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Originally posted by JonBrom: How JSB takes a simple idea and wrings from it variations, inversions, mirrorings, etc. is simply astonishing; and to play them is like being inside the great man's head, for what is music ultimately but thoughts turned into sounds?
That's the obsession that's worth having.
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Originally posted by keyboardklutz: Originally posted by JonBrom: [b] How JSB takes a simple idea and wrings from it variations, inversions, mirrorings, etc. is simply astonishing; and to play them is like being inside the great man's head, for what is music ultimately but thoughts turned into sounds?
That's the obsession that's worth having. [/b]...worth having? for some people, not all. I don't consider my kind of obsession to be any less 'worthy'.
Michael
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Originally posted by JonBrom: A corollary question to which piece of music obsesses you is WHAT is it about the piece that obsesses?
Certainly the "beauty" of the piece, but that can be quite subjective. I am currently obsessed by the Bach Inventions but don't think they are "beautiful" in the normal sense. Rather, it is the brilliance of their composition that amazes and delights. How JSB takes a simple idea and wrings from it variations, inversions, mirrorings, etc. is simply astonishing; and to play them is like being inside the great man's head, for what is music ultimately but thoughts turned into sounds? When you study the score, or listen to a recording, or (especially) play the music yourself you're experiencing the consciousness of the composer when he/she wrote it. That is a thrill. I can only imagine what it must have felt like to have created it!
If this be obsession, make the most of it! It's interesting that you asked that. I've been trying to identify what it is about certain music that inspires me. There just seem to be certain sound combinations that make me swoon. I wonder if it is a personal preference to are humans wired for certain combinations of sound? I too adore playing Bach. I find his works to be beautiful, emotional and moving. There is also a clarity and somehow, a simplicity, in all the complexity. I guess I just find Bach interesting. I also love the challenge. I've been bingeing on Bach for over a year and still can't get enough.
Best regards,
Deborah
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"I too adore playing Bach. I find his works to be beautiful, emotional and moving." Quite so. Since childhood I always was dumbfounded when people would say Bach was "dry" or unemotional. UnEMOTIONal? Egads, are they not hearing the same music I am?! Well yeah, maybe so. Check out this book: http://www.amazon.com/Music-Brain-E...mp;s=books&qid=1217619129&sr=1-1 If I understand the author, because of different ways different brains process music we indeed may not be hearing the same music. To illustrate, what makes the opening theme of Beethoven's Third Symphony so thrilling is his use of C-sharp for its final note. Unless your brain retains all that has gone before, the beauty, the excitement, the "rightness" of that slightly discordant note is not preceived at all and the theme must sound banal. I thank God that my brain, lazy and derelict in so many ways, is capable of appreciating the miracle of music.
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Originally posted by JonBrom: Quite so. Since childhood I always was dumbfounded when people would say Bach was "dry" or unemotional. UnEMOTIONal? Egads, are they not hearing the same music I am?! ...of course 'they' - read 'I' - are hearing the same music as you. The point is, surely, that 'they' are not you. Some people adore 20th century atonal 'music' and even rap, for goodness sake! Anyway, to get back to the point in my op, I'm pleased that I'm not alone in being 'obsessed' with learning certain pieces of music, irrespective of who wrote them
Michael
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"I guess the - perhaps obvious! - point I'm trying to make here is that time spent trying to learn something which one doesn't really love is - at least for me - time wasted."
Fully agree. It' s dreadful to think of how much child's talent gets wasted because they are forced to work on things they don't like, but they cannot properly articulate or even identify the problem and just think that piano playing does not motivate them enough.
This is, I think, one of the main advantages of adult players: they get to choose who they want to play and will practice it with passion.
By the way, congratulations for your beautiful Schubert's piece!
"The man that hath no music in himself / Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds / Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils." (W.Shakespeare)
Kemble Conservatoire 335025 Walnut Satin
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Cruiser, you're not quite getting it.
The author's thesis is that "music" is a artifact of the brain. Its preception is completely dependent on how the brain processes the sonic input. A rabbit's ears receives the same air disturbances we call sound as yours do, but its brain does not process it the same way as mine or yours does.
In humans, the way the brain turns sound into music is enormously complex and the product of cultural experience and training as well as individual physical attributes such as memory and synapic efficiency.
Result: some people are simply not "hearing" music the same way as you are. This explains why X number of people will spend mucho $$ to hear a Horowitz while X times Y will pay as much to hear Snoop-Do.
This also explains why I once went weak in the knees and almost fell down while passing a music store in a mall wherein someone was playing the Ode to Joy on a cello and my girlfriend merely said, "That's pretty."
I'm not versed enough in neurology to vouch for the author, understand, but it does make sense.
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Piano
by Gino2 - 04/17/24 02:34 PM
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Piano
by Gino2 - 04/17/24 02:23 PM
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