Comments for Joshua Harris

Comment on Go listen to Mozart by Joshua

Joshua — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 04:36:22 +0000

I really like Sept Papillons by Kaija Saariaho (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeWpc6mjM4o&feature=related), Pression by Helmut Lachenmann (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFFAFBbgxZ8), and George Crumb’s Vox Balaenae for flute, piano and cello (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6IWoHguF4o).

Then there are the string quartets by Elliott Carter.

Comment on Go listen to Mozart by Matthew

Matthew — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 10:59:04 +0000

You just want an excuse to listen to Brittney Spears’ music in class =)

Seriously though, can you recommend a current-time-faithful cello composer I could check out?

Comment on Go listen to Mozart by Joshua

Joshua — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 23:34:40 +0000

You make a good point. Metaphors are inherently faulty after a point–and mine falters quickly. But, I still think that art does (and should) reflect its time. 200-year old medical practices strike us as silly and uninformed, and yet the music of those times seems perfectly (in)formed. There’s a contradiction in there somewhere. Why don’t we accept that music representing an era of unprecedented understanding of our universe transcends music of the pre-atomic era?

Comment on Go listen to Mozart by Matthew

Matthew — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 14:13:29 +0000

I find Beethoven’s music pleasant to listen to. Blood letting pretty much sucks (ha ha).

I’m not sure we can compare musical genres (which are very difficult to evaluate in objective ways like usefulness) to the development of scientific knowledge, which is generally progressing from inaccurate to more accurate.

Sure, tonality obsession may be so 200 years ago, but that doesn’t make it like blood letting. Blood letting was a bad idea that ineffectively achieved its aims because it was based on a flawed understanding which we have now eclipsed. Would you describe tonality that way?

I’m with you on your over-arching point, particularly the third to last and last paragraph.

This all sounds rather similar to the conversation we had a few years ago on your father’s valuation of the Messiah Chorus. At that time, you expressed that you thought it was unwise to view any particular musical period as better or worse than another. That seems pretty reasonable to me, but I can fairly easily describe leeches as inferior to modern medicine =)

So, in grand ‘stuff white people like’ fashion, I agree with your point, but will waste time disagreeing with your construction =)

Comment on On the immortality of the artist by On the virtue of the immortality of the artwork « Joshua Harris

On the virtue of the immortality of the artwork « Joshua Harris — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 03:41:12 +0000

[...] artist is a relatively recent mythology. One that ironically coalesced around the time Wagner wrote so melodramatically about Beethoven. Prior to the advent of a museum culture in the 19th century, concerts did not usually include [...]

Comment on Is Music Grading a Bad Thing? by William

William — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:49:30 +0000

It is pretty obnoxious. The only people who really play new music are chamber groups. Instead of picking up the new work, all of the bands are stuck with biased selections published half a decade ago, and if it is new work, it’s only from select publishing companies. It makes it so much harder for people like you and I to make a living, and then all of these kids get hit by surprise once they leave high school, because the majority have never read any literature outside of you standard major and minor keys. It’s something that has always driven me crazy. Fortunately, I think after the older generation of directors dies off, we might get some new work running through (that’s only if music programs aren’t removed from the schools systems completely. What a tragedy we’re faced with.)

Comment on Is Music Grading a Bad Thing? by Casey

Casey — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 04:19:59 +0000

Two things.
1. It looks like there’s an effort to standardize things. There’s an interesting article about that:
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2008/03/17.html
2. Music Grading is what we computer scientists call an NP-Complete problem. In a nutshell, it means that there is an answer to grading music, but the answer can’t be all completely calculated in polynomial time, so we just do the best we can by approximating. That’s why people go to college and then teach music classes in middle schools.

Comment on Is Music Grading a Bad Thing? by Scott

Scott — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 02:10:54 +0000

You used Swearingen in the same sentence with Brahms? Ha, Ha! I’ve met Swearingen on a couple of occasions, and he’s a pretty nice guy, but he is definitely a “cookie cutter” composer/arranger; and a little stuck on himself. You hit on some valid points. I, too, would like to see that state list expand without so many limits. The panel who approves music to “the list” looks for the same things in all they choose. It has been my experience to see many bands (and I do include mine on occasion) become mechanical based on pleasing judges. The grading system is useful to give a group some sort of benchmark from which to improve. For example, we played a gr. IV version of Holst’s, First Military Suite last year, and it was definitely a stylistic step up. Grading allows directors to validate improvement with their students, and the football coaches who are paying close attention! I enjoyed the post.