Music Banter - View Single Post - Is Classical Music considered to be inherently superior to all else?
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Old 11-20-2009, 10:52 PM   #70 (permalink)
VEGANGELICA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperFob View Post
I don't care for the instruments, most of all. I bet classical music fans probably see the original orchestral instruments used in classical music as some how 'pure', 'original', and superior, but most of it just sounds incredibly plain to me, especially violins.
Ahh, SuperFob...this part of your paragraph in bold inspired me to look again at the variety of instruments that have been used in classical music (in the European tradition) ranging from around 900 A.D. to now...and made me realize again how wonderfully diverse and creative musicians have been over the centuries while thinking of new ways of making music and different types of music. It is only relatively recently (during the last several hundred years) that what many people may think of as "classical music" instruments became standard, and before that time there were many other instruments that people used in classical music (lutes, dulcimer, hurdy-gurdies, etc.).

Now if a classical music fan limits her sights (or ears) to just the Classical period from the mid-1700s to mid-1800s or so, then she might be led to think that violin, viola, cello, etc. were the "original" instruments...but the reality of music development is oh-so-much more wild and delightful! And this is just considering classical music in the European tradition. If you broaden your outlook to include classical music from other areas of the world...and all the different methods of tuning that exist (not just the one most of us probably think of as standard)...then classical music becomes far from plain, I feel!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Neapolitan View Post
woosh I got it wrong on both accounts. John William, the Australian senator, before entering politics was a sheep shearer, and if you compare his work with sheep to say J.S. Bach's Sheep May Safely Graze, from BWV 208, I think hands down J.S. Bach's work is far more superior to John William's work.
Ha ha! Oh, I heartily agree, Neapolitan, that J.S. Bach's "Sheep May Safely Graze" is much superior to John Williams's sheep-shearing work that he completed in his "Shearer" period from 1974-99:

"Sheep May Safely Graze" (Orchestral Version, based on J.S. Bach, which my orchestra is currently playing with standard instruments):



"Sheep May NOT Safely Graze" (Sheep being sheared with shearing instruments...and sturdy chain):

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Neapolitan:
If a chicken was smart enough to be able to speak English and run in a geometric pattern, then I think it should be smart enough to dial 911 (999) before getting the axe, and scream to the operator, "Something must be done! Something must be done!"

Last edited by VEGANGELICA; 11-21-2009 at 01:26 AM.
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