DStilled

Music is Life

December 21, 2007 on 1:56 am | In Blog | No Comments

My life is an interesting place to be right now. I have just been liberated from the greatest burden ever by doing the one thing that should have made it worse, I have finished my first semester of graduate school at a seminary where I’m not even training to be a pastor, I’m obsessed with amazing music but won’t learn to play anything on my own, and to top it all off, God has decided to bless me despite my continual inadequacies (well…not fair, He’s always doing that).

Take this past month for example. I learned a new meaning of differentiation with the detachment of myself from negative emotional reactivity to good friends. This was stumbled upon while talking to a close friend who said something about the innate specialness of holy/worthy things in life. Much about relationships in my life is positive at the moment, and I can’t help but feel amazed at God’s timing.

Yay, seminary’s first hurdle is over! Now, 4 more! Finals were surprisingly easy (compared to what they could have been) and I should end up with an A, A-, B+, and a B. We’ll find out soon enough. It’s amazing that the system is pretty much set up that if I want to learn I can, and in doing so, I will receive good grades. Now that I think of it, most schools are set up that way. It’s been really nice to have this past week off and I’m looking forward to the next two. I start again January 3rd.

As far as music goes, I’ve been reinspired as of late for great music. I’ve gravitated primarily to instrumental but I will recognize excellence in all its forms. The two main genres I’ve been delving into are soundtracks and something sometimes called post-rock. Soundtracks are self explanatory but post-rock isn’t. It’s basically the instrumental section of the indie world, but it doesn’t have to be. The artists use ambience, any and all instruments, and is sometimes borderline electronica. When Wikipedia describes post-rock, they compared it heavily to Minimalism music, if any of you know anything about that. I can’t believe how much I love this music! I hope you don’t think me too weird by saying that I hear the instrumental music speaking words of ineffability to me. I was introduced to this genre by my sister Rebekah with a few phenomenal Explosions in the Sky songs. By now I’ve acquired songs from other big-wigs in the field. If you’re browsing on the web or iTunes, check out Explosions in the Sky, Sigur Ros, Mogwai, Eluvium, This Will Destroy You, The Album Leaf, and a new favorite of mine, God is an Astronaut. GIAA actually has full bit rate quality on their own website for cheaper than iTunes and you can listen to the songs there in their entirety before purchasing.

Christmas will be different this year at the Stillwell house. First of all, my Dad’s Dad is living there due to age and illness. Second, my Dad’s two brothers, neither of which there is much communication with, are coming in to Lex to have Christmas. It should be very cool but I’ll knock on wood just to be sure. Thanks for reading this much after a short away from blogging. If anyone wants to talk music with me, please give me a ring. It would make my day.