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scottahillI've been involved with musicians my entire life, and so I've often heard paeans to music, about how important it is to life and whatnot. It has certainly been a central part of my life for a long time, although less so now than it used to be. There are pieces, popular and classical, that have really moved me and which I enjoy listening to or singing or playing.
But I have a love-hate relationship with music. First of all, there are pieces of music which are just plain boring to listen to or boring to perform. I have often sat in a concert listening to a symphony and wondering when it was going to be over--why does this movement have to be an hour long or whatever it is? And having to rehearse boring music is one of the most painful experiences I know that don't involve actual pain. In high school, we had to play Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance for 15 minutes (or whatever it was) as graduates marched in, repeating the same two sections over and over again--ARGH!
I've been kicked out of or hurriedly left several choirs now because I can't stand the rehearsals. Sight-reading in choir rehearsal is either interminably dull and repetitive (if the piece is easy for me) or maddeningly frustrating (when the piece is hard). I get very defensive in choir rehearsals, because frankly I don't always know how I do the things I do, so I'm not always sure I *can* sing a little sharper or a little flatter, or do whatever the director demands. Even if the director isn't a tyrant who lashes out at people for their mistakes and tells them they are truly horrible (hi Bart!), it is inevitable that the director will want me to do something that I think is stupid or inelegant or not nearly as good as the way I would do it, leaving me to stew, too polite to complain outright but not polite enough to keep from being passive-aggressive.
And while we're on the subject of the bad aspects of music: it's music that people have blaring from their woofers and subwoofers as they drive down my street at 2 in the morning. And heck, there's always that tune that gets stuck in your head that you can't stand.
I have been playing with a recorder ensemble for the past several months, and we just had a readthrough at someone's home this evening. I've realized that these people are really into music: the fellow was asking me if I had heard of this group or that group, if I knew about this convention or that convention, and so forth. I feel the same way when I sing with the shape-note ensemble here in Dallas; it's sort of fun, but I get really tired of it after a couple of hours and could never do one of their all-day or two-day sings. They're so much more interested in it than I am.
I just want to say "I'm just not into music the way you are," but having spent so much time in music, I'm almost embarrassed to admit it. But I've never been one to know the difference between the Vienna Philharmonic and the Berkshire Symphony, to know the difference between Beethoven's 6th and Beethoven's 4th. I wonder if I'm just not as much of a music fan as they are...or whether I'm just into music in a different way, instead. I enjoy composing music (though it's hard too) and enjoy having composed music (that's the best part; I can get really excited just listening to something I've written). I like to sing when I have some freedom (even just freedom of movement; I hate standing on risers with no room to move about). I'd love to do solo work, if I could figure out where and how. (The traditional route is through voice lessons, but those are maddeningly frustrating too.) I like music that has a catchy melody, but that experiments with different sounds as well. I went to a jazz concert with my brother in Chicago one time, and the one piece that I really liked was the one where the guy started to play on conch shells--gimmicky, sure, but interesting. I think classical music and jazz both benefit from a listener's education; there must be so much my brother hears in a jazz concert, various quotations and whatnot, that makes it so much more enjoyable to him than to me; to me, some jazz is just a mess of chords that goes on and on and on.
Any thoughts on this score (pun intended)?
Note: Unlike many previous posts of mine, I'm not trying to be angsty here. :) It doesn't *bug* me particularly, it's just puzzling.
But I have a love-hate relationship with music. First of all, there are pieces of music which are just plain boring to listen to or boring to perform. I have often sat in a concert listening to a symphony and wondering when it was going to be over--why does this movement have to be an hour long or whatever it is? And having to rehearse boring music is one of the most painful experiences I know that don't involve actual pain. In high school, we had to play Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance for 15 minutes (or whatever it was) as graduates marched in, repeating the same two sections over and over again--ARGH!
I've been kicked out of or hurriedly left several choirs now because I can't stand the rehearsals. Sight-reading in choir rehearsal is either interminably dull and repetitive (if the piece is easy for me) or maddeningly frustrating (when the piece is hard). I get very defensive in choir rehearsals, because frankly I don't always know how I do the things I do, so I'm not always sure I *can* sing a little sharper or a little flatter, or do whatever the director demands. Even if the director isn't a tyrant who lashes out at people for their mistakes and tells them they are truly horrible (hi Bart!), it is inevitable that the director will want me to do something that I think is stupid or inelegant or not nearly as good as the way I would do it, leaving me to stew, too polite to complain outright but not polite enough to keep from being passive-aggressive.
And while we're on the subject of the bad aspects of music: it's music that people have blaring from their woofers and subwoofers as they drive down my street at 2 in the morning. And heck, there's always that tune that gets stuck in your head that you can't stand.
I have been playing with a recorder ensemble for the past several months, and we just had a readthrough at someone's home this evening. I've realized that these people are really into music: the fellow was asking me if I had heard of this group or that group, if I knew about this convention or that convention, and so forth. I feel the same way when I sing with the shape-note ensemble here in Dallas; it's sort of fun, but I get really tired of it after a couple of hours and could never do one of their all-day or two-day sings. They're so much more interested in it than I am.
I just want to say "I'm just not into music the way you are," but having spent so much time in music, I'm almost embarrassed to admit it. But I've never been one to know the difference between the Vienna Philharmonic and the Berkshire Symphony, to know the difference between Beethoven's 6th and Beethoven's 4th. I wonder if I'm just not as much of a music fan as they are...or whether I'm just into music in a different way, instead. I enjoy composing music (though it's hard too) and enjoy having composed music (that's the best part; I can get really excited just listening to something I've written). I like to sing when I have some freedom (even just freedom of movement; I hate standing on risers with no room to move about). I'd love to do solo work, if I could figure out where and how. (The traditional route is through voice lessons, but those are maddeningly frustrating too.) I like music that has a catchy melody, but that experiments with different sounds as well. I went to a jazz concert with my brother in Chicago one time, and the one piece that I really liked was the one where the guy started to play on conch shells--gimmicky, sure, but interesting. I think classical music and jazz both benefit from a listener's education; there must be so much my brother hears in a jazz concert, various quotations and whatnot, that makes it so much more enjoyable to him than to me; to me, some jazz is just a mess of chords that goes on and on and on.
Any thoughts on this score (pun intended)?
Note: Unlike many previous posts of mine, I'm not trying to be angsty here. :) It doesn't *bug* me particularly, it's just puzzling.
