Klarinet Archive - Posting 000277.txt from 2005/05

From: "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Less painful example of context, worth considering (was: Wagner)
Date: Tue, 17 May 2005 08:28:12 -0400


Ormond Montoya wrote,
>The Robert Shaw Chorale is one of my favorites.
>Today I happened to put their Christmas album
>in my car's CD player while I was waiting for
>my daughter --- not because I'm in a Christmas
>mood, but because I enjoy their singing and I
>wanted to hear some of it. (for me, it was a sad
>event when Shaw disbanded his chorale)
>
>....anyway, a passerby told me somewhat viciously
>that I should "Grow up! Christmas is nine months
>away!" Major holidays are stressful to some of us,
>and presumably she didn't want to be reminded.

I won't defend that passerby's rude behavior, but I have to admit I've been
tempted to scream at people who play Christmas carols out of season.
Starting at about Halloween, it's hard to go anywhere without hearing
carols and Christmas hymns. The relentless repetition drives some of us
(me) crazy, especially since most of the music is pretty bad to begin with,
then badly performed. I can't wait until that season ends and the assault
of the happy-clappy carollers stops.

Oh, but wait--some radio stations and Muzak providers think that, since so
many people shop at the after-Christmas sales, we've just got to hear more,
more, more carols and hymns for another full month after New Year's, to
keep us in the mood to spend, spend, spend. That means we're hearing this
noise pollution for a quarter of the year. I get to the point where I
don't give a raggedy reed how well the carols or hymns are performed; I'm
ready to break the next transmitter that spews the damned things, and when
I walk into a store that's playing carols after Christmas, I walk right
back out again without buying anything, with a complaint to the management
(if any) on my way out. Though I'm not quite ready (yet...) to start
ranting at my neighbors who feel otherwise and I agree with you that the
Robert Shaw Chorale was a first-rate choir, by the end of January, I just
want it (and the Chipmunks, and Lena Horne, and Bing Crosby) to shut the
hell up.

Lelia ("The Grinch") Loban

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