tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post7678294565804132931..comments2024-03-27T23:06:03.736-05:00Comments on The Music Salon: American Experimental MusicBryan Townsendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-69680438627523578352011-10-17T16:20:20.353-05:002011-10-17T16:20:20.353-05:00Harry Partch sure invented more than his fair shar...Harry Partch sure invented more than his fair share of new instruments! But the problem is their practicality, I think. Right now the only instruments suitable to play his music are still just the ones he built, I think.<br /><br />I heard a wonderful baroque lute concert once by Jacob Lindberg. As an encore he played his arrangement of "Across the Universe". It was quite lovely. But this is the exception. I concur with your point. The best use of an instrument is the music intended for it and vice versa. Transcribing Beethoven is usually one of the worst ideas you can have.Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-3105168189777382792011-10-17T16:15:13.850-05:002011-10-17T16:15:13.850-05:00Oh yes. The fact that each fundamental contains th...Oh yes. The fact that each fundamental contains the natural overtone series means that the natural thing to do is to sing in meantone temperament. But that doesn't mean that equal temperament was a bad idea.Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-58749457703576880952011-10-17T16:03:16.907-05:002011-10-17T16:03:16.907-05:00To me the biggest disappointment about modern musi...To me the biggest disappointment about modern music is its failure to invent new instruments. I remember an outdoor concert at Stanford a few years back with cutting-edge modern sounds, using computer-generated layers of music playing out of 100s of speakers all around a large arena. I was extraordinarily disappointed. Black Eyed Peas produce more interesting new sounds. <br /><br />I also dislike attempts to use old instruments to do new things. To shoehorn the demands of modern music into the narrow space of classical ensembles (be it a symphony orchestra or a chamber music quartet) does justice to neither. A violin is a gorgeous instrument. To hear it all electrified is a form of violation, like dressing up gorgeous dogs with silly clothes and losing the essence of what made the dog so beautiful in the first place. <br /><br />Computing technology has failed to produce sounds that move me or strike me by their originality. I get infinitely more pleasure discovering new sounds from Chinese, Japanese, or Indonesian instruments (like this 2-string Chinese "guitar" I hear last January, which was fabulous).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-48118670823273677352011-10-17T15:49:30.015-05:002011-10-17T15:49:30.015-05:00The piano, of course, is the main culprit. Humans ...The piano, of course, is the main culprit. Humans naturally sing in tune (experiments with barbershop quartets have established that beyond any doubt), but an accompanying piano will force singers to sing out of tune. It's actually quite noticeable. That's the most typical complaint you hear from a classical Indian musician: that Western music is out of tune (and of course it is).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com