LogFAQs > #931648175

FeltMarker22 posted...

That's honestly a good point. I guess it's also true that when I say I'm interested in the musical scene during that time, I'm also coming from the perspective of an actual musician that's studied and created music for many years and understands how to orchestrate similar kinds of music.

It would be different if I only knew about the history of music but didn't have any clue on how to make anything myself, but it's possibly a slippery slope that could go either way since there are people out there who know way more musical history than I ever will but never made a melody to their name /shrug.

Edit: I realize this is mostly about specifically military history but I tried to use my experiences as a parallel to the discussion, rather than to go off on a tangent.

Doe is right one thing, that one of the problems with military history buffs is that they glorify warrior culture, and violence without critically thinking about it. For them it's "the Spartans were stronger than other Greeks because x, y, and z." That tells us nothing significant about the Spartans. How about why, and what led them to be that way? How did their economic and ideological environment foster a military ethos unfounded in other parts of Greece? What does that tell us about other city states? Why were they different? How does their utilization of violence serve as an instrument of state policy? You can go as deep and broad as you like, ultimately you will have a question that will be an impetus for your research.

Your interests are alright. I mean certainly an interest in musical history is rare, and I'd encourage you to keep reading. If you read a pop history book, fine, but hopefully you're curious enough to want to read further and get a more in-depth understanding of the subject, and hopefully formulate your own argument about these subjects. Historians spend a lot of time debating with each other. That's really what they mostly do.

I mean some people will never have the time to do this, which is okay--fine. But don't tell me you're a history buff.
rolls eyes.


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"Death is so terribly final, while life is full of possibilities."