I admit that I may be wrong in thinking that music theory & poetic
theory arent quite the same thing. I'd respond to this John, by saying
that a lot of the 'theory' can only be learned by reding the poems, &
then trying to write the way that excites you most, not copying
others' poem exactly so much as seeing how those poems do what they
do. And to see that, one must read poems, a lot of them.
Which is a bit like paying a lot, while also asking questions, like
that one Miles asked Dizzy.
Doug
On 13-May-09, at 9:43 AM, John Herbert Cunningham wrote:
> 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.
Douglas Barbour
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http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
Latest books:
Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
Wednesdays'
http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-from-aboveground-press_10.html
and this is 'life' and we owe at least this much
contemplation to our western fact: to Rise,
Decline, Fall, to futility and larks,
to the bright crustaceans of the oversky.
Phyllis Webb
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