source file: mills2.txt Date: Tue, 3 Dec 1996 12:07:15 -0800 Subject: Re: TUNING digest 913 From: "Adam B. Silverman" Neil said: >I will >post more later...but, here's the remedy to microdoodling: PRACTICE >YOUR AXES, AND LEARN TO PLAY WELL, AND THEN YOUR IDEAS WILL HAVE MORE >SUBSTANCE...make the music as powerful as your theories, and then we >can take over the world...thanks...Hstick Gee, Neil, that's a pretty mean thing to say. I like your tape and appreciate your good guitar skills, but to condemn music as being lousy because it doesn't "groove" or doesn't fit your _opinion_ of what "good" music is closed-minded and, if I may speak freely, a very limiting attitude which is mostly shaped by commercialism and arrogance. A very disturbing article appeared in the New York Times describing how major doctoral dissertations are not being published by college presses because they don't have "selling-potential." What is most disturbing about this is that there MUST be forums for all sorts of academic research in order for a society to progress. Here on the micro-forum, we straddle the line between creating theory that appropriately describes music, and composing music that pushes theoretical boundaries. Whether or not this music suits your tastes is no reason to trash it. I have read that Pythagoras did not listen to music, and instead studied ratios all day long. Do you know what he called this study? "Music." There is ear-music and text-music and everything in-between. Much great music was deemed "unplayable" by contemporary performers; Beethoven's chromatic parts for unvalved horn parallel much of what we deal with as microtonal composers in a world of unsuitable instruments. Hopefully someday our instruments will catch up with our ideas. As for "microdoodling," you don't list specific pieces, I assume in order to protect the composer from embarassment. I you would prefer to discuss particulars, we can take it off the list and have a private discussion. I feel that we have many fine composers on this list in every style under the sun, and you can take your pick. _________________ Adam B. Silverman 153 Cold Spring Street; A3 New Haven, CT 06511 (203) 782-1765 abs22@pantheon.yale.edu Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Tue, 3 Dec 1996 21:46 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA12019; Tue, 3 Dec 1996 21:48:03 +0100 Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA13895 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id MAA08984; Tue, 3 Dec 1996 12:47:56 -0800 Date: Tue, 3 Dec 1996 12:47:56 -0800 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu