A Baffling Lack Of Appreciation

[msconduct]

So the Iraqis are resisting. Goddammit, why don't these towelheads just get with the programme and be grateful for having bombs dropped on their heads, sorry, their liberation?

Comments

[frowningman.livejournal.com]

You're absolutely right. The US is spending a bazillion dollars on this war, just for them. It's not right that they should just throw it back in their face like that. They should take their medicine like men.

Not to worry. I see on TV that these filthy subversives are being pulled from their homes and being dealt to with the contempt they deserve. Soon enough the US will be able to ensure that every individual Iraqi is thinking and behaving just the way they ought to be.

[(Anonymous)]

I hate doing this, but-- Howard Goodall! What do you know of him?

[msconduct.livejournal.com]

Can't say I know all that much, but here it is.

1. He wrote the wonderful Red Dwarf theme tune and a lot of other music for TV.

2. He used to be a King's College chorister when just a little tyke.

3. He has an impressive knowledge of music history and what seems like a deep feeling for music in general.

4. More to the point, his enthusiasm about these subjects is both infectious and totally endearing. His music programmes always leaving me wishing I could sit down with him over a cup of coffee and have a chat about diminished fifths and the history of the mandolin.

Your turn?

[(Anonymous)]

/me grins.

"Endearing" is quite the word -- with your permission, I'd join in your coffee-chat, except with tea as my beverage of choice. I found his book (which expands on one of the television series) quite by accident while poking around the Music section of my local Waterstone's, & bought it at once. It's wonderfully conversational in tone.

I emailed him once, asking a lengthy question, & received an equally lengthy reply. I sort-of know his godson & godson's father -- I've sung in front of the latter. (English choral circles are comparatively small! Or at least happily inter-linked.) I might have him on video somewhere, presenting this year's Choir of the Year. He's a supporter of Newcastle United, apparently. And he's a composer whose actual method makes me ponder theories of a "collective subconscious".

And, of course, I'm the only other person on LiveJournal with his name in their interest list. (I have several LiveJournals, though, & don't really use any of them, making me effectively 'Anonymous'.)

You can never enthuse too much. *cough*

[msconduct.livejournal.com]

We've managed to amass an odd little collection of facts between us:). The book sounds good - must have a nose about at Amazon. Wonder if he conducts his own choir somewhere? And please, please tell me more about this mysterious composition method - I'm completely intrigued now.

[translucent.livejournal.com]

It's not all that mysterious, when I come to think about it. But I still find it fascinating. Composers tend to take for granted the methods by which they come up with music, judging by my rather terrible luck at finding genuine articles on composition. They vary wildly, which doesn't help. My current music class is fairly representative: it runs from people who compose mainly by improvising at the piano, to people who can't play & rely entirely on communicating their musical 'vision' via the wonders of technology (http://www.sibelius.com). Both methods rely on this presence of a 'vision' or 'creative voice', though - if it's not particularly strong, they can fumble around for a while trying to find the best-sounding notes / chords, but if they have the knack, there's no fumbling involved: they know 'what's coming next', even if they can't describe it in words. Writing is in itself a fair analogy: you can't write without knowing what you're trying to say, and some are better at finding the best words to convey their ideas than others. Personally, it takes me many tries to work out what I am trying to say.

However -- and this part completely boggles me -- he's spoken of incidents where, once or twice, a piece has 'arrived', ready-composed, in his head. Every last note. This is much more than a simple flash of inspiration, of course. And I quote -- for I've run out of adequate words -- "My suspicion is that this music is coming from the same place or spiritual dimension that gave birth to the music I adore in other composers." [from here (http://www.howardgoodall.co.uk/biog/Articles%20Page.htm)] What makes it harder for me to explain is that I've experienced precisely the same, but to a much lesser extent, which is why he's a famous composer and I'm ... well, not. But I still have transcriptions of what arrived in my mind then -- and some of them, it struck me as soon as I listened to his 'Choral Works (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000063CX/ref=sr_aps_classical_1_1/026-2809152-6201207)', are almost echoes of small phrases in his music. It's like dreaming of places before you've ever been to them.

I'm actually going to cop out at this point and suggest to you this article (http://www.msteer.macunlimited.net/factual/creativoxframes.html), which I'm currently in the middle of. (Found after I'd written the first paragraph telling of my bad luck at finding good articles, of course.) It talks about the relationship between 'creative' and 'psychotic' voices (!) & reminds me of the typical 'if you hear voices, you're mad. But if you hear God, you're a prophet.' scenario.

I feel horrible for subjecting you to an entire mini-essay on the subject. (I have a sneaking feeling that it's going to be rewritten/expanded and actually posted elsewhere on the Internet. I simply have too many thoughts on the subject.) I can only hope it provides food for thought.

(Buy the book! *grin*)

[translucent.livejournal.com]

Oh, bugger.

a) I intended to preview & edit that so that it was actually a readable length. And
b) Maintain my semi-anonymity. Gah.

Oh well.