Klarinet Archive - Posting 000542.txt from 1997/05

From: Gary Young <gyoung@-----.com>
Subj: Teaching how to fish (was RE: Miklos Rozsa Sonatina opus 27)
Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 15:56:41 -0400

Nancy--

I agree with both your points. I thought Fred's suggestions were valuable,
and were obviously intended to be helpful. I'm writing to add that
Baker's, as it is called, was originally by Baker, but more recently has
been by Nicolas Slonimsky (I think the 9th edition was his last before he
died). He has a generous spirit and an astonishing sense of humor (look up
Slonimsky, Nicolas, in Baker's; then look up Zappa, Frank). It is not
expensive like Grove's, and anyone who loves music should save up to buy it
(I paid $35 for the 8th edition). It's the kind of reference book you
can't put down, partly because it is so funny, partly because it's so
instructive. I wonder if Schirmer's will continue it under another author.
It's hard to imagine anyone following in Slonimsky's footsteps.

Gary Young
Madison, WI

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From: Ken Bryson[SMTP:kbryson@-----.com]
Subject: Re: Miklos Rozsa Sonatina opus 27

Just another brief comment of Fred's venture into Leesonism. It seems
that Ken is taking this personally, which I think is unfortunate. I
think that Fred is following the old adage that if you give a man a
fish, you feed him for a day; if you teach him HOW to fish, you feed him
for a lifetime. Ultimately, it is much more valuable and liberating to
know how to get information from standard sources than to have someone
spoon-feed information bit by bit as requested. Also, I think it is
important not to abuse the generosity and goodwill of the most
knowledgeable members of this list by pestering them for information
that is readily available from standard reference works. Thank you Fred
for naming a couple of them. I was aware of Groves, but Baker's is new
to me. I'll check it out.

Nancy