THANKS FOR READING MY BLOG
So this is the sports part but ya know what? I've been working every minute of the day - I feel like I have almost nothing to offer all you loyal fans. Look at me - 10:36 at night and just turning on ESPN - I have no freaking clue what has been going on in sports all day - I feel completely lost. Do you think that's strange. I go through my days wondering what I missing in the sports world and I feel I've been ripped off when I get home this late and have no clue. Did I miss a no hitter? Did I miss a 4 home run game? Ooohh...lookie - someone hit for the cycle. Ya know what the cycle is all you non-sports fans? It is when a player gets a single, double, triple and home run all in the same game. The average batter only bats 4 times per game so this is quite a quirky feat. Anyway - I hope you now know more than you knew before you started reading this blog.....now, on to the next part.....
TAXI DRIVER
Listen - if you even like Dinero a little bit, rent Taxi Driver and enjoy a very young Robert Dinero at the start of his career. Sort of dark intense movie but what I found particularly humorous as I watched it on cable the other night was the soundtrack - very goofy 1970's style cop drama music. It wasn't even like a movie soundtrack...it was truly the soundtrack of the time. I felt like I was watching 1970's episode of Magnum PI (wait - that was the 80's I think)...ok Baretta?????
LENNY B.
I was conducting a little Bernstein today and I will simply say screw all of you that believe he is in someway a second rate composer. Berstein draws his inspiration from music of his country. That is jazz and music imported from other cultures, especially latin cultures. Why is Mozart's music any more important? Mozart drew on simple dance styles and popular music of his time just as Bernstein does. But wait - we are American's and classical music is a high brow European Art Form. How dare we walk on the sacred ground of the European giants. Well I got news for ya. Almost everyone in any audience I've ever been part of, loves the music of Bernstein just as much as they love Gershwin or Copland. Bernstein picked up right where Gerhswin left off but no one will give him credit for that as a composer. It will happen. It may take another 50 years but it will happen. Lenny, you were one of the great music educators of all time and certainly one of the most inspirational conductors. You will get your due as a composer because there is no other composer that sounds quite like you do.
GRIPE OF THE DAY
My gripe of the day concern the guy that is standing next to you in public having a loud conversation with a friend but continuously looking at you to try to get you involved in the conversation. So, to the guy in Starbucks this morning - I'm sure that your life is highly entertaining and to be honest, you're story sounded remotely interesting but I really don't want to talk to you first thing in the morning. As a matter of fact, I don't want to talk to anyone first thing in the morning so stop looking at me. Ok - look once, and if I seem to be ignoring you or disinterested stop peaking at me to try to get me wrapped up in your world. No thanks.
Subscribe: musicsportsmovies.blogspot.com
Posts
All Comments
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
THE BIRD, THE BIRDS, BIRDSONG, FOR THE BIRDS
OOPS...I DID IT AGAIN
That's it. This is the one and only time I quote the most untalented female pop star of all time, Miss Brittany Spears. Sorry...just an adequate voice, can't dance, can't do much of anything. But enough about that. This is the sports section. I remember gathering around the TV with my whole family when I was little and watching Mark "The Bird" Fidrych pitch for the Detroit Tigers. Why? Because he talked to the baseball, he smoothed out the mound dirt with his bare hands, he looked like Big Bird. But most of all he was spectacular for one year and one year only. He was a rarity in sports - the absolute best - for one year only, until an injury forced him into early retirement. The bird died unexpectedly........yet another sad happening that made me reflect about happy childhood times.
OH, AND I QUOTE BRITTANY.....
I really have done it again - I've been able to get my whole blog to relate to birds...and so for the movie part . . . what else? See Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds". These days it's almost humorous to watch, but I have to say, it still has an undercurrent of freakish scariness. Hitchcock is great at building tension through dialogue or silence and well, what can I say...work with me here.....it's all about Birds today......so go see it!!!
Birdsong.....not Byrdsong damn it.....
Come on...everyone knows that Ricky Byrdsong was the former University of Arizona basketball coach and University of Detroit Coach who was murdered in a Detroit area hate crime by white supremicists in the middle of an evening jog with his 8 and 10 year old daughters. That makes me sick to my stomach and I only just now thought about that because I was planning on writing about Birdsong. This is freestyle blogging and it just flows right along. Oliver Messiaen is his name and he is simply one of the most unique an outstanding composers of art music in the 20th century. I will write much about Messiaen in the future as he is one of my favorites but for now I will simply refer you to the fantastic, intimate and fascinating "Quartet for the End of Time". I will admit that one must become familiar with Messians work and compositional style before attempting to digest such a masterwork. Oh...but the Birdsong.......Messiaen perfected the art of transcribing true birdsong into motives that could be used in art music and this is only a small part of his uniqueness. Oh, and equally unique was Ricky Byrdsong. I watched him coach when I was an undergrad. I hope his daughters have been able to live a normal life. There father was a great guy and I can't begin to imagine what that night must have been like for them.
THIS IS FOR THE BIRDS:
....that any classical musician would simply reject a piece of music based on it's sound or whether they initially "like" the piece or not. This is how non-educated musicians judge music...on immediate impact, tunefulness, danceability, pure emotion, etc......but we do this as our profession. We're in the world of art and to be in that world means to use more than just pure emotion when evaluating music. There is more to creation and the understanding of creative works than simple emotional impact. Many things are involved and we must be open to the possibility of not understanding something initially and trying to perhaps question ourselves as to why something doesn't appeal to us. It is at this time that we may be able to question our own thought process and value system in terms of judging art.
Wow - that was a bit heavy today.
That's it. This is the one and only time I quote the most untalented female pop star of all time, Miss Brittany Spears. Sorry...just an adequate voice, can't dance, can't do much of anything. But enough about that. This is the sports section. I remember gathering around the TV with my whole family when I was little and watching Mark "The Bird" Fidrych pitch for the Detroit Tigers. Why? Because he talked to the baseball, he smoothed out the mound dirt with his bare hands, he looked like Big Bird. But most of all he was spectacular for one year and one year only. He was a rarity in sports - the absolute best - for one year only, until an injury forced him into early retirement. The bird died unexpectedly........yet another sad happening that made me reflect about happy childhood times.
OH, AND I QUOTE BRITTANY.....
I really have done it again - I've been able to get my whole blog to relate to birds...and so for the movie part . . . what else? See Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds". These days it's almost humorous to watch, but I have to say, it still has an undercurrent of freakish scariness. Hitchcock is great at building tension through dialogue or silence and well, what can I say...work with me here.....it's all about Birds today......so go see it!!!
Birdsong.....not Byrdsong damn it.....
Come on...everyone knows that Ricky Byrdsong was the former University of Arizona basketball coach and University of Detroit Coach who was murdered in a Detroit area hate crime by white supremicists in the middle of an evening jog with his 8 and 10 year old daughters. That makes me sick to my stomach and I only just now thought about that because I was planning on writing about Birdsong. This is freestyle blogging and it just flows right along. Oliver Messiaen is his name and he is simply one of the most unique an outstanding composers of art music in the 20th century. I will write much about Messiaen in the future as he is one of my favorites but for now I will simply refer you to the fantastic, intimate and fascinating "Quartet for the End of Time". I will admit that one must become familiar with Messians work and compositional style before attempting to digest such a masterwork. Oh...but the Birdsong.......Messiaen perfected the art of transcribing true birdsong into motives that could be used in art music and this is only a small part of his uniqueness. Oh, and equally unique was Ricky Byrdsong. I watched him coach when I was an undergrad. I hope his daughters have been able to live a normal life. There father was a great guy and I can't begin to imagine what that night must have been like for them.
THIS IS FOR THE BIRDS:
....that any classical musician would simply reject a piece of music based on it's sound or whether they initially "like" the piece or not. This is how non-educated musicians judge music...on immediate impact, tunefulness, danceability, pure emotion, etc......but we do this as our profession. We're in the world of art and to be in that world means to use more than just pure emotion when evaluating music. There is more to creation and the understanding of creative works than simple emotional impact. Many things are involved and we must be open to the possibility of not understanding something initially and trying to perhaps question ourselves as to why something doesn't appeal to us. It is at this time that we may be able to question our own thought process and value system in terms of judging art.
Wow - that was a bit heavy today.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
THIS IS GOING TO BE FUN
SWISHER
Main part of my blog very short today so my gripe can take up most of the space. Sports: Yankees, Nice Swisher: this team simply needed a crazy lunatic on the bench or playing. This guy is nuts. Talk about relaxing the team atmosphere. All hail Cap'n Nick.
ME AND MARLEY
I hate Jennifer Aniston. Don't even like Owen Wilson that much. But never in a film have I seen the life and death of a pet handled so nicely. Yes, my daughter cried her eyes about but the movie gave me a chance to explain that this is the way pets need to go sometimes and it is not painful for them. I put the dog dying seen right up there with Ricky Schroeder crying his eyes out at the end of "The Champ".
MUSIC
I'm not reviewing music today. This is in support of my comment on my facebook page that says "I don't want to talk about music...I do it every day for a living". Don't worry. I'll get back to it but since I have to spend Easter Sunday studying orchestral scores I don't want to talk about now, so there.
GRIPE OF THE DAY
This will be part of a 10 part series on problems with Higher Education. I'm in higher ed and have a job in higher ed. I am thankful for my job. That does not excuse the American university system from handing out oodles and oodles of doctorates when there are simply no jobs to be had in the profession. For every one university conducting position that openings, over 100 application are received. There are about 3-4 openings per year. 25-50 percent of the individuals applying have or are in the process of completing a doctorate. This is simply insanity. I will go as far as calling it the GREAT AMERICAN HIGHER EDUCATION SCAM. I don't know if these graduate dollars are needed to support faculty salaries or undergrad programs. Quite frankly, I think it is the fact that universities became so competitive with each other over the past 40 years - always trying to offer more and more....always trying to one up the next guy. Now your typical student graduating with a doctorate in oh....say music.....can struggle with a few community college gigs for 5-10 years..maybe teach privately on the side...probably even hold a part time job outside of music. I have numerous friends with doctorates in the arts and very, very few with full time steady jobs that include benefits. It's really a shame. I will go so far as to say that any university offering a doctorate in music should not have more than one doctoral student at a time in each major area. Someday someone is going to explain to me why the all powerful University of Indiana Conducting program has as many as 8 master's students in conducting and multiple doctoral students in conducting. Really? I mean, really? Are they all going to get a conducting job one day? I challenge that university to personally mail me the names of their past 30 graduates and the conducting positions that actually hold. Guarantee not more than 3 have a steady conducting job. I call on American Universities to stop handing out doctorates and even master's degrees like candy on Trick or Treat night. Too many take conducting and classical music performance as "fun". We are a cultural museum. We must conduct, perform and transmit works at the highest level and those that choose to do this must be egoless servants of composers and their great works. It's turned into a fucking circus and it only diminishes the value of those who are at the top of their game.
Main part of my blog very short today so my gripe can take up most of the space. Sports: Yankees, Nice Swisher: this team simply needed a crazy lunatic on the bench or playing. This guy is nuts. Talk about relaxing the team atmosphere. All hail Cap'n Nick.
ME AND MARLEY
I hate Jennifer Aniston. Don't even like Owen Wilson that much. But never in a film have I seen the life and death of a pet handled so nicely. Yes, my daughter cried her eyes about but the movie gave me a chance to explain that this is the way pets need to go sometimes and it is not painful for them. I put the dog dying seen right up there with Ricky Schroeder crying his eyes out at the end of "The Champ".
MUSIC
I'm not reviewing music today. This is in support of my comment on my facebook page that says "I don't want to talk about music...I do it every day for a living". Don't worry. I'll get back to it but since I have to spend Easter Sunday studying orchestral scores I don't want to talk about now, so there.
GRIPE OF THE DAY
This will be part of a 10 part series on problems with Higher Education. I'm in higher ed and have a job in higher ed. I am thankful for my job. That does not excuse the American university system from handing out oodles and oodles of doctorates when there are simply no jobs to be had in the profession. For every one university conducting position that openings, over 100 application are received. There are about 3-4 openings per year. 25-50 percent of the individuals applying have or are in the process of completing a doctorate. This is simply insanity. I will go as far as calling it the GREAT AMERICAN HIGHER EDUCATION SCAM. I don't know if these graduate dollars are needed to support faculty salaries or undergrad programs. Quite frankly, I think it is the fact that universities became so competitive with each other over the past 40 years - always trying to offer more and more....always trying to one up the next guy. Now your typical student graduating with a doctorate in oh....say music.....can struggle with a few community college gigs for 5-10 years..maybe teach privately on the side...probably even hold a part time job outside of music. I have numerous friends with doctorates in the arts and very, very few with full time steady jobs that include benefits. It's really a shame. I will go so far as to say that any university offering a doctorate in music should not have more than one doctoral student at a time in each major area. Someday someone is going to explain to me why the all powerful University of Indiana Conducting program has as many as 8 master's students in conducting and multiple doctoral students in conducting. Really? I mean, really? Are they all going to get a conducting job one day? I challenge that university to personally mail me the names of their past 30 graduates and the conducting positions that actually hold. Guarantee not more than 3 have a steady conducting job. I call on American Universities to stop handing out doctorates and even master's degrees like candy on Trick or Treat night. Too many take conducting and classical music performance as "fun". We are a cultural museum. We must conduct, perform and transmit works at the highest level and those that choose to do this must be egoless servants of composers and their great works. It's turned into a fucking circus and it only diminishes the value of those who are at the top of their game.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
