Re: [Shaku] To scale or not to scale?

From: Nicholas Pierotti (eurydice@cruzio.com)
Date: Mon Feb 07 2005 - 13:03:03 PST


What are rental prices around Ithaca?

Maybe the Burns Sisters need a Shakuhachi player...

On Feb 7, 2005, at 2:21 PM, JASON CASTNER wrote:

> I thought this would be interesting to say.
>
> Two people get on a roller coaster. One gets off and
> pukes, the other feels great.
>
> Anyways, I wanted to say in this email that I think
> lots of people on this list are very intelligent -
> more so than I :) And if anyone is ever near Cornell,
> Ithaca - let me know cause I would love to have tea
> time and play flutes at my house. I'm 2 poor for
> flute lessons cause I also play djembe drums, taiku
> drums, have a car that needs fixing all the time:(
> karate lessons, and I only buy organic foods -
> expensive!!! Plus I really enjoy playing by myself
> and my friends have to force me to play for them. But
> once again if anyones in ithaca come teach me proper
> lesson stuff and I will give you as much tea - food as
> you want plus a good atmoshpere to play at..... my
> house has a creek running through the front yard and
> forest all around - very private.
>
> jason
>
>
> --- John Baker <jinpa19822003@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> --- Brian Ritchie <brianritchie@mac.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Jason,
>>>
>>> Music is a language of sorts
>>
>> What does it signify and what are its signifiers?
>> Language is characterized by ambiguity, so where
>> does
>> this get us?
>>
>>
>>> (the most habitual improvisors in Western
>> classical
>>> music) have a
>>> classical vocabulary
>>
>> This is true in a linear, rational universe. There
>> is
>> also a whole range of improvisation based on modal,
>> static harmonies. Musical education focuses on
>> things
>> it can analyze: chord patterns, themes, variations.
>> There's a whole universe of music outside this
>> sphere.
>> Memory is only one aspect of listening.
>>
>>> learning the traditional music
>>> forces you to develop
>>> techniques and pitch relationships that nobody
>>> (Japanese or Western)
>>> would develop "naturally".
>>
>> And the evidence backing this statement is? Do you
>> mean to say that Japanese traditional music is
>> unnatural and that is a reason to learn it?
>> Culture,
>> in this way, becomes a kind of perverse pursuit.
>>
>>> The natural scale
>>> of the shakuhachi is
>>> the minor pentatonic but it's not the most common
>>> one used in
>>> traditional music.
>>
>> But it is the blues scale minus one passing tone.
>> You
>> can play Amazing Grace with just the natural scale
>> of
>> the shakuhachi, for instance. So it is A common
>> traditional scale.
>>
>>> with no musical vocabulary to
>>> back it up people tend
>>> to stick to whatever is easy to produce given the
>>> mechanics of the
>>> instrument they are playing.
>>
>> By this argument, you would recommend writers to
>> practice typing other people's writing in order to
>> develop their own style. My point is that human
>> ingenuity is the source of inovation, and imitation
>> is
>> the source of copies.
>>
>> This whole discussion reminds me of the bogus
>> evaluation of someone else's enlightenment on this
>> list. How can I evaluate someone's improvisation if
>> I
>> have never heard them. And in any case, my
>> assessment
>> of someone else suffers from my limitations. I
>> cannot
>> necessarily hear what you are saying if my opinions
>> clog the channel.
>>
>> Improvisors, play on.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> John Baker
>> _____________________________________________
>>
>> List subscription information is at:
>> http://communication.ucsd.edu/shaku/listsub.html
>>
>
>
>
> =09
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> All your favorites on one personal page =96 Try My Yahoo!
> http://my.yahoo.com
> _____________________________________________
>
> List subscription information is at:
> http://communication.ucsd.edu/shaku/listsub.html
>

_____________________________________________

List subscription information is at:
 http://communication.ucsd.edu/shaku/listsub.html



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jan 06 2006 - 10:00:42 PST