Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Music Soothes? Savage Beast?


Good morning, all!
We have a new development on the MET blog today - namely, a guest post written by my cousin Nathanael! (Hopefully the first of many!)
Embedded is the audio Nathanael requested to have as an accompaniment to his message - sort of a post soundtrack, if you will. :)



And, without further ado, here is Nathanael's post! Enjoy!

In the world, people have made up sayings, they are sort of like proverbs (sort of?), or wise tidbits of knowledge. Some are very practical, like: “Music soothes the savage beast.” This is the purpose of this (hopefully) well-written post, to dissect this utterance.
First, let us look at its relevance, one might imagine a wild beast. The beast is trapped in a cage, foaming at the mouth. The only way to ward off this rage is some calming wood flute. But why does this apply to modern life, then again, it might not mean that. I could be suggesting that when a human is in a "beast" mood or distressed, music could simmer his wrath or quiet him. All of these are honorable mentions, but it is still uncertain.
This saying could be Biblical, for in the Bible, King Saul had a spirit put upon him to torture him. And the only thing that would ease the bane of the nuisance was the future king David playing so skillfully his Lyre. It is noted that after playing it, Saul tried to throw a javelin through David, but, that is not the point. The point is: music can bring people back to what matters, or what is less intense.
What about minor scales and songs? For these, the saying could be mentioning that if a person is too happy, he might need a sad tune to wake him up from "paradise".
-Zoë’s cousin

28 comments:

Christian said...

thank you so much zoe!
is it possible to embed the video though? just wondering...

Christian said...

Nice! you made a new label "guest post"

Christian said...

Man, our computer blocks Youtube!
Will the video being imbedded work?

Christian said...

that is the best message you ever wrote zoe... oh wait, it was written by me! ;) ;0 ;P ;o

Zoë said...

And you are welcome so much, my dear cousin!

It should be possible to embed the video; however, at the moment there is a (hopefully) temporary glitch that is preventing pictures and videos from being uploaded. Most annoying. It's probably a good thing that your computer blocks YouTube, actually. I don't know what it will do for an embedded video; it may play it, or it may only display a black rectangle where the video should be. Check back in a day or two to see how it works.

Yes, I thought there might be a good use for a "guest post" category in the near future... ;]

Christian said...

You and that elsa pic, break free zoe, let it go!

Zoë said...

{insert witty response to cousin's hilarity here}

Christian said...

that response was hilarious!

in other news, I got a 100% on my High-school literature quiz, all about poetry..

Zoë said...

Why yes it was, thank you, thank you...

Great! - Maybe we could return to the cousin blog for further non-music-related discussion?

Christian said...

Well, it looks like me and you zoe are alone on this blog...

Zoë said...

More people read it than you realize. It's just that only a very few actually comment on the blog itself.

Christian said...

they are shy I guess...

Zoë said...

"Come now, don't be shy... step into the light..."
I challenge you to place this quote! :]

Christian said...

"Oh! I have been waiting to see you all my life!"

~narnia

Zoë said...

Nope. Try another fictitious world!

Christian said...

yours must from the hobbit I presume?... so you want me to match you with a quote from the hobbit (it is worth mentionable that mine from narnia matched it)

" Augh, let me think, let me think"

Christian said...

that was a quote just now, that you need to match, along with the other one from narnia,

you are not fooling me zoe, your quote is from Smaug... too easy!

Zoë said...

"Time! Time!" - but you didn't need more time, so you couldn't use that one. :]
I recognized your first quote as one spoken to Aslan - is it from Prince Caspian (the book) where Caspian's nurse meets Aslan?
I can't place the "let me think" one.

Christian said...

it was from the hobbit movie, the riddle contest... and your quote was from smaug I presume

Zoë said...

Riddles in the Dark - my favorite chapter in the book. (Though not necessarily my favorite scene in the movie.)

Correct as usual, Uncle Friday!

Christian said...

were you going to post my other message?

Zoë said...

Perhaps. But we're already having so much fun commenting on this one - why add another before we've completely exhausted all conversation here?

Christian said...

So your friends can have a new message to read!

Zoë said...

Point taken. But perhaps I should be writing a post or two on occasion... and I don't want to wear out your creative genius by using up all your posts in the first month. Must save some for later, y'know? But perhaps I'll post your message next week.

Christian said...

Oh, If only our computer did not block CHURCH HYMNS!!! maybe I would be able to watch this video!?!?!?!?

Zoë said...

heh heh ;]
You're not missing much visually here. It's just an image of the interior of a cathedral. I do wish you could actually hear the audio that accompanies your message, though.

Christian said...

what are you doing?!?! rubbing it in! "I wish you could listen to the audio, it is so amazing"

Zoë said...

No! I didn't mean it like that!! :P
It's actually not all that amazing. In truth, it's really plain. Remarkably nondescript, if it's permissible to remark on something that deserves no description.