Klarinet Archive - Posting 000440.txt from 2001/11

From: "Tony Wakefield" <tony-wakefield@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Beethoven "tango" and "jazz"
Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2001 04:45:45 -0500

> Of course the fact that 99% of all Popular Music
> is still using brain-dead Simple Chord Progressions,
> that could just as easily have been written in the year
> 1650, doesn't help.

I`m not going to comment on this statement, I just thought that I would put
it up again to ask if the writer would wish to re-iterate or withdraw his
statement about popular music. See below *within* -

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What I would say tho` is that with respect I don`t think I`ve seen as much
uninteresting chat re Beethoven and the banana song since I first joined the
list. I honestly thought that intelligent musicians would not allow
themselves to be drawn into such crassness, however much they wished to
boost the level of intellectuality - indeed <#having the necessity#> to
boost this level in order for the subject matter to carry weight.
What is more to the point is that *all composers write good and bad
music*, - the writer of the banana song, - and not withstanding Beethoven
himself. All composers are human. They have to write quite frequently when
they are sick, when they have personal problems, when they have to do
re-writes etc etc. What <would> be a much more interesting alternative is to
compare two works or songs by the <same> composer, in relation to where that
composers life was taking him/her at the time of writing, and how great
emotional content, or even <little thought> affected the final outcome of
the music.
Beethoven and bananas I`m afraid seems to me like saying that the Golden
Gate bridge is not as successful as the new Queen Elizabeth Bridge over the
Thames at Dartford - and why? Who the hell cares why, but the Dartford
bridge is <financially>, because it commands a toll.

I`m sorry to be blunt - perhaps it`s my time of the month. :<)

Best,

Tony W.

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