Prompt 4

Theodore Kim
V00960161
Music 116
Prof. Patrick Boyle
October 20, 2020

Prompt 4

Discuss any ethical implications of playing music exclusively of the past.

I think that playing music exclusively of the past would imply that we have become complacent, and unwilling to explore beyond what is comfortable. It would mean that music would cease to develop, because how can development occur when nothing new is being attempted, and risks are not being taken? It may encourage stagnant thinking and behaviour in other fields as well.

Please write about the music you would then perform on your instrument and include any links to this music, if possible.

I think that I would play any existing piece intended for my instrument that interested me. When I have exhausted these, I would likely look for piano covers or transcriptions for pieces that were not originally written for the piano to mix things up, such as this piano transcription of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik:

I would also learn the type of relaxing jazz piano music you might hear in a restaurant or Starbucks or cheesy romantic comedy film, to fulfill my dad’s dreams of me becoming a “lounge lizard” as he calls it. Here are some examples:

I would also learn a bunch of classic Christmas themed pieces to entertain my family with at winter-holiday gatherings. (Who knows, it may secure me ‘thirds’ at the dinner table!) Perhaps ones like those found in this collection:

I ALSO love piano covers for some movie soundtracks! Here are a few that I’m a fan of:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XCKZqwH9Cs

Offer your cogent opinion on this quote from Nietzsche:

If you are to venture to interpret the past, you can only do so out of the fullest exertion of the present. Only when you put forth your noblest qualities in all their strength will you divine what is worth knowing and preserving in the past. Like to like! Otherwise, you will draw the past down on you.

To me, Nietzsche’s quote means that it is important to value and respect the present just as much as the past when venturing into the past. In other words, you must examine the past from the perspective of the present. Otherwise, you may forget the wonderful source of potential that is the present, and get stuck in the past, where little or no progress can be made. “Otherwise, you will draw the past down on you” suggests that such behaviour may even crush us and lead to our destruction.