My hatred for Bach is looked down upon

[rachmaninoff_forever]

So today I was like...

Bach is terrible!!!  He sucks!!!

I got attacked by everyone.

They need to see the light...

[theholygideons]

I used to think he was boring until i heard his organ works.. 

[cabbynum]

Maybe you need to stand out on a corner at your school and tell the world about the horrendous things Bach does. AND the terrible things his followers do.
I heard about this one guy, he loved Bach, he knew all the fugues and only half of the preludes from WTC. He had premarital sex, tell the world about these fakers who cant work with anything but counterpoint. Show them how counterpoint is against the governments wishes.


I don't know, just a few mild examples of what Bach does.















In all seriousness I love Bach and think he is wonderful. He is a pregnant dog to play though.

[thalbergmad]

I used to think that Bach was better in transcription, but years later, he is growing on me and I am beginning to warm to his works.

My hatred for the charlatan known as Schumann will never diminish.

Thal

[stevenarmstrong]

I'm not really a fan either...but come on, he is the archetype of the entire Western-European tradition. Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, even Chopin and Liszt and on it goes. I can appreciate if you don't like the Baroque style...personally, I can't stand it! But you can't say Bach is terrible and sucks...he's was a friggin genious.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

I'm not really a fan either...but come on, he is the archetype of the entire Western-European tradition. Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, even Chopin and Liszt and on it goes. I can appreciate if you don't like the Baroque style...personally, I can't stand it! But you can't say Bach is terrible and sucks...he's was a friggin genious.

I like writing in baroque style, but I just don't like Bach.

I think he's terrible and he sucks just because I don't like the music.

If I don't like the music, it sucks. 

But that doesn't mean he was influential.

But he still sucks...

A lot.

[faulty_damper]

You just don't understand Chinese.  That's why you hate Chinese.  Damn racist!

Likewise, you just don't understand Bach.  That's why you hate Bach.  Damn composerist! 

So imagine being forced to listen to Chinese soap operas all day.
Now imagine being forced to act in a Chinese soap opera.
Yeah, you're a racist!

[rachmaninoff_forever]

You just don't understand Chinese.  That's why you hate Chinese.  Damn racist!

Likewise, you just don't understand Bach.  That's why you hate Bach.  Damn composerist! 

So imagine being forced to listen to Chinese soap operas all day.
Now imagine being forced to act in a Chinese soap opera.
Yeah, you're a racist!

Hey no way!!

I understand the sh*t out of Bach!!!

I just hate it!!!


At the recital hall here, BACH is engraved on top of the building.

It's my dream to have them cross out his name and put my name next to it.

[timothy42b]

I heard about this one guy, he loved Bach, he knew all the fugues and only half of the preludes from WTC. He had premarital sex, tell the world about these fakers who cant work with anything but counterpoint.

A pianist who can get a date?

No way.  I'm throwing the BS flag on that one. 

[cabbynum]

A pianist who can get a date?

No way.  I'm throwing the BS flag on that one. 

I swear it happened... It may have not been a date...

[pianoman53]

Oh my God, just get over it.

If you don't get Bach it's your own problem, you're probably just too stupid to get it.

[bachapprentice]

Bach was a Genius.

[tdawe]

Yes, your hatred for it is looked down upon, because it makes you seem ignorant. Whilst I get you aren't totally serious, seeing you make the same joke over and over again really pushes something that was never funny to begin with into downright annoying.

[pjaul]

I agree with the person who said that you don't like it because you don't understand it.  Understanding the sh*t of it is not the same as truly understanding it.

[j_menz]

I like writing in baroque style, but I just don't like Bach.

Like who? What other Baroque have you actually played?

[Bob]

Ouch....

You know you're going to run into Bach lovers. Or someone who's really into early music now and then.

You're going to have this, the piano trio thing....   People are going to wonder.

[Bob]

One day, Rach4's teacher will force him to play Bach.



"Good!  Good!  Use your aggressive feelings boy!  Let the Bach *flow!* through you!  Heh, heh, heh.... Strike keys down with all of your hatred and your journey to the Bach side will be complete!  "

[kakeithewolf]

If Bach's music is played on piano, I despise it.

If it is on any other instrument, I like it.

[emill]

One day, Rach4's teacher will force him to play Bach.

"Good!  Good!  Use your aggressive feelings boy!  Let the Bach *flow!* through you!  .... Strike keys down with all of your hatred and your journey to the Bach side will be complete!  "  

hehheeee ... NICE ONE!!!  (I hope the younger ones understand .... but we oldies do!!)

I find this "I hate Bach" thingie strange.  Personally I find a good number of his works easily likeable, but I could never play them as I am not a pianist.  Perhaps if i were to learn and play Bach then I may have a different viewpoint.

When my son Enzo was still about 10-11, he devoured on his own all the II & III "inventions" .... but as he became older, he barely finished a piece a year and only after a good amount of prodding from his teacher.  I remember it took him several months to finish the "Italian Concerto" ... about a bar or two a week!!!  It was obvious he was not enjoying it, or perhaps to the point of hating it.  This change of attitude only came after he began playing Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt.  I just don't know how his attitude now is with the piece assigned to him - Bach, Busoni - Chaconne in D minor BWV 1004!!  

[j_menz]

If Bach's music is played on piano, I despise it.

If it is on any other instrument, I like it.

Even I think it sounds pretty awful on a bagpipe.

[j_menz]

I used to think that Bach was better in transcription, but years later, he is growing on me and I am beginning to warm to his works.

To complete the journey:

[Bob]

What is it about only Bach that you don't like Rach4?  What about other Baroque composers?  Or Bach's sons?

[thalbergmad]

To complete the journey:

Rob is a long standing and highly valued member at banjohangout forum.

I think he has also recorded this on a cello banjo, as well as bringing to life many early banjo works.

Thal

[kakeithewolf]

Even I think it sounds pretty awful on a bagpipe.

Good point. Okay, so not every instrument.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Good point. Okay, so not every instrument.

ALMOST every instrument.

[ranniks]

Not liking Bach? What is this heresy you speak of?

[rachmaninoff_forever]

What is it about only Bach that you don't like Rach4?  What about other Baroque composers?  Or Bach's sons?

I just don't dig his stuff.

[chopin2015]

U no like BVW 887?

It makes me feel like wiggling around...while sitting on the couch, eating pizza.

[kakeithewolf]

I just don't dig his stuff.

Assume a machine worked using a music generation algorithm for composing (of which I've seen a few) that was designed to mimic Bach as closely as possible without copying any of Bach's works.

So you, unknowing of the machine's existence, are handed a disc with audio of the computer's composition: A prelude and fugue in F minor.

Now, being unaware of the composer, and neither confirmation nor denial of it being authored by Bach, what would be your opinion on it?

[pianoman53]

It's so sad that you really need to do this. It's sad because it seems to be the only thing you have to make you special, and it's just pathetic. It wasn't fun 3 years ago, and it's still not funny.

[ted]

When younger, I made the fundamental error of associating musical sound with irrelevant images and thoughts about it, perhaps social, historical and biographical detail. For years I confused the music of Bach with unpleasant, habituated reactions which had nothing whatever to do with the abstract sound of his music. Eventually, I arrived at the discovery that my mind was at liberty to furnish its own associations, independently of external musical tradition, whereupon I slowly began to enjoy Bach.

If dislike arises from the actual sounds, then of course the trick will not work, but as kakeithewolf implies by his example, maybe the cause lies in redundant negative associations. In any case, I dispensed with musical hate a long time ago. Musical police are not going to appear on the doorstep forcing me to listen to sounds I have no interest in. Rather than expending mental energy in hating music I do not like, I would sooner use it to concentrate on music I love.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

It's so sad that you really need to do this. It's sad because it seems to be the only thing you have to make you special, and it's just pathetic. It wasn't fun 3 years ago, and it's still not funny.

Do what?

What makes me special?


You might need to be a little more ummm...

SPECIFIC.

[Bob]

Aren't you at all concerned about someone overlooking you for something in the future because you said you hated Bach?  I guess you wouldn't called for those gigs... I could see someone passing over you though if the idea ran through their head.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Aren't you at all concerned about someone overlooking you for something in the future because you said you hated Bach?  I guess you wouldn't called for those gigs... I could see someone passing over you though if the idea ran through their head.

It depends on who knows.  None of the music professors know so I'm good.

[kalirren]

I had a Bach phase too.  I think it went away when I figured out that I liked his later works better than his earlier, and that I really couldn't wrap my head around the Cantatas at all.

For me, learning a piece from one of Bach's contemporaries would be more interesting than yet another Bach piece.  I regret none of the Bach I have learned, but I think this pasture's already been grazed on and it's greener elsewhere.

[forte88]

Hating Bach is either corollary to musical ignorance or complete lack of taste, my guess judging by your handle, the latter

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Hating Bach is either corollary to musical ignorance or complete lack of taste, my guess judging by your handle, the latter

So if you don't like Bach you have bad taste?

That's stupid.

I don't care how influential he was, if I don't like him, I don't like him.

By definition there's no such thing as bad taste.  There's different taste, but not bad taste.

[j_menz]

By definition there's no such thing as bad taste. 

You've clearly never encountered Surströmming.

[outin]

You've clearly never encountered Surströmming.

Have you tried it? It's really not so bad if you don't mind the foul smell and awful taste 

[j_menz]

Have you tried it? It's really not so bad if you don't mind the foul smell and awful taste 

I've never managed to get close enough to actually taste it.

[outin]

I've never managed to get close enough to actually taste it.

Why not order a few cans from the internet and have a party?
https://www.swedishfoodshop.com/food/herring/fermented-herring

In addition to the fish you only need some white bread and a lot of vodka 

[j_menz]

In addition to the fish you only need some white bread and a lot of vodka 

But how do you drink through the necessary party-wear?

[outin]

But how do you drink through the necessary party-wear?

Get a mask with a hose system

[Bob]

"Are you my mummy?"

[forte88]

So if you don't like Bach you have bad taste?

That's stupid.

I don't care how influential he was, if I don't like him, I don't like him.

By definition there's no such thing as bad taste.  There's different taste, but not bad taste.

I disagree, sure everyone is entitled to their opinion. Like there are different reasons why people even listen to music. People like yourself with poor taste belong to the category of people who prefer certain music for other than musical reasons(my guess nationality or to show off virtuoso skills).
If it was true that there was no such thing as bad taste than any dilettante would be as great as a Bach or a Mozart or a Vivaldi. And these names would have never gone down in history as some of the finest music ever written
Haydn(who also enjoyed cooking) mentioned 'good taste' when listing some of the reasons Mozart was the greatest composer he knew.Some people have it some people don't. It's perhaps a skill like perfect pitch, a skill you have a serious deficiency in.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

People like yourself with poor taste belong to the category of people who prefer certain music for other than musical reasons(my guess nationality or to show off virtuoso skills).
If it was true that there was no such thing as bad taste than any dilettante would be as great as a Bach or a Mozart or a Vivaldi. And these names would have never gone down in history as some of the finest music ever written

What the *** are you talking about?

You don't know me, you have no idea what I look for in music, so don't pretend like you do pretentious douchebag.  I don't give a sh*t about nationality or showy virtuoso skills.  If I think it sounds good, it sounds good.  If I think it sucks, it sucks.  There's nothing else to it.

Your second statement is just false.  So according to what you're saying, good taste is having the same taste as everyone else.  I'm not gonna blindly say that something sounds good just because everyone else thinks it's good. 

The reason why Bach, Mozart and Vivaldi are great is because a lot of people have SIMILAR taste which is the social norm.

Anyways, some cultures don't even consider the "Great composers" as actual musicians.  Because according to them, true music is something you only improvise, and it's looked down upon if it's arranged.  Some cultures think that humans can't make music, and you get it from something else, like a bird or a plant.  And Some don't even have the concept of music in their language. 

Everyone receives music differently which is why there is no such thing as good or bad taste.  Bach and Mozart might mean something to you, but it doesn't mean much for me because I just think it sucks.  No actually, Mozart might not mean anything for you either, but just because everyone told you that they're good, you followed everyone else like sheep and just convinced yourself that you like them.

Saying otherwise makes you a music snob.  People like you are the reason why classical music is such An elitist genre, and deters audience.  We don't need your kind.

[pianistaw]

I disagree, sure everyone is entitled to their opinion. Like there are different reasons why people even listen to music. People like yourself with poor taste belong to the category of people who prefer certain music for other than musical reasons(my guess nationality or to show off virtuoso skills).
If it was true that there was no such thing as bad taste than any dilettante would be as great as a Bach or a Mozart or a Vivaldi. And these names would have never gone down in history as some of the finest music ever written
Haydn(who also enjoyed cooking) mentioned 'good taste' when listing some of the reasons Mozart was the greatest composer he knew.Some people have it some people don't. It's perhaps a skill like perfect pitch, a skill you have a serious deficiency in.

I must agree with rachmaninoff_forever. Let me ask you this: Do you like Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Prokofiev, Alkan, Thalberg, or any composer for that matter? Chances are there will be one which you'll like less than another, say Bach.

What if Bach were the most unpopular music amongst us. And you would like it. Then, according to your statement, you would have bad taste and you are the reason for which so many do not like classical. Fucked up, isn't it?

Just because someone is different than the norm doesn't mean that this person has bad taste. It sometimes means the opposite.

Oh, for nationality or showing off virtuoso skills? Once you get past a specific level of skill in music, no showing off or 'nationality' (or whatever you want to say with that) will fuel your motivation. It's the love for music.

[outin]

I really could not care less whether my taste is good or bad, because my taste is always right 

R-4's taste is quite often right too, except when it comes to the other big B

[rachmaninoff_forever]

R-4's taste is quite often right too, except when it comes to the other big B

Who?

Bäuchlen?

[Bob]

Slightly different spin... Can you appreciate Bach?