Second only to internet posting.

Well, even Horowitz himself came out of retirement! so you're entitled to at least one, H !


Glad we're starting to laugh around here again!! (and at ourselves! "Lord, what fools these mortals be!")

Sophia

That he did! I hadn't even thought about it. Laughter is the best medicine!

Welcome back, H...can't think of a PW without you and a few others as a dependable core.

...can we please include dear Gyro when when exercising this sentiment?

Good to have you back H, although you never really went, did you? I prefer the new avatar, too.

Well, I've sworn to ignore Jyrreau, so you won't hear anything from me.

Thanks, I figgered it was time for a change. I've always loved that photograph (that is my new avatar).



Thanks!

Yeah, it's been quite a weekend. Never have I enjoyed the arrival of Monday so much!

Agreed! I normally hate Monday with a passion...

Oh My.

Not only have I been away from PianoWorld for a bit due to the holidays...but I also come late even to Horowitzian's thread.

I have participated in many fora over the years, on a wide variety of subjects. While it may not affect me personally, I have always found that, while I admire those who volunteer to moderate, and that, human nature being what it is, impartial moderation is a difficult and often heroic skill to attain and maintain, particularly when one has philosophical, cultural, or moral differences with some of those being moderated and not others...

Still, the frustration of seeing it happen generally ruins participation in the forum for me.

I do agree that


SV and I did have a dust-up at one point. Yet, over a year later he PM'd me to apologize about it and said he'd felt bad ever since (as did I).

Neither of us, obviously, suffer fools gladly, which is a poor quality to have if one frequents internet fora

I have no illusions that any prolonged absence of mine will be mourned or even noticed...but I doubt that I will be much motivated to be active in the forum for a while.

Who didn't have a dust-up with Steven? Reasonableness always prevailed though!

It would be -- and so will SV's.
This whole thing has gotten me interested to look more closely at the "Devoted to Chopin" discussion and I've been marveling at his posts. Speaking as someone who also had "dust-ups" with him, I know that thread will particularly miss him greatly.

That's putting it mildly.

So true. I remember when he called me on something. He was right about it and there were no hard feelings.

It's usually cold in cyberspace. That's why forums like this one are so valuable to so many. It offers the opportunity of connection ... of a "family" for lack of a better word. And like many "families" we can all get a little dramatic from time to time.

Are you sure?
These things can be subtle......

Oh yeah. I was pontificating on why learning how to speak the language of music first via improvisation and a chord-based approach was superior to note-reading and the classical approach. I still believe that idea but the way I said it alienated those reading that post. He said so in so many words. Of course I agreed since I posted it in the "Pianists Corner" where many classical pianists hang out.

That old chestnut. That rattled a good number of cages. So, you're a changed man? Whatayaknow!

OK, so you weren't exactly wrong.

But that's a great point, and great that you were able to be open to it. I've had to look at that myself at times (need I say) -- and it seems clear that this issue was a HUGE element in the recent whoop-de-doo. I hope that everyone (meaning everyone) who was involved in it has looked at that, or will. When people feel, "But all I said was......" they're often missing the real story.

To be honest this place often seems like the opposite to me - very uptight and haughty.

Just try to get some of the classical players here to learn to improvise, it's like pulling teeth with them!

Nah. Learned, and opinionated maybe, but not haughty. You just need to make it clear that you are open to learning new things and you should clearly separate opinion from fact and you will feel right at home. What's funny is that the ABF seemed at first to be a warm and family-like place but when I, as an adult restarter, tried to join in, I was promptly made to feel unwelcome because I was too advanced. Perception is in the mind of the beholder.