Teacup XXXVIII

[Mari]

Originally Posted by Gwaimir Windgem

Sure.
Basically, the subject is the Self, and the object is the Other, or Not-Self. For me, the subject is me, and my desk, my computer, and friends are objects. The idea is rooted in grammar, with the subject being the one performing the action in sentence, and the object the receiving the object in the sentence.

Classical philosophy had tended to treat of the not-self. Even when it did treat of matters pertaining to the self, it tended to do so, not as "self" but as "human being," so that we are seen as parts of a whole (namely, the whole human race) which is primarily outside ourselves.

Starting with Descartes, a fundamental shift begins to occur in modern philosophy. It begins to look inward, more than outward, and to try to understand "me." When it treated external things, the not-self, it tended to treat them, not as they are, but as they are perceived, so that they are considered insofar as they are extension or parts of the self.

Does that make sense?

So if I understand correctly, the focus has shifted from 'the meaning of life' in general (for example) to 'the meaning of my life' in particular. Right?

Is this shift also there in theological philosophy? I would imagine so, but maybe there are differences?
I suppose such a shift makes philosophy also a much more diverse thing, since the focal point has become much broader. I wonder how this is solved.


Tessar, I agree that practical is very sensical. But I do agree with Gwai that you should try and stay in touch with the field in such a way that you can prove that you've stayed in touch, by performing for example (as you suggested yourself).
My current MA might not make me happy happy happy, but I need it to be able to get a job. Once I have a job I can study part-time to become a teacher. Boring, but sensible.
Good luck thinking about it. Taking a business minor sounds like a good plan to start with.

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Mari

On a tangent, I think that most people 'fear' their uniqueness in some way, trying to find commonalities with a group wherever they go, often denying the parts that are different from everyone else, or labelling those as unwanted, weird, freaky, etc. People like patterns and things that are recognizable, i.e. similar. It's sometimes painful and sad to see people try to fit in what they perceive as the norm.

Well, humans are social animals, so it sort of comes naturally to us to seek out company and try to fit in. It is sad if some people go overboard with it, by denying their own identity to fit in somewhere. But the opposite is also true, some people go to extraordinary lenghts to be special and to stand out.

Originally Posted by Tessar

You smart people make my head hurt. >.> I pretty much gave this whole page a general stamp of: TLDR. I kid... I skimmed it .

Yeah, it's not quite light-weight conversation for café-talk these days in the Teacup. I'm backing out now, as it is getting over my head.

So since the teaching is my 'safety net' anyways... why not get a -real- safety net that gives me a much wider opportunity to actually get a job to support myself and my career?

I think it might be a good idea, as long as you don't spread yourself too thin in the fields which are vital for a musical carreer.

[Valandil]

* shuffles in *

* sits at counter *

* orders up advertised "special" of; spam & cheese sandwich, soup & coffee, with pie *

* reads the paper *

[katya]

*Sits down with a yawn*

I'm hungry, and also I just woke up and I am going to continue not reading all the recent conversation. I want something that somehow involves a croissant. And coffee and orange juice. Mmmm.

*leaves virtual Katya in the Teacup for a bit while RL Katya makes some breakfast*

[Tessar]

Originally Posted by Valandil

* shuffles in *

* sits at counter *

* orders up advertised "special" of; spam & cheese sandwich, soup & coffee, with pie *

* reads the paper *

Now look, we've got spam, eggs, cheese, and spam. Or we've got spam, bacon, eggs, and spam. Or we've got spam, spam, spam, eggs, and spam...



Thanks for the thoughts, guys. Believe me, my idea is not to alienate myself from the music department. In fact, I would try to retain as many ties as I could, and intend to continue doing summer opera workshops, learning the three 'main' languages (French, Italian, and German), taking the diction classes, and possibly even auditioning for ensemble roles in the operas. It seems like a lot of work, but frankly being a music major is a ton of work anyways. Some days I get to school at eight or nine in the morning and don't leave till ten or eleven at night.

My thought is to go into whatever field of business once I graduate, pay off my student loans, and then either move to NY or wherever to try to start a small music career, or once my loans are paid off go into gradschool for music performance.

[hectorberlioz]

Tess,

Your idea is only practical . You gotta make a living to pay off your loans so that you can start doing what you want. That's what I have to do as well. Gotta be creative with your major .

[katya]

Yeah, just make sure you always remember your original goal. Don't get trapped always waiting for everything to be taken care of, loans and whatnot. It's like, you only have so many years in your life, but if you can take a few years of hard work to make the rest of them awesome, great, but if you're always in the preparation phase there's no point. But, I think you'll be fine even without me saying anything.

[Tessar]

Thank you all of you, you have all made very wise points. I think it's also really cool that you guys are basically reiterating what they said at the summer program I went to last year... It was basically, "Find a way to make money, don't lose sight of your ultimate goal of being a performer, never cut yourself off from the musical community, and never fall into the trap of, 'Oh I'll be ready in a year... okay two years... okay three years...' and then find yourself unable to do anything because you waited too long."

I talked to my dad about it, and he actually supported the idea (and once again he basically told me what the summer program and you guys have told me/warned me about)... he and I both think that the significant thing is that it's not that I'm getting out of music because I don't think I can make it, it's to give me a (hopefully) better chance at making it. Plus we agreed that the fact that I still intend to earn a Masters in opera performance is significant.

[Mari]

*smiles happily and hands out chocolate chip cookies*

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Originally Posted by Tessar

In fact, I would try to retain as many ties as I could, and intend to continue doing summer opera workshops, learning the three 'main' languages (French, Italian, and German)

Somehow, I can't quite see you doing Wagner. O.o

[hectorberlioz]

Sure he can! He'd make an awesome Brunnhilde ;-)

[Tessar]

OMG. No, not Wagner. O_o Never that. Unless it literally goes through a physiological change, which is unlikely at this point, my voice will NEVER be appropriate for Wagner. Brahms, Schubert, Schumann, Wolf, and all of those composers absolutely... I do very well with Schumann art songs and I'm doing well with Papa-g. from Magic Flute, but as for Wagner opera, absolutely not. My voice is not big enough or naturally dark enough.

There are lots of opera houses in places where they -speak- German though, so in addition to art song and a couple of opera roles, knowing how to speak German would offer me a very wide range of opera houses to sing at.



Tea, anyone? ^_^ Mmmm.

[Midge]

Yay! I finally took down the Christmas tree in my bedroom!

*accepts a cookie from Mari*

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Originally Posted by Mari

So if I understand correctly, the focus has shifted from 'the meaning of life' in general (for example) to 'the meaning of my life' in particular. Right?

Is this shift also there in theological philosophy? I would imagine so, but maybe there are differences?
I suppose such a shift makes philosophy also a much more diverse thing, since the focal point has become much broader. I wonder how this is solved.

Something along those lines. "The meaning of life" is, perhaps, not the right way to look at it. It was a question philosophy asked, certainly, but only one of many. "The nature of things", I think, is probably a more apt description of the subject of philosophy. In those terms, classical philosophy looked at things as they are in themselves, while modern philosophy has tended more to look at things as they are perceived, since the shift has been towards perception, more than an "objective" nature.

To a certain extent, yes, there has been a similar shift in religion, although religion being, of course, the Great Stick in the Mud, there has also been considerable resistance. God played an important part in the thought of Descartes, however, and thought of, certainly, Kierkegaard and Dostoevsky among the more prominent existentialists, was profoundly religious.

Theology as a distinct discipline was more resistant, however. I don't know much about the developments of Protestant theology, but I understand that in the nineteenth century, if not before, it was quite ready to engage modern thought. Catholic theology, of course, dug in its heels longer, but in the early twentieth century, it started to shift as well, and now it's pretty much gung-ho about embracing modernism.

It's not really that the focal point has become broader, but rather that it's become narrower; whereas in classical thought, pretty much anything was a matter for philosophy to deal with, these days it is more or less reduced to the psyche. Although, you're certainly right, that philosophy has become more diverse. In antiquity, there was more diversity, but in the Middle Ages it was basically reduced to a handful of schools of thought, whereas now there are scads of them!

[hectorberlioz]

Did everyone have a nice sunday today?

[Tessar]

I'm having a very nice one so far. At the moment I'm procrastinating about packing for the choir tour that start tomorrow. Ugh... I have to be up at 4 a.m. because a friend is going to pick me up at 4:30 to get to the school so we can leave on the tour bus at five a.m. Boo-hiss and what not .

I also had a pretty good Sunday so far in terms of having my potential plans for the future validated by two voice teachers. O_o I was talking to my coach and another voice teacher happened to hear, so she joined in, and they both told me that if I can get a business degree I should absolutely pursue that... they both talked about how a lack of money can be more deadly to a career than just about anything else, and they told me about a couple of students and random people they both knew who got other degrees, had very successful business careers, and still got to do lots and lots of performing even if they never made the jump to full-time performing.

So I'm definitely going to be seriously looking into this. Like I said, and like they assured me was very possible, it's not that my final goal has changed in the slightest... but I may be able to find a more effective method of reaching it without a number of the risks I've been facing.

[hectorberlioz]

As for me, we weren't able to go to church because two of our vehicles were stuck in the snow/ice at the bottom of our driveway. Bad things happened when we tried to get my dad's car out.

[katya]

My Sunday was pretty sweet. I watched Gackt music videos, IM chatted, prowled around on Facebook, ate some yummy things, studied some French. Ah lazy, lazy weekends. I think I'm ready to go to work tomorrow. Woohoo sports lit! Most the kids in that class are (a) male (b) seniors and (c) sports people, and they're real tall. They're all way taller than me. It's crazy.

[Midge]

Yeah! My brother and I just saved Hyrule before he went back to college.

[Varnafindë]

Originally Posted by Tessar

So since the teaching is my 'safety net' anyways... why not get a -real- safety net that gives me a much wider opportunity to actually get a job to support myself and my career?

If it's a question of whether you should have this safety net or that safety net, I guess teaching isn't the safest one if the idea is to have a steady job to finance your singing (until it starts to finance itself).
Business might pay better ...