the slab for everyone to see (and for everyone to sneer at) were right below me.  To my left, on the opposite side of the building, were the art majors.  Guys in converse shoes and girls wearing funky hats and yellow tights walking to class with their canvases.  On the floor right below me were the group of students about to head into concert choir.  The ridiculous flirting that was going on was apparent to anyone standing within 30 yards.


This has been my life for the past 4 years.  I smiled as I thought of the good times I had had in this wonderful building.  Tonight was one of my last times being in the HFAC.  I wanted to soak it all in, to let myself get emotional over saying goodbye, but then I realized,


Life doesn't wait for you to catch your breath.


It just keeps going, without even asking your permission.  You just have to go with the flow, and try to make it out on top.  I looked down at my left hand and felt the ring on my ring finger with my thumb.  I smiled.  Life has been so good and it will only get better.


And I left.

I guess this is old news...

How did I miss this YouTube video!?

The lyrics are incredible...especially the bridge ("and Sunday comes afterwards...").

Oh and don't even get me started on the rap section.  

Did you know that this video has the most "dislikes" on YouTube (almost 2 million)?  Justin Bieber's music video for "Baby" comes in second place for most disliked videos on YouTube.  

HAHAHAHAA officially the worst song I've ever heard!!!


Next to Aicha, that is. :)

"A royal flush, in your honor!"

Have you ever been overwhelmed with a long list of tasks you have to complete?
Things that will change your future if you don't complete them (like graduation projects and wedding planning)???
Then, instead of completing this long to-do list, you do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING???
I have been playing Solitaire all day long while listening to Ke$ha.

Story of my life.

P.S. I will be super impressed if you know what movie I'm quoting in the title of this blog post.

Home, home on the RANGE

As if it wasn't sad enough to say goodbye to this chump:

I also had to say goodbye to Ben's Range Rover.  For good.  Heated seats, satellite radio, pre-programmed seat adjustment just for me, and all.  Ben's selling it for a dumb truck.

Not happy.

Range, it's been good, and it's been real.  Memories of sweaty summer days selling pest control, first dates to Uncle Julio's, midnight runs to Walmart, nice and warm seats waiting on cold Utah winter nights, and blasting rap (that immediately gets turned to top 40 when I enter the car) will always remind me of you.  I'll never forget you.

Then again, I guess all of those memories could be had with any car.  It's the people you have the memories with that make the biggest difference.  Aw shucks.  I will still love the Range always and forever.

Sincerely,
Heath

This guy sings every voice.  Absolutely amazing!!

Totes rant

*Note: if you don't care about music and you don't care to hear me ranting, then don't read this post.

Confession: I'm usually half asleep during my morning Music 306 (Survey of Music Literature 2) class.
Don't get me wrong, it's interesting stuff,
but combined with my professor's monotone voice and the morning hours, I struggle.
Today, however, something my professor said caught my attention and I haven't really been able to think of anything else since.

Here's a little background before I get into it:  Music 306 is a class that all music majors have to take.  MOST music majors consist of either music education majors, instrumentalist performance majors, or classical vocal majors.  Media majors (my major) are like the awkward "we don't know where to put these people so we just stuck them in here" majors.  The classes that aren't specific to the Media Music major are a mix of classes that the instrumentalists have to take with a few classes that the Music Dance Theatre majors have to take.  It really is an awkward major.  ANYWAY, most of the people in my Music 306 class are very well acquainted with classical music and already know and love music history.  Not me.  So while they are performing pieces from the past, I perform pieces of today, and pieces for the future (I'm a songwriter).  There is nothing wrong with this.  I appreciate music from the past because it has shaped the way music is today.  I just feel a little out of place as the students discuss "the variations of Bach's expositions and how the Recapitulations of Rachmanioff modulate and blah blah blah blah..."

This morning in class we were discussing the modernist composer "Berio."  He's from post WWIIish and his music is...different.  After we listened to a song by Berio, the class discussed why we should appreciate music like this.  Our professor said that "we have to listen to it for what it is."  I couldn't agree more.  This music doesn't have to be aesthetically pleasing, but it should be appreciated because it has changed the music world.
Right after this discussion, my professor went on to say that the only music people are listening to today is music from the past (he said from the 50s-70s to be specific).  Wait, what?  Um...no.  He then discredited what is going on in the music world today and said that it isn't influential...that it's garbage.
I couldn't believe that the professor that said we should appreciate a different musician's music for what it was turns around and contradicts his own statement.  By saying this, he was acting like the traditionalists that rejected Van Gough's paintings or the Soviet Union who criticized Shostakovich's music because they wanted music to be more like music of the past.
Music is changing every single day.  In order to have a part in what happens TOMORROW, we must appreciate and understand what is going on TODAY.  My professor admitted that he didn't know one song that was on the radio.  This man knows everything there is to know about music history, so how can he be so blind to music today?  If he were teaching the same class 100 years from now, I'm SURE that he would know everything there is to know about Lady Gaga, and though he may not like her unique musical style, he will say to his class "we must appreciate it for what it is."  Although there is definitely some crappy music out there (like there ALWAYS has been), today's musical world will shape tomorrow's musical world.

And there's my rant.
The end.

BORED BORED BORED

It's been what...5 hours...since Ben left and I am already bored out of my mind.  This is going to be a looooooonnngggg month.  Expect a lot of blog posts.  Blog posts about absolutely nothing.

Ben went on a trip for Costa Rica for a week and then he's going to D.C. to start his summer selling pest control.  I am stuck in this crazy little town called Provo until April 22, when I will graduate BYU!!

Until then, kill me now.

Balloon animals

The other day Ben pulled out a bag of balloons and this little balloon pump and started working away.  After hearing a lot of squeaking balloons, he handed me this:

How cute!  He is a man full of secret talents!

tag, you're it, no tag backs

If you know me at all, you must know that I love staying up late and I hate waking up early.  I'm the epitome of a night owl.  So here I am, writing in my blog at 1:30am, because I've been trying to fall asleep for an hour.  And let's face it...I'm not going to bed until 2:30.

Life has been reeal good lately.  Like roller blading down the road with the neighborhood kids without a care in the world good.  Since I've been a "grown up", I've always kind of looked back on my childhood years with a longing feeling.  I wanted to feel that way again.  I was a weird kid.  I wasn't outgoing but I wasn't introverted either.  I didn't care AT ALL what other people thought.  If I didn't want to make conversation, I was silent.  If I wanted to sing and dance and be a total ham, then I would be just that.  I was just me, marching to the beat of my own little drum.  My life feels like that again.

I mean, sucky things have totally happened.

Like, oh my freaking goodness, the hot pots in Midway are off-limits now.
Back in November I went to the hot pots and there may or may not have had signs that looked like this:

But I didn't think anything of it, so I went in anyway.
The hot pots are these natural hot water springs that feel like hot tubs in mud.  They are part of nature, so they've been around forever.

Good citizens of Utah have been attending the hot pots for a long time until recently, when the land was sold to the Grinch himself.  The grinch has demanded that any person in the hot pots be cited for criminal trespassing.  BAH HUMBUG!!
So after a few trips to the Wasatch County Criminal Court (I know, I'm such a rebel), I have to pay a $300 dollar fee and behave for 6 months to get the charge off my record.  Phew.

Mostly good things have been happening though.  Don't worry.
-Food seems to taste better these days.  No, I'm not trying to be deep.  Ben took me to this place:

I could not believe how good the food was!!  Heaven in my mouth.

-Spa packages are totes worth it.  I had my first spa day as a birthday present.  Loved it.  I probably couldn't get myself to spend that money myself, but it was a cleansing experience.  Benny's done it again.

-I'm worried that my fear of dirt bike riding will never diminish.  We went riding a couple weeks ago.  Even though it was such a great time, Ben had to talk me through every sand patch, rocky hill, and big turn.  He was so patient.  I am such a baby.

-June 11 will be an amazing day.  I CANNOT wait to marry this man:

When I'm with him, I don't long for anything else.
He makes it real for me.