[Dixielandjazz] What they teach in college these days...

[LARRY'S Signs and Large Format Printing]

Exploring new sounds is great providing you have mastered the old sounds
first.
Larry
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike C." <mike at michaelcryer.com>
To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2005 9:13 AM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] What they teach in college these days...


> What's wrong with exploring new ideas and sounds? I mean, in order for
> music to progress and go forward new sounds and ideas have to be
> explored and anaylzed.
>
> Mike
>
>
>
> Bill Gunter wrote:
>
> > Listmates:
> >
> > Ed Danielson posted (regarding an unusual piano performance):
> >
> >> This can't possibly be good for the piano.
> >
> >
> > and he included the URL to share it:
> >
> > http://www.coloradocollege.edu/Dept/MU/bowedpiano.html
> >
> > I looked it up and gave the accompanying mp3 file a listen.
> >
> > It may be harder on the ears than it is on the piano!
> >
> > It's quite weird, which is in keeping with the young
> > inquisitive/creative mind which tends to operate on the theory that
> > "the weirder it is the more profound it is."
> >
> > I'd hum a few bars of the composition for you, but I'm afraid that
> > "melody" is something that tends to get dropped in such creatiions as
> > this.
> >
> > While not quite as weird as Cage's 4'33" it does capture a bit of the
> > feeling of his Concerto for Prepared Piano.
> >
> > Also, it isn't what you'd call particularly "danceable" - unless
> > you're into ballet where virtually anything can be interpreted
> > choreographically.
> >
> > When I'm exposed to stuff like this and told that the performers are
> > exploring the frontiers of music or some such whimsey I tend to get a
> > case of the giggles.
> >
> > I mean, after all -- if music is nothing more than the noises that may
> > (or may not) be intentionally prresented to us by somebody or some
> > thing then "music" has no meaning which is definable other than
> > "something you can or can't hear."
> >
> > Where does this leave Beethoven's symphonies, Bach's fugues. Where
> > does this leave our concepts of "musicianship" - where does this leave
> > the discipline of music?  It all just becomes part of the surrounding
> > aural ambience or, in other words, just another form of "noise."
> >
> > That means we now need a special bracket into which we can place our
> > traditional concepts of music.  And woe to any ignorant peasant who,
> > in his bigoted and arrogant way, regards random noises generated by
> > arbitrary racket producing contraptions as "doo doo!"
> >
> > If I were to be stranded on the proverbial desert island I think I'd
> > take the collected works of Chopin rather than the collected works of
> > John Cage!
> >
> > What would you take?
> >
> > Respectfully submitted,
> >
> > Bill "Have mercy on my eardrums" Gunter
> > jazzboard at hotmail.com
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
> > http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz
> >
> >
>
> -- 
>
>
> "There will never come a time when you won't have to practice anymore."
> - J.J Johnson (1924-2001)
>
>
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