I'm a listener only--a dud at the fiddle as a kid. But I've been lucky in
my friends--a lot of composers and musicians, who have never been shy about
their enthusiasms. My college roommate, who went on to be a composer and
music prof, had me sit next to him at the piano as he explained, note by
note, what was happening in Bach's Italian Concerto. Another friend had me
listen, score in hand, to a recording of Rachmaninoff playing Chopin--we
were both heavy into dead musicians at the time (I have a lifelong crush on
both Elizabeth Schumann and Lotte Lehman, and need I mention Conchita
Supervia?)--and had me notice the subtle variations in pressure on each
note that formed the articulaton of a phrase. So that when I got to Duncan
and Creeley I already knew how to sound them, and it continues to inform
both my reading and writing.
Mark
At 03:45 PM 5/20/2005, you wrote:
>This is not a subject I can resist. I totally agree with you; it's not just
>a loss to them but to their readers.
>
>I used to think that I was going to be a composer. The lessons I attended
>allowed me to find out in my own time that my musical processes were simply
>not distinctive enough for the job. But I sure learned to listen, to
>structure, balance and tonal qualities in particular, and all these things
>and more are essential for poetry too.
>
>best joanna
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Mark Weiss" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Friday, May 20, 2005 8:09 PM
>Subject: Re: Brahms and music generally
>
>
>>One of the things I'm distressed by is the general lack of knowledge of
>>classical music among younger poets. I think I learned a lot more about
>>form, not to speak of sound, from devouring the canon. There's simply a
>>lack of complexity to popular music, as lovely or exciting as some of it
>>is.
>>
>>Also distressed at the general lack of knowledge of folk music, and I
>>don't
>>mean the music of Bob Dylan and Donovan Leitch, profound students of the
>>tradition. It used to be one of the things that held us together as
>>communities.
>>
>>My Carlos was taken to a Cailith (please, please correct my spelling) by a
>>then girlfriend of the Belfast Irish variety. He was utterly amazed that
>>everyone knew all the songs. In the US you'd have to go to a Protestant
>>church to find the like, and the fare would be hymns for breakfast lunch
>>and supper.
>>
>>Mark
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