tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post2317162449594740054..comments2024-03-28T20:04:20.286-07:00Comments on One Cʘsmos: Listening to History: The Testimony of MusicGagdad Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-75715750978640223642009-11-16T16:44:38.726-08:002009-11-16T16:44:38.726-08:00The dividing line separating Muslims and music is,...<i>The dividing line separating Muslims and music is, first, insularity, and only secondly, what is allowed or forbidden.</i><br /><br />Tell it to Nusrat Fatah Ali Khan.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-26240523315548093192009-11-16T12:57:56.720-08:002009-11-16T12:57:56.720-08:00"at any moment, we only hear one sound"
..."at any moment, we only hear one sound"<br /><br />Speak for yourself. LOL<br />I can play the bass line to a song I don't know by listening to where the melody is going. I can prehear the harmony, so I know where it's going. I also read tunes out of a fake book on a gig once and am able to play it without the book and solo over the changes. <br />Of course, when I'm checking the tires on my truck, if they sound a fourth apart, I'll start singing the Olympic theme song. But that's just me.debasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13546940741042023260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-5600205520474988682009-11-16T11:52:49.516-08:002009-11-16T11:52:49.516-08:00You have such a way with words, Bob! You've g...You have such a way with words, Bob! You've given me much to chew on...Susannahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16381272662339466736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-38809540872153477322009-11-16T08:35:43.849-08:002009-11-16T08:35:43.849-08:00The thing about music, is that a piece of music, a...The thing about music, is that a piece of music, a melody, doesn't actually exist at any point in time . . . at any moment, we only hear one sound . . . the rest of the notes in the melody, both those we have heard and those we anticipate, are only in our minds . . . and yet the music, over time, is indubitably real.<br /><br />The late, great, lamented Clarence Brown had a guitar solo piece in one of his songs, where he would use his guitar to make the sounds of a man and a woman in a "discussion" - at the same time, he would mouth the words, without making any vocal sound. The effect was uncanny. If you watched his face, you could actually hear the words being enunciated, but if you closed your eyes, all you heard was the tones of the notes on the guitar. What he was doing was creating something that existed only inside your mind, where your mind made the necessary connections and adjustments.<br /><br />All music is like that to a degree. <br /><br />There is more to be said about the experience of participating in a live performance of music, either as an auditor or a creator . . .Gandalinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09196550750055246901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-24277829179495047062009-11-16T08:02:39.771-08:002009-11-16T08:02:39.771-08:00The dividing line separating Muslims and music is,...The dividing line separating Muslims and music is, first, insularity, and only secondly, what is allowed or forbidden. <br />The Taliban will forbid music of any kind even as their unfortunate subjects may appreciate music. But it is in those regions where cousin marriage, particularly along the male side, is the preferred form of marriage and which drives the culture, that the product is so culturally insular as to not be partial to music (among other things) at all. Bernard Lewis notes that this peculiarity was true of all the Muslim Ambassadors to Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, and these were the most learned Muslims of the day.xlbrlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01931950075332608449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-25195994428923763622009-11-15T20:27:48.659-08:002009-11-15T20:27:48.659-08:00Bob-
That's funny. Whenever I write music, I ...Bob-<br /><br />That's funny. Whenever I write music, I write the bass line first, then the harmony. Sometimes I have the melody in mind, so that is next, then I fill in the the parts. I usually keep time for the groups I'm in. I drag the drummers back if they rush and play on top of the beat if they drag. It makes playing more work and less fun. That's why I like to play without drums in small venues, usually as a duo. More freedom musically.<br />"So many drummers, so little time".debasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13546940741042023260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-2639471026617197282009-11-15T18:51:39.819-08:002009-11-15T18:51:39.819-08:00I've followed your thoughts here for a while a...I've followed your thoughts here for a while and I have to say that that is a new one to me. I've though of life, like many do, in terms of a movie or a book having chapters, rises and falls, comedies and tradgedies, etc, but never musical as you described in your comment. Just goes to show how deeply music, jazz in particular, must affect you. Very neat.<br /><br />I've almost always found, though, that musical instruments do indeed speak another language, each in their own voice that goes beyond verbal description or comparison. <br /><br />One time long ago I was under the influence (back when I did those things) listening to a song I had heard dozens of times, I suddenly zeroed in on the bass line and stayed with it for the rest of the song. It blew my mind to hear what it was actually saying after all that time.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-7794051155405657662009-11-15T15:08:00.963-08:002009-11-15T15:08:00.963-08:00Debass:
Exactly. I have this idea that history e...Debass:<br /><br />Exactly. I have this idea that history even has a bass line underneath, and then maybe a drone under that. The bass line would be human nature, whereas the drone would be the laws of physics. Events on the surface are like the sax solo. The rhythm is the years, decades, centuries, etc.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-39997649096819821542009-11-15T14:51:39.634-08:002009-11-15T14:51:39.634-08:00I always hated history in school until I started t...I always hated history in school until I started to study music history. When I tied the musical events to the political ones it suddenly became much more interesting. I don't know why a more comprehensive history, tying many aspects such as music, art, politics, etc. together is not taught or at least I'm not aware of it.debasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13546940741042023260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-30302013333716729072009-11-15T14:12:48.084-08:002009-11-15T14:12:48.084-08:00Well, actual Islamists reject Western culture by d...Well, actual Islamists reject Western culture by definition, music included. Some want to ban music of any kind, as do some Christian extremists. So the original statement was pretty vacuous. <br /><br />I'm just trying to show that Islamic and Arabic culture in general does not reject Western music and in fact some segments embrace it wholeheartedly, such as Said and the Pasha of Egypt who commissioned Verdi to write <i>Aida</i>. <br /><br />Speaking of Christian extremists, isn't Christianity exactly about binding "all of history into one dramatic arc"?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-69127341671141608692009-11-15T13:02:27.782-08:002009-11-15T13:02:27.782-08:001) Interesting that Islamists especially detest an...1) Interesting that Islamists especially detest any form of western music. 2) Said was not an Islamist. 3) Therefore, it is interesting that Said enjoyed western music.Moronnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-61887511822287075492009-11-15T12:28:32.801-08:002009-11-15T12:28:32.801-08:00It is interesting that the Islamists especially de...<i>It is interesting that the Islamists especially detest any form of western music.</i> <br /><br />Edward Said was not an Islamist, but he was a leading Palestinian nationalist which I'm sure is just as bad in your book. Yet he was also a widely-read music critic who <a href="http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/edward_said_the_man_and_his_music" rel="nofollow">worked with Daniel Barenboim</a> and now has <a href="http://ncm.birzeit.edu/new/page.php" rel="nofollow">a music conservatory named after him</a>. Yes, it is quite interesting as you said.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-45058244826429140922009-11-15T10:31:39.905-08:002009-11-15T10:31:39.905-08:00"ordered motion"
Brings to mind:
Classi..."ordered motion"<br /><br />Brings to mind:<br />Classical pieces are called "movements".<br />And time "travel" suggests a change in location.Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10589423819039764711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-55854192152295756922009-11-15T10:19:55.814-08:002009-11-15T10:19:55.814-08:00Yes, to look at their narrative and its sub-plots ...Yes, to look at their narrative and its sub-plots as objects, not subject. These objects purloin subjectivity for their own ends.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-3233434047996136732009-11-15T10:14:27.201-08:002009-11-15T10:14:27.201-08:00Oh.. and I'm glad you tied-in psychoanalysis, ...Oh.. and I'm glad you tied-in psychoanalysis, because I think you've mentioned before that your job is to get the patient up and out of their world in order to look at it from the "outside". Do I have that right?Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10589423819039764711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-44191646316592240822009-11-15T10:11:22.738-08:002009-11-15T10:11:22.738-08:00In other words, I can hear better out of my left e...In other words, I can hear better out of my left ear (hee hee) but it never occured to me it might not have anything to do with the ear itself.Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10589423819039764711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-54098802183804490292009-11-15T10:08:58.528-08:002009-11-15T10:08:58.528-08:00What a remarkable post. So much to comment on. Too...What a remarkable post. So much to comment on. Too much.<br />Bob's back like never before.<br /><br />But at the moment, about that last paragraph, I find it very difficult to use a phone handset on my right ear. And I am right-handed.Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10589423819039764711noreply@blogger.com