Klarinet Archive - Posting 000177.txt from 1998/07

From: pollyg@-----. Gulakowski)
Subj: [kl] Re: Taking the heart out of "Mozart and the V word"
Date: Tue, 7 Jul 1998 20:50:31 -0400

On Tue, 07 Jul 1998 06:01:49 EDT "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu"
<leeson@-----.edu> writes:
>> From: MX%"klarinet@-----.71
>> Subj: [kl] Re: Mozart and the V word
>
>> P: Dan, that was well written and argued cleanly.
snip

>
>In effect, what you state is that no arguments that can be advanced
>on the basis of reportorial information can possibly satisfy you,
>and in that case, you are a free agent to do as you wish.

P: I merely state that all information is limited. A long time ago, I
used a communications text by Hayakawa whose premise was "The map is not
the territory." This has affected me profoundly. Precision of
communication has been an unreachable goal for me since that time. I
truly believe that any interpretation of what a communicator says is
based on experience but can never be the same as experiencing. I have
the utmost respect for your experience, knowledge and dedication. But no
matter how many "maps" we read, there are some "territories" we can only
experience vicariously. We each experience them with our own unique
intellectual/emotional/societal base. Yours and mine are different.
This is not bad, but it does make it more difficult to "communicate."
>
>Since this is the case, it does not pay to continue such a dialogue.
>Do as you wish. Make up the rules as you go along.

P: I make up many rules, just as you are doing but this entire dialog is
based on opinion - at least my portion of it is.

That is
>probably enough to get you a gig or two with the New England Polka
>band

P: I played the Clarinet Polka once at a wedding - I was blitzed and 30
years younger...

that does all the White Eagle Halls of Massachussets. It will
>not get you far in the world of music that I suspect you would like
>to belong to.

P: The world of Music belongs to me, not the other way around. It is
not an exclusive club that shuts out inadequate embrochure, sloppy
technique or even arrogance. Music belongs to all of us. I belong to a
world that includes musicians - including well respected major symphony
musicians (Pittsburgh), Jazz musicians, church musicians, school
musicians yadayadayada.

snip

and I'd rather spend the time programming
>my
>> computer to play that way than listen to it in many cases.
>
>Let's change tactics. You talk a great deal about music with no
>heart. Let me be absolutely serious in the following question:
>do you really believe that the human heart has any role whatsoever
>in music except for the pumping of the blood through the body?

P: Definitions 3, 4, 5, & 6 of "heart" in my Webster's Ninth New
Collegiate Dictionary make no mention of pumping blood...

snip

>You infer that intellectual approaches to music are as exciting as
>programming your computer,

P: Whoa, whoa, whoa! It is VERY exciting to me to program my computer
to produce combinations of notation and "sounds" which when performed by
live musicians become music. I'd RATHER be doing that than listening to
a "politically correct" performance. I enjoy the computer.

snip
>
>The difficulty in speaking about music precisely is that eventually
>you have to be so precise that you wind up throwing out a lot of
>junk that has become almost biblical over the years, like "dark
>sound" and "play from the heart" and "German style" and those
>million phrases that have absolutely no meaning (and even less
>value) that have become a part of your belief system.

P: It's a darn good thing that I am "listening" with my heart to this
discourse. My "heart" tells me that you are probably very concerned
about this subject and feel strongly about it, that you feel an
intellectual (and heartfelt) obligation to educate me and raise my level
of cognizance. Otherwise my head would rule and it's telling me I'm
being sneered at and put down. Which of the maps that I've drawn fit
your territory?

snip

Respectfully, but not humbly
Paulette

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