Friday’s Lecture

Last night was an interesting time. At eight o’clock I readied for the Friday lecture entitled “Is There Great Jazz?” given by Mr. André Barbera, a tutor from Santa Fe. It was very humorous. For the first half of the lecture he expounded the various qualities of jazz music that made it distinctly not great. Throughout the lecture he would play bits of jazz recording from the earlier decades of the twentieth century, and then critique them or delve into the musical theory behind them. He lost me a few times with my limited technical knowledge, but always brought the discussion back to the point: there is no great jazz. And in its entirety the lecture was a parody of what we call “great.” At St. John’s College we read the so-called “great books” of Western thinking. The questions I walked away with were valuable. Is it technical brilliance that makes something great? Or perhaps societal consensus? Or even originality? Without a definite answer to those questions, at least deep down I know there truly is greatness. And everyone knows there truly is great jazz.

As an afterthought I would have benefited to stay for the lecturer’s discussion in the Conversation Room, but instead I went out with a few of my friends. They wanted sushi. I didn’t particularly, but I decided to go with them anyway. Everyone ordered their favorite things, but Nora and I simply had desert. She had a delicious green tea flavored ice cream and I tried some plum sorbet. Overall, my night was a fun time. Next Friday’s lecture is “On the Roots of the Political Philosophy of the Consitution.” For this one I’ll make a point to stay for the conversation afterward.