Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Six Month's Bloggiversary

I think I have missed my own six months semianniversary by about a week. But it's not too late to put up links to some of those early posts that many of you may have missed. In the early days I didn't have the massive and learned readership I have now (ahem), but there were still some good posts. Here are my favorites:

http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2011/06/great-bach-fugue.html

http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2011/06/i-like-unlikely.html

http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2011/06/understanding-bach-part-i-of.html

http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2011/06/pulse.html

http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2011/06/time-quotient-of-music.html

http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2011/06/music-for-listeners.html

http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2011/06/beethoven-and-piano-sonata.html

http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2011/06/debussy-des-pas-sur-la-neige.html

http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-to-listen-to-music-boring-quotient.html

http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2011/06/whats-wrong-with-jazz.html
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 16, 2011 at 1:58 PM

    Not sure you should brag about your jazz post, surely one of the most ill-informed, embarrassing pieces of writing on the subject.

    It's obvious you don't know the first thing about jazz. Nothing wrong with that. But why can't you just admit it? Humility is a virtue. Pontification based on ignorance is not. Virtually every sentence you wrote betrays a complete lack of knowledge about jazz (my favorite: "blue notes are used to increase expression." Which is like saying "Mozart flattened his B in the key of F in order to increase expression.") Your post is factually challenged at every turn, and there's no point "fisking" it here. But to criticize a great art form, one must first go to the effort of learning about it. Uninformed comment is disrespectful.

    Rather than putting Rubber Soul ahead of Giant Steps, it would have been more honest for you to say "I don't get jazz so I won't write about it." And you could also add, "Please forgive a certain childhood infatuation with 3-min pop ditties that I don't seem able to outgrow." Putting John Lennon ahead of John Coltrane is the sort of silliness you may have trouble living down.

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  2. Bryan TownsendDecember 16, 2011 at 2:56 PM

    When I originally put this post up I was hoping for a lot of push-back, which didn't happen. So belated thanks! Yes, humility is a virtue and I'm ready to admit to misunderstandings of jazz. I rarely write about it, but I've always been a bit puzzled by jazz, which is why I wrote the post. Now you say that this is no place for a fisking, but why not put up some specific points that could contribute to the discussion? Saying that this is "ill-informed" is not to say how it is ill-informed. Saying it is "factually challenged" fails to mention any facts at all. That a piece is 3 minutes long is no guarantee of lack of quality. "Wenn ich in deine Augen'seh" by Robert Schumann is only 2 minutes long and is a great piece of music.

    The fact that you like jazz and I don't isn't a discussion. I tried to explain the problems I have with jazz. Why don't you try and explain why you like it?

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