I am trying to learn more about music and the like in my free time, and I have a really nice beginner’s college text that, naturally, uses pieces of music to illustrate the concepts in play. Since this is a library book, I don’t have access to the cd-rom that is meant to accompany the text. However, I have been using YouTube to listen to the clips I am supposed to learn from, and it’s fine, to some degree. The MOOCers may have a point–all that stuff is online and free, and why not use it?

But…and this is proving to be a large objection for me…every time I fire up a clip to listen to, I have to sit through the advertising. Again and again. I never really minded YouTube advertising until I started to want to compare one piece to another…only to have to listen to HEY YOU, BUT THIS THING in the middle of the listening/learning/comparing experience.

Maybe I should do that in my classes. Yes, I know, we are taking about MLK’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail and Bonhoeffer’s Letters from Prison, but hey, let’s take a moment to hear from our sponsors…

Eyugh.

Anyway, I am trying to learn about changing meter from this bit here. Sorry for the stupid ad.