Daily Connotations

Daily Connotations

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Connotation. 1. a. The configuration of suggestive or associative implications consitiuting the general sense of an abstract espression beyond its literal, explicit sense. b. A secondary meaning suggested by a word in addition to its literal meaning. 3. Logic The total of the attributes constituting the meaning of a term.

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Disclaimer: Any opinions contained on this page are those of, well, we don't really know who. Any offense taken to anything present should be directed to Sven, who will file and ignore your comments. Praise or compliments can be directed to either Dr. N, Dr. What, or Dr. Olga. All plagarized material has been tested and deemed satisfactory according to the esteemed code of Lehrer, version 2.3.
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Sven Bjorn Borg: Sven has been with d-con since its humble beginnings, and is responsible for punctuating, finances, guarding the office from rabid dogs and loud noises, and acting as mediator amongst the other members. Dr. Borge is well-known as the world's foremost (and perhaps only) underwater-basket-weaving expert. Sven has recently published no less than 3 books, Klingon Grammar and Vocabulary for humans, Life among the Grapes, and Escher, Bach, Gödel: A gigantic elastic bungalow. In it's copious spare time, the Sven enjoys playing the harpsichord and diagramming sentences. Sven is Chief of Staff and Director of Intelligence in the UPICN,LLC.
Dr. Bob William "The Orange" Lavoisier a.k.a. Dr. Henry Parsons: Dr. N, as we like to call him, is officially the initiator of the Daily Connotations Company, and also holds important Offices in the VVIIPP society of America and The Department of Redundancy Department, which is a place where he holds an important office in the department of redundancy. Henry also spent a good deal of his life studying the behavior of Walruses (Walri?) in the wild, inspired by a long-running correspondence with Mr. J. Lennon, who, in fact, convinced "The Orange" that he was, in fact, a walrus. Dr. Parsons' curriculum vitae is rounded out by his extensive family history (including a brother, Alan), and double Ph.D. honors in Botany and the Study of Scandinavian Languages. Recently, Dr. Henry Parsons was elected president of the UPICN,LLC
The Doctor a.k.a. Dr. What??: Dr. What joins us now as a member of d-Con in very good standing. It is important that the doctor not be confused with his slightly-more-popular brother, Doctor Who, who has carved a niche for himself in the field of time travel. Dr. What never developed the talent for time travel, and has the ability to visit only two distinct temporal locations: The beheading of John the Baptist and that one time when Stanley met Livingstone (or was it Livingstone met Stanley?) Consequently, he spends much of his time knitting (the scarves, natch) on the planet Gallifrey whilst (and at the same time) contemplating Nietzschean philosophies and memorizing much of Immanuel Kant's work, both in the original German.
Dr. Phelealabean: Dr. Phelealabean also uses the alias Dr. Olga Olathe Parsons-Uhlmer. Dr. Parsons-Uhlmer is a sister to Henry and Alan. She has a dual honorary doctorate in Arabian Literature and Language. She also has teaching experience at the University of Rekjavik which was held in a small grass-covered hut. She iswidowed after an incident involving her husband and abandonment which she is not allowed to discuss pending criminal charges. Now that she is alone, she enjoys spending summers with her brother, Henry, in his summer home, The Parsonon.

4.30.2004

In praise of the music of Sesame Steet

C is for cookie. . .I don't want to live on the moon. . .Sunny Day! Everything's A-OK

Face it: Most people under the age of 35 watched Sesame Street as kids. And a surprisingly large number of people continue to watch it even after the age of 12. And why not? The early episodes especially are crammed with cultural allusions, guest stars, and humor obviously aimed far over the heads of toddlers.

But the ultimate reason people watch and remember Sesame Street more fondly than any other kids show (with the notable exception of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood) is the amazing musicianship evident in the show's songs. Sesame Street Songs are lyrically well-crafted and musically fun - easy enough to appeal to young children but with complex enough accompaniment that adults can stand hearing it more than once. (Need I mention the Barney song here?)

Some studies have shown that our brains are able to identify, recognize, and sort sounds far before our other senses are fully developed. Music provides ORGANIZED sound - sort of a training ground (Or, in the case of Sesame Street, a playground) for young minds just learning how to categorize sounds.

Far before you ever ran into nasty things in Music Theory (capitalized to indicate a sort of professional stuffiness often associated with German Classical Composers): Rests and quasiquavers, diminished sixths and augmented fourths, Phrygian & Ionian modes, . . .etc., your brain learned basic concepts - without the verbal connections (If you happen to be one of those Right Brain/Left Brain people, place this activity in the right brain). You can detect high and low, loud and soft, short and long - and not just separately, but together; and you learn which combination of tone and pitch and volume means Dad's voice and which combination of tone and pitch and volume means Mom's voice and what sounds are like when they are coming from happy people or mad people. Somehow, even people who frantically claim that their ears aren't musically trained can interpret the sounds by the emotional response they generate.

And what has this all to do with Sesame street?

Not much, I guess. Just sort of an odd connection between early childhood exposure to music and mental development.

I certainly don't want to leave off this essay about Sesame street music without giving proper credit to the people behind the music, all of them, but most specifically Jim Henson, who had a wild dream and a frog for a friend and somehow made it all work out.

And now, for a rousing rendition. . .

Rubber duckie, you're the one. . .!

oops! Sorry

--Posted by s. on Friday, April 30, 2004.