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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