Home » Discussion Forums » Blog Post Discussion » A study in arrrgh
| A study in arrrgh [message #14186] |
Fri, 03 April 2009 20:51  |
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A study in arrrgh
Smooshes!
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| Re: A study in arrrgh [message #14192 is a reply to message #14191 ] |
Fri, 03 April 2009 23:56  |
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 blondviolinist
Messages: 1069
Registered: October 2008
Location: Midwestern United States |
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| judith wrote on Fri, 03 April 2009 22:53 |
I suppose there are shortcuts, but I drew the notes reasonably well, making the little ovals and filling them in...
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Oh, heavens! That was your first mistake... don't try to draw empty circles and fill them... give a few quick swishes with your pencil in the general shape of a note head, and let it be  My first music theory professor always said "musicians are inherently lazy," so try to do everything with as few strokes of the pen as possible  If you get a chance to look at actual manuscripts, the note heads are usually 1. very small, 2. more or less just slashes in the place where note heads should be, or 3. carefully copied out slowly by someone who was not paid enough money to do what they did.
And no, it's not as fast as writing words. But there's actually a *lot* more information going on the page. If you ever have the misfortune to work with musical software, you'll get an indication of just how incredibly, insanely complex musical notation is. It's really truly nuts! (Says the girl who's presently working on an edition of a violin concerto for a graduate class. Expect much whining about Finale.)
"Purity of heart is to will one thing." Kirkegaard
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| Re: A study in arrrgh [message #14194 is a reply to message #14186 ] |
Sat, 04 April 2009 00:08 |
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blondviolinist
Messages: 1069
Registered: October 2008
Location: Midwestern United States |
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Also because I want to hear something I wrote going BRRRROOOOOONG on a real live organ. I’m so shallow.
That's not being shallow, that's being a musician 
I have an automatic allergic reaction to anyone who is hailed as any kind of Singular Ultimate Genius
Yes, I know what you mean. I had that reaction until I started playing his unaccompanied violin works. (Oh, I take that back... it was the Concerto for Two Violins that changed my mind.) It's incredible what he does with four strings and four fingers. They're so musically rich, I can get lost in them for hours.
To prevent allergic reactions to Bach, I tend to stay away from generic descriptions of him, or gushy program notes. I also like his biography, remembering that he was considered this backwoods old fogey, composing lots of music in out-moded styles. The people who hired him at his last (and longest-held) job spent a lot of time wishing they'd hired someone else. Even his son remembered him best as an organist, and pretty much glossed over the whole composing thing. Makes me laugh... we put these people on pedestals, and their whole lives they were dealing with the same kind of issues we deal with: money and family trouble and job relations and sick hellhounds... (well, Bach probably didn't have hellhounds. He had choir boys, though. They might have been worse.)
"Purity of heart is to will one thing." Kirkegaard
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| Re: A study in arrrgh [message #14198 is a reply to message #14186 ] |
Sat, 04 April 2009 03:49 |
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Diane in MN
Messages: 2730
Registered: October 2008
Location: Twin Cities, MN, USA |
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Also because I want to hear something I wrote going BRRRROOOOOONG on a real live organ. I’m so shallow.
No--you're enthused!
This is perhaps another of those markers of the society we live in, where creativity is suspect, and both elite and elitist, and flourishing one’s endeavours along creative lines is in poor taste
Creativity has a history of being suspect in a lot of societies, but ours makes it much worse by using "elite" and "elitist" as pejoratives, and resenting the flourishing of much of anything. I'm not sure whether this attitude comes from the small-minded equation of elite status with snobbery, or just from the general dumbing-down that's been going on for decades, but it's distressing.
"The point of books is to have way too many but to always feel you never have enough . . . " Louise Erdrich
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| Re: A study in arrrgh [message #14203 is a reply to message #14186 ] |
Sat, 04 April 2009 07:54 |
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Black Bear
Messages: 3216
Registered: September 2008
Location: Indianapolis, IN USA |
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I still kind of resist Bach (JS, of course, the Bach) simply because I have an automatic allergic reaction to anyone who is hailed as any kind of Singular Ultimate Genius.
I never took music history or music theory; my own preferences for composers and styles as an adult seems completely driven by what I liked PLAYING as a violist from ages 10-22 or so. I wasn't aware Bach inspired this kind of gushing from people who Know About Music! All I know is that Brandenburg #3 was my very favorite thing I ever played, and therefore it's one of my very favorite things to listen to, and other composers who remind me of Bach are also in the favorite category. Strauss, on the other hand, was horrific for viola (my standmate used to say she couldn't wait to get to heaven so she could track down Strauss and punch him in the eye.) And 19th-20th c composers, with few exceptions, didn't seem FUN for me to play, and therefore I never really got into listening to them.
Blondviolinist, are your preferences as a listener and an instrumentalist parallel? Or are there things you love to hear on CD that would make you go, "Oh, bleh" if you had to play them?
"The time is always right to do what's right."--MLK Jr.
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| Re: A study in arrrgh [message #14205 is a reply to message #14203 ] |
Sat, 04 April 2009 08:39 |
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Susan from Athens
Messages: 817
Registered: October 2008
Location: Athens, Greece |
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| Black Bear wrote on Sat, 04 April 2009 14:54 |
All I know is that Brandenburg #3 was my very favorite thing I ever played, and therefore it's one of my very favorite things to listen to, and other composers who remind me of Bach are also in the favorite category.
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I love listening to Bach's instrumental music (I haven't got into his cantatas or much of his organ music, but figure, hey, there's still plenty of time ahead of me and I now appreciate things that I wouldn't have listened to five years ago, so down the road my tastes will continue to evolve). If you're so fond of the Brandenburgs have you heard Il Giardino Armonico's version? I find it particularly attractive, joyful music-making.
“I have always imagined heaven to be a kind of library.” –Jorge Luis Borges
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| Re: A study in arrrgh [message #14208 is a reply to message #14203 ] |
Sat, 04 April 2009 09:35 |
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blondviolinist
Messages: 1069
Registered: October 2008
Location: Midwestern United States |
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| Black Bear wrote on Sat, 04 April 2009 07:54 |
Blondviolinist, are your preferences as a listener and an instrumentalist parallel? Or are there things you love to hear on CD that would make you go, "Oh, bleh" if you had to play them?
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Hmm, I was going to quickly say "yes, listening and playing are parallel!" but it's actually not true. Everything that I love playing I also love listening to, but there are a few things that I'd rather listen to than play. Johann Strauss drives me nuts to play (especially playing 2nd violin, where the section gets a very bad case of the "boom-chuck-chucks.") I also hate playing Wagner on principle: if a composer is going to give the violinists nearly impossible notes, the least he could do out of courtesy is not cover our sound with fifty-six brass players, so no one in the audience realizes we're working our tails off! (Wagner is my example of a composer that I must dislike because of his "Singular Ultimate Genius" status. Blech!) But I'll actually listen fairly happily to both J. Strauss and Wagner, at least their operas. Just don't make me play their music. Jazz violin is another example of music I like to listen to, but don't need to play.
(Black Bear, were you complaining about Johann Strauss, or Richard Strauss? And did you ever get to play much Brahms? He writes incredibly lovely viola parts.)
Oh, also... I tend not to listen to "classical" or "art" music when I'm not playing it, or listening in preparation for a performance. I love that music, and I spend hours every day practicing and performing it. But for that very reason, I don't tend to put it on the stereo when I'm relaxing... it's too much like work. I tend to play CDs or radio stations with musical genres far removed from my own
"Purity of heart is to will one thing." Kirkegaard
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| Re: A study in arrrgh [message #14214 is a reply to message #14186 ] |
Sat, 04 April 2009 15:47 |
CaptainNancyBlackett
Messages: 4
Registered: April 2009
Location: Lexington, Massachusetts |
Junior Member |
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On creative overachieving and specialization:
It's very hard to be creative in more than one way in high school and middle school. A lot of it is time restraints; you can't paint the sets for the musical as well as be in it, simply because the technical crew and the cast meet at the same time to do their separate things. And there are only seven-ish hours in our days for classes, and only about two of them are electives. Those include all music, arts, and any other classes that aren't cores: debate, extra history classes, and others. That means that sometimes it is impossible to do all the artsy things we want to. If you can fit Concert Choir, you might not fit photography into your schedule.
I haven't found that any of us are discouraged from doing more than one field though. Our art and English teachers are usually very supportive, and if you really want to do something, it's usually possible to get into.
A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world. -Oscar Wilde
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| Re: A study in arrrgh [message #14218 is a reply to message #14208 ] |
Sat, 04 April 2009 16:04 |
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Black Bear
Messages: 3216
Registered: September 2008
Location: Indianapolis, IN USA |
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It's Johann, with the waltzes, right? 2nd violin and viola have much the same problem, endless repeats of the same two afterbeats; I love the little symbol that means "repeat this measure 60 times." My standmate, she of the aforementioned punch-him-in-heaven story, actually had our conductor rewrite the lead violin parts of our entire Strauss waltz book in alto clef. I, not being particularly talented, stuck to the afterbeats.
(The orchestra I was in was part of the local Turners club--the Turners are a German-American organization, for those who've not encountered them--and Strauss waltzes were a STAPLE of every event we played for. We each had an ancient crumbling booklet containing all of them, and played at least 2 per event. Unavoidable.)
"The time is always right to do what's right."--MLK Jr.
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| Re: A study in arrrgh [message #14236 is a reply to message #14234 ] |
Sat, 04 April 2009 20:08 |
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| Black Bear wrote on Sat, 04 April 2009 19:58 |
| Robin wrote on Sat, 04 April 2009 19:48 |
REPEAT THIS MEASURE 60 TIMES? ARE YOU *SERIOUS*???
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I'm afraid so, yes. This is not even me being my ludicrously exaggerative self--it's a little symbol like a percent sign, with the number 60 (or 32, or 12, or eleventy eight) above it. Violas get the shaft in Strauss. So do the cellos, frankly, they're doing the downbeats of those same "oom pa pa"s.
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I know you've seen the Pachebel Rant.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM&eurl=
But you just made me think of that.
Smooshes!
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| Re: A study in arrrgh [message #14237 is a reply to message #14186 ] |
Sat, 04 April 2009 20:13 |
skating librarian
Messages: 571
Registered: October 2008
Location: Vermont |
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I met a painter today whose work is meticulous (botanical illustration) and incredibly evocative of places, atmosphere, moods (landscapes in oils). I was blown away that everything in the show had been done in 2008 or 2009. When I mentioned it to her, she admitted that she does nothing else.
I was stunned when she said she doesn't even garden. I mentioned this particular post, and the writer who is a gardener, hellhound wrangler, bell ringer, a budding composer who is branching out into organ music, and a daily blogger. Two really different approaches to creativity ... and both successful. Hmmmmm.
As for me, I would be long dead if I hadn't discovered gardening and wandering outdoors as a child ... or a love of reading.
Today the main garden is under water (or totally saturated), it's raw, and it felt okay to design a small quilt based on Charles Rennie MacKintosh roses. Let's see if I find time to advance from drawings to fabric and sewing. (LOL)
"Winning a war is like winning an earthquake" Jeanette Rankin
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| Re: A study in arrrgh [message #14249 is a reply to message #14236 ] |
Sat, 04 April 2009 22:27 |
Nurse Jane
Messages: 12
Registered: November 2008
Location: Indiana |
Junior Member |
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TOO Funny!!
When in trouble or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.
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| Re: A study in arrrgh [message #14251 is a reply to message #14249 ] |
Sat, 04 April 2009 22:38 |
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| Nurse Jane wrote on Sat, 04 April 2009 22:27 |
TOO Funny!!
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Seriously, it kills me every time.
Smooshes!
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| Re: A study in arrrgh - specialization and creativity [message #14253 is a reply to message #14186 ] |
Sat, 04 April 2009 23:30 |
kolokolchiki
Messages: 47
Registered: November 2008
Location: Michigan, USA |
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** Which makes the whole specialist thing even dumber
While doing my secondary teaching certs (MI, USA), I took in class about exceptionality, in which the one exceptionality precludes others myth was soundly debunked. Creative people are creative period. They will apply this creativity to any medium for which they have the basic knowledge and about which they care a fig.
My student teaching at a small school (<100 per graduating class) confirmed this debunking. The editor of the newspaper was also leader of her section in the band and a senior member of the cheer squad. Some other students also excelled in multiple spheres. Many just dabbled in multiple spheres, and that's great, too.
Robin, I am inspired the roles that learning and creativity play in your life (or at least your blog-reported life). I am in awe of the sheer number of things you do and that you started doing them in adulthood. Often, I think adults say to ourselves, "Well, in order to be any good at horses (music, languages, tatting) you should have started when you were like 6, so why bother now?" Feh. "Because I want to" should be answer enough.
So, having been a reader of this blog for a while, I am uncrossing some things off my list. I am going to finish the quilt my great-grandmother started. I am going to wrap my cellists brain around the balalaika. I am going to sell photographs. It's about appropriately apportioning the spoons. (Did I get that metaphor right?)
[Updated on: Sat, 04 April 2009 23:46]
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| Re: A study in arrrgh - Bach [message #14254 is a reply to message #14186 ] |
Sat, 04 April 2009 23:44 |
kolokolchiki
Messages: 47
Registered: November 2008
Location: Michigan, USA |
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But . . . it may just be my supreme naivete about music but . . . I find him astonishing in ways I do not find Shakespeare astonishing. The thing that always re-confounds me when I’m forced to look at some Bach close up, as opposed to letting it wash over me as a pleasant sound from Radio Three, is how modern his use of harmonic progression is: <snippage> It’s like this direct line from then to now; I respond to his deceptively simple lines and patterns viscerally–<snippage>–and run home again all fired up to keep composing. There’s a particular brand of greatness here, it seems to me: genius is often way too intimidating. You know that Bach’s music is deceptively ’simple.’ It still invites you in, and tells you to bring your manuscript paper and your pencil.
I have a very similar reaction to Bach (except for the inspired to compose bit, I've never felt that). But I can honestly say I've never met a piece by Bach that I didn't like. When I play one of the classical composers, Mozart, say, I feel like I'm playing the Parthenon. It's all triangles balanced on columns, symmetrical and geometric. Bach has pattern, but it is much less rigid and linear. Bach is more me than Mozart is. I also love Vivaldi.
[Updated on: Sun, 05 April 2009 00:20]
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| Re: A study in arrrgh [message #14264 is a reply to message #14251 ] |
Sun, 05 April 2009 13:30 |
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Black Bear
Messages: 3216
Registered: September 2008
Location: Indianapolis, IN USA |
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That guy's bats. The violas, at least in the arrangement of Pachebel's Canon in D that I had to play, are doing the "plink plink plunk *pause* plink plink plunk *pause*" over and over. It's sixteenth notes, admittedly, not quarters, but when you're going that slowly, it's not all that exciting. Plus it's pizzicato, but you still have to be holding your bow for some stupid reason, some long note at the end or something, I don't remember. Bleh. But I do still like that piece, so maybe that's my exception to the 'I don't listen to it if I'd hate playing it' rule.
"The time is always right to do what's right."--MLK Jr.
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| Re: A study in arrrgh [message #14269 is a reply to message #14186 ] |
Sun, 05 April 2009 14:30 |
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Heh, I've never been more than mostly indifferent to Bach, really. I adore playing (and listening to) Wagner. And Holst. And various other rawr-Brass! composers. Might have something to do with being a brass player, though.
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| Re: A study in arrrgh [message #14296 is a reply to message #14251 ] |
Sun, 05 April 2009 18:56 |
Nurse Jane
Messages: 12
Registered: November 2008
Location: Indiana |
Junior Member |
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My sister wanted to know why I was laughing so hard...then she almost fell off her chair as she watched it. It is now in my favorites and sis and I each have musical friends we want to share this with. I love greeky humor! No meaness, no profanity, just funny,funny observations about humans and the world!
When in trouble or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.
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| Re: A study in arrrgh [message #14337 is a reply to message #14186 ] |
Sun, 05 April 2009 22:08 |
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hey, i just noticed that robin has a title. it is very appropriate.way to go.
Bonnie Holmes the faster ahead I go, the more behind I get
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