Onomatopoeia

[JPRitchie]

RE: Notational abilities of composers.

Scott Joplin's "Crush Collision March" has it. (Locomotives.)

Others ..?

Regards,
Jim

[rob47]

i'm not sure what this is about but i'll say

David Rakowski - "E-Machines" Etude no. 1 (sounds like a modem kind of)
                            "BAM" Etude no. 2 (lots of bamming the keys)

[stevie]

i have no idea what this thread is about, can it be clarified?

The formation or use of words such as buzz or murmur that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to.

[JPRitchie]

Is there a link to an audio file of Rakowski's stuff? I haven't heard it.

Joplin's Crush Collision March sample is only from the first section and I added the train whistles as a hint for those unfamiliar with Joplin. The piece has many more imitative sounds.

Berlioz's  "Symphonie Fantastique" has the sound of a guillotine. Beethoven's "Pastoral Symphony" sounds in places like its title. Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" for piano has some train sounds as well as jack hammers - but these are more suggestive than imitative.

-Jim
P.S. What does the picture have to do with onomatopoeia?
jpr

[prometheus]

i have no idea what this thread is about, can it be clarified?

The formation or use of words such as buzz or murmur that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to.

Replace 'the formation or use of words...'-part with 'music'.

Personally I don't like onomatopoeia in music and certainly not in programmatic music. That doesn't mean I don't like those pieces. I just don't really see the point.

[rob47]

Beethoven's "Pastoral Symphony" sounds in places like its title.

Lenoard Bernstein makes some really interesting points about this particular symphony, and how it's title can even detract from the music.  Read the "infinite variety of music" for more on this.

As for the Rakowski stuff, I have the cd. I could possibly send you one of those etudes?

[JPRitchie]

Thanks for the offer to send the CD. But, let me search a little yet: Is it a commercial CD?

Thanks also for the Bernstein citation.

Onomatopoeia shows the ability of a composer to transcribe sounds. If one writes only music, then it might have been overheard, or be a transcription of "folk music". In such a case, it's not very original because the sounds transcribed were heard as musical notes. Transcribing sounds into musical notes requires a higher level of transcriptional abilities. So, the scores of composers who can do this well merit a higher level of respect in performance. It's a consideration in trying to determine which came first: the "folk music" or "performance tradition" or the composer's score.

-Jim