Klarinet Archive - Posting 000554.txt from 2004/10

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Opera productions that should be damned - and
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 22:58:46 -0400

At 07:16 AM 10/20/2004 -0400, Adam Michlin wrote:
>Bill,
>
>My first experiences with recorded jazz were Benny Goodman radio checks
>released on cassette and Eddie Daniels' GRP work. I evolved to Ellington
>and Coltrane (and even Ornette Coleman), but never would have done so
>without music which clearly pandered to pop roots.
>
>It was only through jazz that I began to truly appreciate classical music.
>So, in effect, quasi-pop music was my beginning. We can either work with
>people's pop roots or work against them (complaining all the way). Pop
>music is never going to go away, so we might as well use it to our advantage.

I became a fan of both classical music and big band jazz (yes, it was "pop"
music in its day, but the best pop music ever) through exploration of the
records in my folks' closet. I never did learn to appreciate opera, maybe
because they had no opera records. Of course, I also listened to the pop
music of my own generation (in the 1960's), but quickly determined that it
was considerably inferior to what I was already enjoying. Why bother with
dumbed-down, oversexed versions of opera or other serious music when the
originals are compelling enough, if you can only get kids EXPOSED to the
originals in the first place? Unfortunately, it does not happen in the
schools, and few parents do it, either.

Bill Hausmann

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!

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