Sunday, October 25, 2009

Music, Maestro

Been talking about Sam Jones' tuba concerto so I ordered a CD. It arrived yesterday and I listened to it so I could get a direct comparison between this work and my bass concerto.
Hoping to get some kind of insight into the reason why some composers seem to be successful and some may or may not be "discovered" long after they have "shuffled off to Buffalo" so to speak, and are not capable any more of acknowledging the plaudits of an admiring audience with a shy and humble demeanor and an embarrassed, winsome grin.

BUT

The sound coming from my computer is a drum machine powered collection of digitally generated beeps and borts.

Whereas the other is professionally recorded sounds from a collection of world class musicians led by a conductor with a furrowed brow and a slightly bemused and worried look on his face as if he were wondering whether he should go back and see if the pedestrian he might have hit is all right.

So I have learned not much.

But if I extrapolate, and contemplate the difference between the works of mine that I have heard live and their cyber-counterparts and export that difference to the works that I haven't I might be able to take a guess as to the real performance value of the gibbous junk I write.

Side note to anyone I have met in person, I think in sentences like the immediate preceding.
Which is why I make so little sense when I talk.
And why I try to pretend that I am trying to be funny.

It's all really kind of pathetic.

I mean "gibbous" refers to a phase of the moon.
I can't imagine what it has to do with musical architecture.
I suppose I could go look up which phase of the moon.
Maybe it is a clever and insightful adjective or metaphor or something.

BUT redux

I am unlikely to ever know until my mortal coil has been unwound and that will be too late.

In the meantime I can luxuriate in the realities of my mortality.
I gotta roof
I get to eat
I have met a handful of truly worthy fellow travelers who make it all worthwhile.
Especially against the negative image of the pullulating mass of mindless proofs that Darwin's theories do not apply to all who walk upright and wear clothes.

I would like to add here that they know who they are, but they don't, do they?

BUT again

I have found that a nice back beat boogie bottom is a crowd pleaser.

AND

No, I'm not fooling, go push the "become a fan button" next to my head on the widget
thing.

But Wait there's more

I also ordered the score, so, theoretically, I could punch it into my computer and measure that difference also.
Gotta keep up with the competition.

5 Comments:

Blogger Lane Savant said...

O.K. gibbous is one of the partial phases, so it could mean "half assed"

And I'm not kidding about the fan button.
That gets published on a big music site and will help trick people into thinking I'm a real composer.

12:50 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hallo, Lane!!
Sam Jones' works get performed not because they are better than yours, but because he is the house composer of the SEA SYMPH and they record their works. Get yourself through the Talvis to be "composer-in-residence of the Rainier Symph (or what its name is) and your works will be performed, but they don't record them. Dilemma!! Your works deserved to be performed, but they need someone stronger than I to serve as the intermediary, I'm afraid. I love your music, but don't have the credentials to get them performed, I'm afraid. I have tried, but the groups I knów know I'm not a profi, so they don't take my word, I'm afraid. The same goes for the works by Sam Jones I've tried to paeedle over here in Germany!! So, its not the quality of your music, but the "quality" of the reputation of the intermediary that seems to count. Try getting Ilka Talvi to promote your works in Finland and elsewhere and you are certain to have more success!!!

3:05 AM  
Blogger Glenn Buttkus said...

Once again the stalwart
Anonomann breaks through
the fog of misalignment
with his clarion calls and
clarity of perception.
You will become a success,
only it could be in Sweden,
the Balkens, Croatia, Mexico,
or New Jersey, Thailand, Japan,
or Argentina. What do you care,
as long as you can still be
here to enjoy the adulation,
enit? For the first time,
I think, two Palmer Poems
in a row have landed on FFTR.
Both about composing, both
offering solutions and
conundroms, wisdom and bile,
self deprication and braggadosio;
great stuff, pure Savant.
I have returned from the beach,
Pac Beach specifically, refreshed,
invigorated, pleased, satiated
with every kind of fruit, pastry,
and meat. Eight of us met at
the house on the clifftop over
looking the Pacific, and we
played games, howled, laughed,
and waxed philosophic. Saturday
was a gorgeous day, like very
sunny and 60+ degrees, short
sleeve weather; couldn't believe
it. We had one mishap. One the
way home, Melva got a ticket
for 60+ in a 50, like $113 sent
to Grays Harbor County; really
a bummer actually, since we
have enjoyed hotrodding on those
back roads for years. Some
punk ass Sheriff had to go and
ruin it--perhaps forever.
This week will seem to go on
ad infinitum cuz last week was
a short one for me, and my
baby blue collar metabolism
is all awry at the moment.
"Beeps" I can kind of understand,
but what the hell is a "Bort"?

Glenn

6:04 AM  
Blogger Lane Savant said...

Ah, yes I see that they want your address to become a fan.
A "bort" is just what it sounds like.

Usually made by a tuba.

10:06 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks, GLENN!!!!!
For your kind words and recognition of my comment which I must have failed to sign.
Yes, Lane, the way to get your compositions performed is to become "Composer-in-Residence" for an orchestra that gives performances. You DO have the talent-- but not the connections!!
Tschüß (and toi,toi, toi!!),
Anonomann

4:38 AM  

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