Klarinet Archive - Posting 000401.txt from 2000/10

From: SDSCHWAEG@-----.com
Subj: Re: [kl] All keys are not the same
Date: Sun, 8 Oct 2000 23:20:08 -0400

In a message dated 10/8/00 11:31:27 AM Central Daylight Time,
leeson0@-----.net writes:

<< This is an absolutely amazing list!! Here are a bunch of clarinet
players disucssing Aristotlian issues that have to do with the emotional
impact of various keys.

It is a pleasure to be part of such a list. >>

Gosh, I'm glad you said that! I love discussions like this, but was afraid
it might be getting over my head a little. With that, I thought of something
else - bear with me here, I'm trying to remember stuff from classes I took
20-some years ago! This one was an intro to ethnomusicology, and Anne's
comments about the Greek modes reminded me of a discussion of East Indian
ragas. As I recall, these had "inherent" emotional qualities, too - some
were considered appropriate for military music, some for love songs, etc.,
and you absolutely couldn't write one type of music in the raga of another
type. I think that this actually proves Dan's point that the emotional
content is really just a societal construct, though, because to my Western
ears all ragas sound just plain alien. I certainly can't tell what type of
music I'm listening to - it could be a hymn, a dance, or a dirge for all I
know - without training, all Indian music sounds pretty much the same to me.
So, although within that culture specific ragas may have specific
connotations, those connotations can't be inherent within that particular
collection of notes since they aren't understood universally.
Sue Schwaegler

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