Driving listeners mad . . . .

[alzado]

Something like this was posted here a couple of years ago.  Forgive me for bringing it up again.

This idea of selecting music to be ultra irritating is actually REAL .  There is a unit with the U.S. Military . . . psy ops, standing for "psychological warfare."  For one example, when Manuel Noriega was trapped in his home in Manila years ago, the psy ops soldiers set up huge speakers around the mansion and played "I fought the law, and the law won" at terrific volume.  Over and over, over and over, for days.  Eventually Noriega came out and gave himself up.  I don't know if the music had anthing to do with it.

Here's the challenge.  Suppose all you have is your piano.  If you are trying to "crack" a bad guy, what could you play?  Imagine that he is constrained in a chair next to the piano.  What piece might "break his will"  ??

I am thinking, Mendelssohn's "Spinning Song" played over and over and over and over and over, hour after hour.  Pianists might have to spell each other in shifts.

Nominees, anyone?

[gerry]

I am thinking, Mendelssohn's "Spinning Song" played over and over and over and over and over, hour after hour.  Pianists might have to spell each other in shifts.

Nominees, anyone?

Only if it was played badly

Seriously, I think Fur Elise would be right up there - but again, especially if played by a consecutive army of young beginners stumbling through, unsuccessfully searching for the correct notes. .

[ahinton]

I somehow seem to suspect numerous candidates from the surely now-famous soliloquy list popping up here soon...

Best,

Alistair

[jakev2.0]

This is a very funny and imaginative thread.

Imagine hearing _______ >100x in a row:

- Minute Waltz
- Liszt 'Orage'
- Hammerklavier Fugue
- Weber Perpetuum Mobile

[counterpoint]

Hanon 

[bench warmer]

Anything by Philip Glass.
Philip Glass IS over & over.
Philip, Philip Glass, over Glass, anything over Glass, Philip is over
Over here over there, over here Philip,  over there Glass
There is here without the T, philip
No T in philip,  no Glass in tea, Philip in Glass, Fill the Glass ,Phil.
Philip, fill, phil, feel phil. over& over. oh Glass, oh fill,  oh.

[ahinton]

Anything by Philip Glass.
Philip Glass IS over & over.
Philip, Philip Glass, over Glass, anything over Glass, Philip is over
Over here over there, over here Philip,  over there Glass
There is here without the T, philip
No T in philip,  no Glass in tea, Philip in Glass, Fill the Glass ,Phil.
Philip, fill, phil, feel phil. over& over. oh Glass, oh fill,  oh.

Go to the bottom of the Glass! But while you do so, remember that there are worse phenomena; have you never heard of double glazing?...

A "Low" Symphony? Well, one might just ask oneself how "low" a "symphony" might get...

Best,

Alistair

[bench warmer]

Go to the bottom of the Glass! But while you do so, remeber that there are worse phenomena; have you never heard of double glazing?...

Yes, though I glaze-over at the thought of double-glazing Philip's Glass.

[dnephi]

Stockhausen Klavierstucke (is it #11?) where its length and content is defined aleatorically and it all depends on which piece of paper your eye lands on.

Granted, it wouldn't sound very similar.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Cheating, as it doesn't involve a piano, but I think the continual repetition of Ligeti's Poeme Symphonique for 100 metronomes would have the desired effect before too long 

[invictious]

Obviously lots of Philip Glass (the noisy ones btw, not the calm ones).
Or some random aleatoric music...
or you can try a classic, Turkish March.

[franz_]

I forgot the name of the pieces. But there is a piece by Satie that is ultraslow, and you have to repete it 820 times...

[notturno]

I forgot the name of the pieces. But there is a piece by Satie that is ultraslow, and you have to repete it 820 times...

I believe you mean "Vexations," and the score calls for 840 repetitions, like that makes much difference.  Peter Evans wrote this about his performance of the piece:

Evans played continuously for 15 hours until he reached repetition 595, when he suddenly stopped; he was in a daze and left immediately. He writes: 'I would not play this piece again. I felt each repetition slowly wearing my mind away. I had to stop. If I hadn't stopped I'd be a very different person today... People who play it do so at their own great peril'. Valerie Butler, a member of the audience, writes that Evans said 'he had to stop because his mind became full of evil thoughts, animals and "things" started peering out at him from the score'.

That is one of my favorite quotes; it can be found here:
https://www.users.waitrose.com/~chobbs/Bryars.html

Though, I suppose the point of this thread is ways to torment the audience rather than the performer.  I think that 800ish repetitions of anything, even your favorite piece, would drive most people way over the brink.

[quantum]

Reminds me of the Mythbusters episode where they investigated using sound waves below the human threshold of hearing to induce someone to go to the loo. 

It was rumored to be used in some war I think.

[allthumbs]

That's an easy one. Play the 'Heart and Soul' duet that all non-pianists seem to play whenever they come across a piano.

[gerry]

or that exasperating little black key thing done with the knuckles brrrump bmp bpm, brrump bmp bmp 

[pianochick93]

How about first movement of the Moonlight Sonata. Played really slowly. That would certainly drive me mad.

[mcgillcomposer]

Stockhausen Klavierstucke (is it #11?) where its length and content is defined aleatorically and it all depends on which piece of paper your eye lands on.

Granted, it wouldn't sound very similar.

Yes it would - a bunch of random noise.

[retrouvailles]

Reminds me of the Mythbusters episode where they investigated using sound waves below the human threshold of hearing to induce someone to go to the loo. 

It was rumored to be used in some war I think.

The brown note. It's not possible for it to exist though, according to them.

[dnephi]

Yes it would - a bunch of random noise.

  Don't say things like that. Be respectful.

[mcgillcomposer]

  Don't say things like that. Be respectful.

He should be respectful and stop writing 'music'.

[pianowolfi]

You might  drive listeners mad (and yourself) by practicing John Cage's 4'33'' for days.

[dnephi]

He should be respectful and stop writing 'music'.

He never forced you to play or hear any of his music.  I think he's a sincere artist, if a confused one.

[thalberg]

 'I would not play this piece again. I felt each repetition slowly wearing my mind away. I had to stop. If I hadn't stopped I'd be a very different person today... ...animals and "things" started peering out at him from the score'.

WOW!!! Quite enlightening!

I think Allegro Barbaro would be hard to listen to over and over.  That's my vote.

[dnephi]

Alkan or Bartok?

[chopininov]

Alkan or Bartok?

Well there's the proverbial Gymnopedie #1 on all of the anti-depressant commercials...oddly, it has the opposite effect.
Also, I would probably drive a spike through my skull if I was forced to listen to The Russian Dance from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker for two days.
The Flight of the Bumblebee would also force me to commit suicide. Speaking of which, I could only listen to so much Clementi until I went deaf.

So I guess any song that has become famous or popular over the years.

[dnephi]

Well there's the proverbial Gymnopedie #1 on all of the anti-depressant commercials...oddly, it has the opposite effect.
Also, I would probably drive a spike through my skull if I was forced to listen to The Russian Dance from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker for two days.
The Flight of the Bumblebee would also force me to commit suicide. Speaking of which, I could only listen to so much Clementi until I went deaf.

So I guess any song that has become famous or popular over the years.

Thalberg had said Allegro Barbaro, and I was asking which one.

[thalberg]

Alkan or Bartok?

I was thinking Bartok.  I dont' know Alkan's.

[allthumbs]

You might  drive listeners mad (and yourself) by practicing John Cage's 4'33'' for days.

Actually, I wish some of the people would play this piece more often.

I think I'll suggest that the next time someone grates my ears with some horrid rendition.


allthumbs

[gerry]

I wish more business would use it while they keep you on hold.

[chopininov]

Thalberg had said Allegro Barbaro, and I was asking which one.

Oh sorry. I didn't mean to quote you...don't know why I did...

[indutrial]

Glass's music is usually easy on the ears, even if it is repetitive. If I wanted to torture somebody I would use either a screeching, badly-recorded freely improvised saxophone recording, or any number of selections from the horribly pretentious electronica genre, "noise" (groups like Merzbow and Wolf Eyes), which basically lives up to its name.

Speaking of "Flight of the Bumblebee," I would only tear my own ears off if I was forced to listen to Manowar's electric bass solo version - named "Sting of the Bumblebee."

[ahinton]

Speaking of "Flight of the Bumblebee," I would only tear my own ears off if I was forced to listen to Manowar's electric bass solo version - named "Sting of the Bumblebee."

But what about the first of Marc-André Hamelin's projected set of 12 studies in the minor keys for piano - a transcription of that very work which he entitles Le Vol du Bourdon? I'd be happy just to hear that even once (which I have not yet done)...

Anyway, I note with interest that no one has cited any work of mine in this thread yet, so I may suppose that this counts for something...

Best,

Alistair

[indutrial]

Anyway, I note with interest that no one has cited any work of mine in this thread yet, so I may suppose that this counts for something...

Best,

Alistair

I have not yet heard any of your work, but based on what you've said about music and the composers you prefer, it's probably not even close to torturous to listen to. I'm sure some of the anti-modern malcontents on this forum would be likely to piss and moan about this or that post-WWII facet (the harmony, complexity, maybe the length of such and such a piece), but who the hell cares what they say.