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Joined: Oct 2000
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veteran
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veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
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I sure wish I got as much out of music as Wordwind doesI reckon it just depends on context, boronia. Not all classical music (for instance) appeals to or moves even the most ardent classical music fan. And Beethoven's 5th, for instance, isn't always going to be the right music for some occasions - it could even leave you cold. But think about scenes from films - sorry, movies - that have moved you (whether to laughter or tears). Then think about the background music for those scenes, and how big a part that played in your reaction. Then, when listening to a piece of classical music, you could try imagining the movie that would go with it. One of my favourite classical pieces used to be The Moldau by Smetana, which is very much intended to be "visual". It tells the story of the river, from tinkling streams to a grand, wide old river rolling through the capital city, via moonlit forests (complete with dancing fairies) and dangerous rapids. Great stuff for simple minds like mine 
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Joined: Sep 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Hey, Fish...you wrote, "One of my favourite classical pieces used to be The Moldau by Smetana..." Used to be. Hmmm. That's interesting to me. It used to be one of my favorites when I was in my early twenties. No longer. I don't listen to that one anymore, and, if it's on NPR, I tend to turn it off. Same with others, too, like "The Nutcracker." Not that I would mind going to the ballet with a couple of grandchildren to show them that first, magical joy--but, no. Certain of the warhorses don't do much for me anymore, but others have held on since first hearing. Tchaikovsky wasn't too crazy about "The Nutcracker" either, from what I've read, and wasn't happy that people associated that work so strongly with him at the sacrifice of other works he knew had been better in his judgment. Don't have any idea how Smetana judged his "Moldau." I've heard a few musicians talk about being sick and tired of playing Dvorak's "The New World Symphony," including my daughter, but I still like that one a great deal.
And Boronia: I was very lucky. When I was a small child, I heard "Moonlight Sonata," the famous second movement, in some television broadcast of an old movie. I heard probably eight bars of that music--raised in a home of Blue Grass music and Big Bands--and I knew in that sonata I'd found myself. Instant recognition of who I was--and I was very, very young. Not that I don't appreciate other kinds of music, but they're more like meeting different kinds of people who are charming for different reasons. In classical music (term broadly applied here), I'm connected directly to whatever touches me most deeply. And it's pretty great getting to hear people talk about whatever touches them most deeply in music, no matter what the style is. It's the enthusiasm people show for music that I love.
One thing's for sure: A lot of these classical works I love hold up well to multiple hearings. I choose a movement of something remarkable each week for my kids at school (K-5) to listen to at the beginning of each music lesson. It usually lasts between 7 and 10 minutes--whichever movement I choose. Anyway, that's about 29 classes a week for me, and 29 hearings of whatever I've chosen, usually six times a day for that chosen movement. I've found that to be one of the biggest perks of my profession--the excuse to listen to orchestral or chamber music repeatedly and to become very intimate with it by the end of the week. The new things I hear in these multiple hearings really do make my introductory comments to the kids at week's end a bit richer than the ones I'd made at week's beginning. And what a gift to hear the commentary of small children upon hearing these works for the first time! I had one small child last year named John. His were ears listening always for timpani. If there was a timpani section at all in anything we listened to, his whole face would lighten up, he'd catch my eye, smile, and point to the speakers. I knew he'd just heard the timpani, and for some probably deep spiritual reason, they always spoke to him. I told his parents they might consider gving him drumming lessons.
Beat regards,
WW
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Joined: Jul 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Bill:
Then I woul dbe following in the footsteps of my late father, Four-Eyes Remington. He spent 37 years as a major league umpire, beloved by no one, reviled by all. Casey Stengel kicked dirt on his shoes, Roger Maris disparaged his lineage, and hundreds of thousands of fans booed his calls.
But he loved it. "There are balls and there are strikes, but there ain't NOTHIN' till I say if they are balls or strikes." Power, absolute power, was his aphrodisiac. I was born nine months to the day after the famous 1946 World Series.
Anyway, one day Pop lost his glasses after the last game of a series at Yankee Stadium. Without them he was stone blind, and he began to wander around the stadium searching for his glasses. Alas, he fell over a railing and died instantly when he hit the roof of the visiting team dugout. I have just finished his biography, The Decline and Fall of the Roaming Umpire.
TEd
TEd
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Joined: Feb 2001
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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Posts: 387 |
I play the double bass. I've found that we bass players all despise the rest of the orchestra. We have good reason, too. Their instruments are inferior.
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear jtd: just to tease you a bit, "inferior" means "lower". Not many instruments are lower
than the double bass.
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Joined: Sep 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I play the double bass. I've found that we bass players all despise the rest of the orchestra. We have good reason, too. Their instruments are inferior.
Ha! Never realized the deep, dark passion of bassists! Thanks for this insight.
By the way, who is the best bassist in the world? The one who says he can make his bass sound like any instrument in the world?
Thanks for his name. I would really like to buy some of his recordings this summer, and all I can remember about him is what he said he could do with his bass. Fascinating. And I hope it's true!
Bass regards,
WW
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Joined: Jun 2002
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Carpal Tunnel
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formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear etaoin: Because of my deafness, which also makes all music sound out ot tune, I gave up listening to music quite a few years ago. But I used to love all kinds of string music, especially cellists. So I had never heard of Edgar Meyer, but his URL makes it clear he is one of the very best: http://www.sonyclassical.com/artists/meyer/adbio.html
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Joined: Mar 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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By the way, who is the best bassist in the world?
Jack Bruce...?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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You guys are one big collective tease! First ya talk about the educational *value of music, then it's about perfect pitch (BTW - I've refrained from YARTing consuelo and ofTroy cause all the newbies around 'ere), then yous drive a steak through words and music, you ponder personal emotional relationships, and then (good to see you jimthedog) start pontificating the Bass Player. What's next? A discussion on the relative value of the music of Allan Holdsworth?
Meanwhile, after 16 innings of play, the Cubs won 5-4 after a deep fly was hit, the outfielder momentarilly caught the ball, but subsequently ran full stride into the Ivy covered brick wall and dropped the ball.
It looked and sounded good and bad at the same time!
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