BS: What music means to me/you

Subject: BS: What music means to me/you
From: Donuel
Date: 31 Mar 24 - 01:28 PM

Music penetrated my soul as a child like some kind of, mysterious magic. Much of that magic came from an old phonograph. Radio and TV came in second. Ihad no choir experience since my family was secular. An album called Cello Colours fascinated me that a string could turn into many different worlds, When it came time to pick an instrument in school I was determined to play saxophone.
"We don't have any more saxophones" were the blunt words from the teacher. There was a brief attempt to equate a sax with a cello since that was one of few instruments left. Coming home with this big thing attracted the block bully so the cello and bow was disassembled but not destroyed. It wasn't long before I could make a string sing but it did not solve the question of the inner magic of music. It wasn't long before I knew I had no talent in understanding key signatures and complex rhythms.

Playing in orchestras I was just one cog in a gear of a huge clock all directed and powered by a conductor. Each conductor conveyed a small bit of magic be it the golden silence of a rest or the delicacy of quiet. By the time I was in music school I knew I saw music as magic was because of a lack of innate talent. The top of the pyramid was the conductor composer and the lowest foundation stone was the orchestra player. I got to sit in with some world-class orchestras but never became a professional. I even got to be in some choirs after solfege training. There are few sensations of such profound unity as experienced in music groups.

In a couple of decades I got to meet some amazing conductors that I still equate with the grand wizards of music.

I still feel the magic even if its The Walk of Life, whisper of a thrill soundtrack or a phrase by Mahler.

Subject: RE: BS: What music means to me/you
From: Donuel
Date: 31 Mar 24 - 09:35 PM

Hip Hop and rap 'music' has its roots in operatic recitative and in modern American music by Meredith Wilson in my opinion. Recall the musical Music Man when salesmen on a train spoke rhythmicly in rhyme that in turn resembled the sounds of a train.

Subject: RE: BS: What music means to me/you
From: The Sandman
Date: 01 Apr 24 - 03:17 AM

For me it is a form of expression.

Subject: RE: BS: What music means to me/you
From: Mrrzy
Date: 01 Apr 24 - 10:51 AM

I was never as into music as I felt I ought to have been, as a hippie. Sex and drugs, sure; rock and roll, not so much.

Subject: RE: BS: What music means to me/you
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Apr 24 - 04:02 AM

Music without disharmony loses its magic, its mystery.
In science music of the spheres was a meme. Today particles like notes are defined more by their relationship with other particles and waves than by themselves.

Subject: RE: BS: What music means to me/you
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 05 Apr 24 - 07:03 AM

I'm trying to remember whether it was Plato, Socrates or Archimedes who claimed to be able to hear the music of the spheres, which those around him couldn't. I suffer from that too, but I know it's tinnitus.

Meanwhile, back at the subject, music has multiple meanings for me:

* The carrier wave on which beautiful words can happen. Sadly, if the tune's good, I often miss the words, and Herself accuses me of going deaf.

* The background on TV shows or films, which covers studio noises-off*, and tells me the mood of the moment. If it's obvious, it's not doing its job right, or it's an extra character (who may be a joker: "dum dum *daaa*", or "badum tish", or the sudden silence after "Knock it off, Addams" towards the end of the first Addams Family film).

I'll skip over hold muzak, which I've ranted about elsewhere, and which methinks would be deemed off-thread.

* In the Beeb's tapes of I CLAVDIVS, what little music there is is in the foreground. I find the soft rumble of the studio air conditioning has the "once heard, never inaudible" nature.

Subject: RE: BS: What music means to me/you
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Apr 24 - 08:52 AM

Tinnitus is only a problem when reminded for me.

In music the most important note for me is the blue note or the passing atonal note. Sure the tonic and dominant are important but they are bland in comparison to notes of flavor.

Subject: RE: BS: What music means to me/you
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Apr 24 - 09:28 AM

For those of us lucky enough to have mild synthesesia, closing your eyes will reveal specific colors with chords.

Subject: RE: BS: What music means to me/you
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Apr 24 - 09:37 AM

To understand more severe cases I recommend the movie 'Musica'.

Subject: RE: BS: What music means to me/you
From: Charmion
Date: 05 Apr 24 - 01:36 PM

Music is my primary way of engaging with people outside my immediate family. I play at sessions, I sing in choirs, I go to gigs and concerts and camps — that’s how I meet new people and make friends. I’ve been this way my whole life.

There's always a tune running around in my head, often just a melody but sometimes a fully orchestrated symphonic work. I like the classical music stations on satellite radio because the repertoire occupies my mind in a — let’s say, a constructive way, that pop stuff rarely achieves. Music that’s mostly (or entirely) rhythm — rap and hip-hop, for example — irritates and depresses me; I need a tune.

I do not understand any of this, any more than birds understand air.

Subject: RE: BS: What music means to me/you
From: Donuel
Date: 06 Apr 24 - 05:03 PM

Rap is crap but sometimes there are wise words by Drake.
I recall a goose flying 10 feet high in 60 mph gusts. His total land speed must have been 90 mph.
I'd say birds know aerodynamic air better than us.