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ahinton
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« Reply #75 on: 12:47:01, 03-07-2007 » |
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Indeed - and just think of all those additional Sorabji scores that Ian will now be able to afford to purchase (Ian reads this and throws nearest piano at writer...)
I could always smoke those Sorabji scores, perhaps? Chopped into little pieces and rolled up into a special joint is surely likely to give a much bigger buzz than listening to any of the works.....  But think of the immense damage that this will do to your lungs! - surely far worse than what you may already have done by those smoking habits that you are doing so well to curtail. Not only would the sheer number of roll-ups alone that this will involve entail your having to smoke far more than you've ever done, but there is also the factor that no one can be certain in advance of the effects of inhaling whatever strange substances may lurk within all those resultant Gauloisistans, Cigars Parfumés, Concerti per fumare da Pace solos and the rest? Anyway, that's your decision, of course - and one that you'd be in a better position to make if you first bought some of the scores concerned that you don't already have (that'll give our bank account a much-needed buzz...) Best, Alistair |
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Daniel
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« Reply #76 on: 12:49:55, 03-07-2007 » |
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That's impressive Ian! (er, I'm talking about the fags here rather than the Spice Girls) When I was giving up, for a bit of encouragement sometimes I used to imagine all the cigarettes I would smoke in a year in a pile, out of their boxes, (scary how they add up!) and just imagine taking great chunks out of that pile. Eventually it did end up at zero! I could always smoke those Sorabji scores, perhaps? Chopped into little pieces and rolled up into a special joint is surely likely to give a much bigger buzz than listening to any of the works..... Under no circumstances should you ever do this with Andrew Lloyd Webber scores as it could cause permanent neural damage! |
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ahinton
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« Reply #77 on: 12:52:06, 03-07-2007 » |
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Of course, none of this is 'postmodernism's' fault. Postmodernism can be (and should be) rigorous analysis of the sometimes intellectually slack world we live in, not capitulation to its faults. (Nor - to reiterate a point often, and valuably, made by Ian - should it be the uncritical celebration of late capitalism as if that were the only way to achieve 'difference'.)
Not at all wishing to undermine the substance of anything you've written here, may I nevertheless counsel you to steer clear of phrases like un"critical celebration", lest it raise the temperature and blood pressure of someone who is trying so hard (and, so far, very successfully) to kick the habit?... Best, Alistair |
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ahinton
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« Reply #78 on: 12:53:19, 03-07-2007 » |
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Ha! Ian is going off topic!
There's likely to be a lot of that in this thread - those who don't like it can just kiss my a**! Wouldn't you rather that they listen to you art, Ian?... Best, Alistair |
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martle
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« Reply #79 on: 13:03:06, 03-07-2007 » |
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Just a quick 'well done so far' from me too, Ian! Impressive (and I REALLY know how much so). And you have full permission to go as off-topic as you wish, as long as it helps.  That Spice Girls stuff is pretty much off the scale, isn't it? Depressing how familiar that particular academic idiom and strategy is these days. |
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Green. Always green.
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Ian Pace
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« Reply #80 on: 13:15:17, 03-07-2007 » |
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may I nevertheless counsel you to steer clear of phrases like un"critical celebration", lest it raise the temperature and blood pressure of someone who is trying so hard (and, so far, very successfully) to kick the habit?... Don't worry about that, Alistair - having a debate about such things is a good way to take one's mind off those weeds! (only two smoked today - oddly enough, now (in general, not this particular hour) seems a good time to be heading down to the pub to get away from smoking!) |
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'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
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ahinton
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« Reply #81 on: 13:15:28, 03-07-2007 » |
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That Spice Girls stuff is pretty much off the scale, isn't it? Depressing how familiar that particular academic idiom and strategy is these days.
The prospect of any of those girls being capable of singing any "scale" with a reasonable degree of accuracy is so far-fetched as to be beyond risible but yes, it is indeed depressing how insidious and invasive this variety of cod-scholarship has become over recent years, consciously and unedifyingly having been turned as it has into a veritable art-form by some of its more egregiously self-seeking practitioners; Ian might do far better to make his roll-ups from torn pages from this kind of stuff, were it not for the fact that the sheer quantity of it is vastly greater than that of Sorabji's solo piano scores... Best, Alistair |
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Ian Pace
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« Reply #82 on: 13:18:14, 03-07-2007 » |
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The prospect of any of those girls being capable of singing any "scale" with a reasonable degree of accuracy is so far-fetched as to be beyond risible Mind you, Ringo singing Yellow Submarine also provides an interesting example of alternative tuning systems.... (written like a true smug classical musician) |
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'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
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increpatio
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« Reply #83 on: 13:21:37, 03-07-2007 » |
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The prospect of any of those girls being capable of singing any "scale" with a reasonable degree of accuracy is so far-fetched as to be beyond risible Mind you, Ringo singing Yellow Submarine also provides an interesting example of alternative tuning systems.... (written like a true smug classical musician) I'm not convinced that there isn't a lot of deliberate/musical flatness in some good pop/rock music I've heard; however the beloved vocoder is cleaning up all "industry" industry melodic lines something fantastic. |
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« Last Edit: 13:29:39, 03-07-2007 by increpatio »
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time_is_now
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« Reply #84 on: 13:25:07, 03-07-2007 » |
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The prospect of any of those girls being capable of singing any "scale" with a reasonable degree of accuracy is so far-fetched as to be beyond risible but yes, it is indeed depressing how insidious and invasive this variety of cod-scholarship has become over recent years, consciously and unedifyingly having been turned as it has into a veritable art-form by some of its more egregiously self-seeking practitioners; Ian might do far better to make his roll-ups from torn pages from this kind of stuff, were it not for the fact that the sheer quantity of it is vastly greater than that of Sorabji's solo piano scores... Just to make absolutely clear, Alistair, I can't speak for Ian, martle or anyone else but my own objection is entirely to the bad writing and lazy thinking about the Spice Girls that Ian cites. As for the band themselves, even if you don't happen to appreciate their music yourself, I think it's a bit far-fetched to suggest that they can't sing a scale to at least the degree of accuracy required for their sort of music. One of the undoubted side-effects of commercial pop - even if one does regard it as only a side-effect - is that it makes its practitioners work, and train, very, very hard - at least as hard as classical performers, even if some of the focus is on aspects of presentation, choreography etc. that classical performers are notoriously ignorant of. As for Sorabji, I'd rather hear the Spice Girls any day. But there we must agree to differ ... |
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The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
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increpatio
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« Reply #85 on: 13:31:43, 03-07-2007 » |
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Just to make absolutely clear, Alistair, I can't speak for Ian, martle or anyone else but my own objection is entirely to the bad writing and lazy thinking about the Spice Girls that Ian cites. As for the band themselves, even if you don't happen to appreciate their music yourself, I think it's a bit far-fetched to suggest that they can't sing a scale to at least the degree of accuracy required for their sort of music. One of the undoubted side-effects of commercial pop - even if one does regard it as only a side-effect - is that it makes its practitioners work, and train, very, very hard - at least as hard as classical performers, even if some of the focus is on aspects of presentation, choreography etc. that classical performers are notoriously ignorant of.
There are undoubtedly many fantastic pop singers, but it's not in any way necessary given the current sophistication of recording/editing technology. Which of the spice girls smoke? Have any of them given it up? |
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martle
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« Reply #86 on: 13:35:38, 03-07-2007 » |
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Just to make absolutely clear, Alistair, I can't speak for Ian, martle or anyone else but my own objection is entirely to the bad writing and lazy thinking about the Spice Girls that Ian cites. That's exactly what my objection was too. |
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Green. Always green.
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ahinton
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« Reply #87 on: 13:41:46, 03-07-2007 » |
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The prospect of any of those girls being capable of singing any "scale" with a reasonable degree of accuracy is so far-fetched as to be beyond risible but yes, it is indeed depressing how insidious and invasive this variety of cod-scholarship has become over recent years, consciously and unedifyingly having been turned as it has into a veritable art-form by some of its more egregiously self-seeking practitioners; Ian might do far better to make his roll-ups from torn pages from this kind of stuff, were it not for the fact that the sheer quantity of it is vastly greater than that of Sorabji's solo piano scores... Just to make absolutely clear, Alistair, I can't speak for Ian, martle or anyone else but my own objection is entirely to the bad writing and lazy thinking about the Spice Girls that Ian cites. ...and on which you'll find me in full agreement; the pretentious obfuscatory pseudo-academic mumbo-jumbo wherewith so much of it tends to be cloaked serves only to make it worse... As for the band themselves, even if you don't happen to appreciate their music yourself, I think it's a bit far-fetched to suggest that they can't sing a scale to at least the degree of accuracy required for their sort of music.
I wasn't seeking to do that; in fact, I was merely making a jocular aside (and not one of my better ones, I'll admit!)... One of the undoubted side-effects of commercial pop - even if one does regard it as only a side-effect - is that it makes its practitioners work, and train, very, very hard - at least as hard as classical performers, even if some of the focus is on aspects of presentation, choreography etc. that classical performers are notoriously ignorant of.
Really? I don't want to argue, but I must confess that I find this rather hard to believe; I'm not for one moment suggesting that at least some practitioners in that industry do not work and train hard as such, but what surely distinguishes the kind of work involved from that of the "classical" musician is the sheer amount of time and concentration required of the latter. As for Sorabji, I'd rather hear the Spice Girls any day. But there we must agree to differ ...
Indeed so! Best, Alistair |
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Ian Pace
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« Reply #88 on: 13:47:27, 03-07-2007 » |
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On the subject of pop singers being able to sing in tune - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autotune . I believe most studios have this nowadays - the tell-tale sign is when you hear a recording with a perfectly in-tune but utterly wrong note in it. I'm also informed that this device is increasingly employed in classical studios as well......  |
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'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
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Ian Pace
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« Reply #89 on: 13:49:10, 03-07-2007 » |
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One of the undoubted side-effects of commercial pop - even if one does regard it as only a side-effect - is that it makes its practitioners work, and train, very, very hard - at least as hard as classical performers, even if some of the focus is on aspects of presentation, choreography etc. that classical performers are notoriously ignorant of. Having seen the results when the latter is not the case, I think I'll take ignorance any day... As for Sorabji, I'd rather hear the Spice Girls any day. But there we must agree to differ ... Now there's a tough choice... |
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'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
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