Until recently, Dominic, all the great composers were known as great
improvisers - Bach Beethoven, Mozart, etc. This meant that they were able to
play by ear and, in fact, because of this skill, they were able to notate
what they heard in their heads. Many composers these days compose via
mathematical algorithms so I cannot say anything about their ability to hear
music. As to Jazz, Andrew, it used to be the case that there was a certain
amount of pride in jazz musicians saying that they were untutored. Recent
investigations and writing on the early and later jazz giants indicating
that most of them were schooled in theory. Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie
Parker would talk for hours about chords and structure. The legendary
cutting sessions in Kansas City and the same type of sessions in New York
required musicians to be able to modulate their way through complex chordal
patterns. Legend has it that Ornette Coleman taught himself theory while
operating an elevator in L.A. The joke that others were to tell is that he
got it wrong. This doesn't really matter much as he went on to create his
own harmelodic theory. So whether classical or jazz, if you want to compose
then you'd better have your chops down. I think the same works for poetry.
The better a poet you become, the more you've paid attention to literary
theory and the more poetry reflecting this theory you've read never mind the
time spent trying to figure out what another poet is saying and what the
thing is in the way that say it that makes that poem and poet effective.
John Herbert Cunningham
-----Original Message-----
From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Dominic Fox
Sent: May-13-09 9:19 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Theoretically ... (corrected, what was I thinking)
andrew burke wrote:
> Somewhere, sometime, Miles Davis spoke about being able to play what
> you can whistle or sing being restrictive; you had to learn theory to
> know that you can (successfully) play some things like a half-major
> and half-minor chord. In another interview _about_ Miles, Dizzy
> Gillespie remembered Miles coming to him when they were a whole lot
> younger and asking about a specific note: Where did you get that note
> from? was the quote if memory serves me well. Diz went to a piano and
> played the whole chord, then illustrated the single note, saying There
> is the note, right there, in its place. Miles was satisfied - he was
> always learning, always curious about putting the theory of music into
> practice - but he had to know the theory first. (He learnt piano to do
> just that, to extend his theory.)
>
I have almost precisely this argument about music theory with my sister,
who insists that she composes entirely by ear. She thinks theory is just
a set of rules telling her that what she composes is wrong. I say that
theory can help you to write things you don't already know how to hear.
Dominic
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