Strung Out: An Orchestrated Study Session

Why a picture of Valkyrie you ask? Is it because shes riding a masculine horse with a tanned, rock hard body, wielding a spear that has tasted the blood of O' so many men? Maybe. Is it the image of her kicking the living hell out of me and enjoying every minute of it in the sickest way possible? Partially. What about the epicness that is about to ensue when she jumps over a regiment of Norse gods and makes every one of them throw up in their mouths? Kind of.

Well, not really. I just put that up there because it's cool looking.

What inspires this post most of all is the 15 year old I saw playing fiddle in the park today. The boy set up shop and began playing, as if it was the Metropolitan Opera. The boy's talent was tremendous; musical talent of that caliber that I haven't heard in awhile. I stayed in the park reading the paper listening to the boy play for well over an hour. After I left, I dropped some money in the boy's case and felt very fortunate that this was the day he chose to play in the same place I was is the park.

In our study filled, anxiety laden lives of college, we find some of the music listed on our itunes leaving us wanting more at times and also a little less. We search endlessly for the right song that seems appropriate to study to or the right album that seems calming enough to make a tired night lively.

But in the midst of my study sessions preparing myself for my shit show of an art history exam, I've come to enjoy a completely different album that is far from your typical study session.

The soundtrack to Master and Commander has been playing on repeat during my study sessions. It is totally orchestrated; classical pieces take up the majority of the soundtrack, bringing the world and musical culture of the Napoleonic War to your ears. Fiddles and other strings tantalize your senses and act simply, as background music to a rather noisy air conditioned, loud whisper laden study room like the one I'm in now.

The Master and Commander soundtrack is peaceful, fun, and disciplined--a discipline that has certainly rubbed off on me to keep going into the wee hours of the night. The movie is damn good as well (Yes, I know, it has Russell Crowe in it--but he kicks the shit out of the French so stick with it).

For other mastery of the stirngs during homework, give composer Maurice Ravel a listen. It's just as good.

--Mike


Maurice Ravel