In Search of a Masterpiece – Why Backups Matter

Every now and then, I get a wild hair to go through those dusty boxes under my bed. They are filled with all sorts of odds and ends . . . office supplies I bought a decade ago that will someday become useful, floppy disks that must have some sort of crucial, world changing documents on them, and random cds I’ve collected from cute college aged guitar players I thought were cute when tipsy from too many Shiners on a random weeknight on the patio of some local bar. We all have dusty boxes like those under my bed.

With this menagerie of eclectic treasures collected through my years, there has to be something of worth, or at least sentimental value. Indeed, I was looking for one of those very things today: a paper I wrote in 2004. During the four years of avoiding a thesis and working double shifts at Olive Garden, I was taking some interesting courses on my bumpy road to receive my Masters in Music History. And I’ll admit, I was a horrible student, skipping classes often (and even refusing to turn in certain assignments and papers I considered “busy work”), but seminar courses always seemed to capture my attention. The subject matters for the seminars were always magnificently specific and my interest in the fine details of the classes were always matched by my fear of being called on for an opinion in a class of fewer than six people.

In the Spring of 2004, I took a seminar course with Dr. Robin Wallace on the symphonic tradition of Beethoven. Dr. Wallace is a leading scholar on the critical reception of Beethoven’s music and he brought the goods twice a week between 2:00-3:30 pm. And to enjoy the music and chat, I had Tim by my side. And that’s it. Yes, you did the math correctly. An hour and a half grooving to Master B with an expert and a fellow struggling grad student.

The majority of our assignments and papers were focused on analyzing Beethoven’s nine symphonies and then focusing on the struggles of later musicians to compose within the symphonic tradition with the great legend and his work looming over them. And yes, the presence was intimidating, with several books explaining the frustrations of great Romantic composers wrestling with writing a symphony in the shadow of the giant. Tim and I cruised through the semester, knowing our big assignment awaited. Dr. Wallace had left no surprises in the syllabus: we were to each write a paper about a musical work that relied on the symphonic tradition of Ludwig von B.

I remember the paper Tim wrote because I still have it. Tucked in a section of a very large 3-ring notebook is Tim’s paper. I really don’t know why I saved it, especially since it led to one of the most awkward classes of our semester. Tim compared Beethoven’s symphonic tradition to one of Beethoven’s own works, the short orchestral piece Wellington’s Victory. A word of advice here. Never write a paper comparing Beethoven to Beethoven for a professor who is an expert on all things Beethoven. It might be a solid paper, but you’re going to get grilled.

Of course, I took the road less travelled and compared Beethoven to the Beatles. Specifically, the Beatles’ “concept album” Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and a few of Beethoven’s symphonies. The problem is, I can’t remember what symphonic techniques I used as comparisons, or even what symphonies I referenced in the paper. I do remember Dr. Wallace liking the paper and getting an A on the document itself, but I have no proof. The dusty boxes held nothing but a collection of random handouts from seminars and courses from grad work along with a zip drive that held tons of pictures of 30 lbs slimmer me and horrible attempts at writing resumes.

Let’s get some facts straight. Sgt. Pepper isn’t a concept album. And, it’s an average Beatles album when you take into consideration epics like Rubber Soul, Revolver, and the White Album. So, I probably don’t agree with the concepts defended in my paper, because of course, I’m older and wiser now (and besides A Day in the Life, the song writing isn’t that great on the album). But, I really would love to go back and see how I argued my paper and relish in the fact that a Beethoven scholar once gave me an A on a major research project.

The world has changed since 2004. I think I’m on my third or fourth computer since then, and I’ve moved from floppy disks and compact discs to zip drives and the cloud. But one thing remains true. ALWAYS save a hard copy of your work. I managed to remember that when completing my thesis (I think I have 4-5 hard copies in those dusty boxes), but sadly, my 2004 opus along with all my Bob Dylan papers from undergrad are lost in the ether. Fortunately, I can tell people how brilliant I was and they have no way to prove I’m wrong. But sometimes, you need confirmation that Zappa’s Freak Out! would have been a better subject than John, Paul, George and Ringo’s revolutionary, yet not so conceptual album. Maybe I’ll write that paper when I’m 64.

Written by Jonathan Greer, singer and Administrator of the Verdigris Ensemble. For more information, please visit verdigrismusic.org.