What's on your mind now?

[kelly_kelly]

I'm wondering just how hard is college level Algebra? hmmmmmm

You mean Linear Algebra? Challenging, but not impossible, at least according to a friend of mine who's taking it now.

[Karli]

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[thalbergmad]

Welcome to the new me

Welcome back.

Is there anything else on the forum you do not like and want to change??

Thal

[Karli]

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[opus10no2]

Do you hope your posts make sense to or interest someone else, or are you happy expressing your self in some kind of solipsistic way?

[Karli]

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[opus10no2]

Sometimes it matters, I can be happy with just having clarified something in words for my own sake, but often I like a response and either approval or some sort of enjoyable discourse, in which I oxymoronically like to be right and to learn something new at the same time.

I ask because your posting style and subject matter take a bit of time to read and understand in many cases, and to take up peoples time shows either a sense of self-importance or just a free-rolling expressivity.

Either way, it's still sexy, don't worry 

[Karli]

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[opus10no2]

Did I say it way a bother? I like you and value your contributions. I was just wondering what your own opinion was on what compells you to post.

You have a high word count, and you type like I imagine you'd talk... I don't do that, I cut it down and keep it brief and succinct..both because I'm lazy and because I like the imppact of a short point. I like your style too, but I was just thinking..there is a different personality behind it, a different motivation.

Pianistimo is an extreme example, extremely wordy, and it actually leads me to think she has one hell of an ego  expecting people to respect her words enough to spend that much time reading them.

[Karli]

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[opus10no2]

Your love of piano sure does show, though I've noticed you speak mainly in general about music and piano, and rarely with passion about music you've discovered and found a passion for(which I used to do alot).

[Karli]

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[morningstar]

Ha! 1000 post count. Sorry, couldn't help myself.

[Karli]

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[thalbergmad]

Did one of my posts actually get deleted

Perhaps the one in my signature?

Thal

[opus10no2]

It's just an observation, looking at your statistics from your present and past accounts, you don't post much at all in the repertoire board.

I barely know anything about the music you love, and it puzzles me because I'm absolutely obsessed with discovery and beautiful music.

I dedicate a great deal of time to listening to lots of pieces, known and unknown, and I love discovering buried treasure.

I know me and Thal have in common that we are avid followers of hyperion's romantic piano concerto series, which have unearthed unheard and untold beauty.

I really passionately dislike those pianists who follow their teacher's orders, become good pianists, but NEVER show this kind of curiosity and interest!
Both in pianists, obsessively devouring a discography of a certain great, or in repertoire, constantly searching for beauty and new sensations.

It make me so sad sometimes, knowing there is so much beautiful music I will never hear, I love beholding the wonder and majesty the world has to offer, and DESPISE the apathy many show towards it.

[Karli]

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[opus10no2]

I wasn't talking about you when I was desribing what I disliked, I just noticed what you admit yourself; a very reserved attitude to speaking about specific pieces.

I like alot of music, and it isn't about a quick fix...I go on alot of dates with different pieces, and have alot of fun, but I only return to them and commit extended periods of time to them if I love them.

I don't know if you're as adventurous a listener as I am, but back to what I was saying about others- I've got a comparitively etensive knowledge of the repertoire, and do pretty damn well on 'guess the piece' listening tests.
Of course there has to be a balance between devoting time to pieces you already love and discovering new ones, but in some people I think the balance is way out of whack.

[general disarray]

I don't know if you're as adventurous a listener as I am, but back to what I was saying about others- I've got a comparitively etensive knowledge of the repertoire, and do pretty damn well on 'guess the piece' listening tests.
Of course there has to be a balance between devoting time to pieces you already love and discovering new ones, but in some people I think the balance is way out of whack.

Beyond that, I'm always surprised how PS Forumites rarely discuss chamber music or even more perplexing, vocal music, especially opera.  I've tried in the past, but it goes no where.  The "What Are You Listening to Now?" thread was/is always very interesting.  People talked about music outside of the piano lit.  Often fascinating. 

I've never known a terrific instrumentalist who didn't love opera.  If you don't study great singers and singing, then you're cheating yourself.

Also, equally weird, is how any time I've started a thread to comment on new recordings, it peters out almost instantly.  Why don't we review them for one another?  Doesn't anyone buy new CDs out there?

Has anyone heard Stephen Hough's new recital album?  Does anyone care? 

   

[Karli]

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[general disarray]

Also, when it comes to listening to recordings, I will be honest and say that I have a very difficult time talking about that, and it's not just because of emotional things.  I feel I need more language, and I need more specifics to listen for.  To be asked to go listen to something and then give a response, and that's all the more information I get, you are going to have a very difficult time getting me to share my experience.  But, if I have some structure around what I am listening for (not that this would be my whole experience), that is very helpful for me.  I would guess that there are plenty of people who would like to be able to discuss recordings and artists in a more educated way.

Good idea.  Okay, let's take a look at Hough's "In Recital" album.  His choice of repertoire is fascinating and rather curious.  Maybe we could discuss the cumulative effect of beginning with "Variations Serieuses," then Beethoven Opus. 111," then Weber's "Invitation to the Dance," etc.  I mean, two powerful early Romantic masterpieces book-ending Beethoven's mystical (almost modernist) masterpiece.  You know, discussions like this.  Or not. 

I actually emailed Hough about this album and he answered!  He thought his programming was off the wall and wondered what listeners would think.  I, personally, loved the CD.

Gotta go.  Surf's uo.  Literally!

   

[Karli]

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[general disarray]

Well, sorry, but sometimes it's very difficult for me to take you seriously.  I basically consider that you just aimed to show me up or shut me up, and at the very least of it, you apparently think that what I am wanting is something that is stupid to you.  That's fine if that's how you would like to live your life, but I didn't gain too much from your response aside from feeling like I shouldn't bother reading you.

You know, you always respond this way to me, so I can only think your self-esteem is so utterly impoverished that you imagine I would want to belittle you.

Or, conversely, you are so grandiose that you think I'd bother to spend my valuable time ridiculing you.

Any way you slice it, lady, you've got the problem, not me.   

[opus10no2]

I would guess that there are plenty of people who would like to be able to discuss recordings and artists in a more educated way.

Listening to music IS the education, and it's all the education you need.

Bach inventions, sure they're great, and sure Rachmaninov and Beethoven are great, but I was wondering about the lesser known pieces and composers you listen to and have a fondness for.

You talk about an ongoing hunger for information but do you have that hunger for music?

I like to talk about less estabished works that move or interest me, this is more dangerous because I feel a bond with the music and the fact it may not be established as 'great' leaves people open to be very critical, and when the piece feels like it is part of me or at least refects part of me, it can be hard not to take it as a personal insult.
Still, I open up discussions about it and see what other people think, it's actually not that diffeent from performing and exposing one's own playing!

[Karli]

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[thalbergmad]

I absolutely *love* some mystery piece that nobody seems to know, which I just by CHANCE got to know through an amazing recording that one of my former teachers made.  He is a nearly completely unkown artist, and apparently this piece is extremely unknown, and I would *die* to play it, but for whatever the heck reason, for YEARS, can't figure out what it is.

Please send me a copy, i love a challenge.

Shall we say 2 Thalburgers if i find out who it is and another 2 if i get you the score.

Thal

[opus10no2]

I'm not criticising you, I'm just saying what I've observed and what I've made of it.
Different people are different people, we know this, I haven't assumed anything, ony expressed things that intrigued me.

Do I think that you must love music less that I do because you listen to it less? No, but I still wonder why.

I understand the balance of doing your own thing, working on music, and actually listening it is different to mine, everyone's is different... I'm just trying to get at what it means.

The impulse to express is one thing, but I do think it's really cool when I hear about artists who still look out for new music and devote a good amount of time to just *listening*.


I do still think it's the most important musical activity for any musician, and if I was a teacher I'd actually spend a good amount of lesson time introducing students to music and discovering what they like, getting a feel for what they'd want to play, and discussing music.
Can you explicate your first paragraph there? I can't see why anyone would need to do anything more than listen to express their feelings and opinions about pieces of music.

[gep]

Also, I have listened now to Alistair Hinton's string quintet about 5 or 6 times in total, full length at once (and then sometimes parts when I don't have the time to listen to the whole thing).  Have you heard it even once ?  When I first listened to this, I wasn't sure what my reaction was, I mean, I knew what it was, but I wasn't sure why I was having it.  So, generally, I like to give myself time and see if for any reason I ever want to return to listening to a piece of music.  And, I have.  It is a monstrous work.

With "monstous" you mean a compliment, I think (hope)? Or just an indication of size?
Yes, I've heard it, several times (although the last time was a while ago...So much music, so little time... ). I personally think it's a magnificent work (like his other ones I've heard so far, which are too few). I'm really hoping his Piano Quintet will get finished someday and become available, I'm really curious about that one. It's going to be even longer than Furtwängler's if I'm rightly informed.

If you want pieces unknown, try Allgén's Sonata for Solo Violin. Now there's un unknown composer!

[Karli]

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[opus10no2]

Sure, but I didn't need anyone to tell me that, that's a discussion of semantics and not music.

Discussion is required to find common ground and communicate opinions relating to music, but the music itself is always the primary tutor and inspiration.

Anyway, another point I'm curious about is when you say it takes a long time to digest and truly 'know' and 'understand' a piece, why do you think that is?

[Karli]

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[opus10no2]

Well, music is, on one objective level, just a bunch of notes, and it takes the ear a few listens to get it all familiar(depending on the complexity of the piece), so it is a sensual experience, a matching of tones and rhythms in unique orders.
The beauty of music exists in that alone, but since we attach emotion to anything that is sensually impressed upon us, it becomes a big factor too, in our enjoyment...it's an interesting dance between the two, but I still maintain that it only takes a few listens to digest the notes, and that's the important part.

The one thing that changes with time is context..remember that music has 'vocabulary', and the initial understanding we have of a piece is aided by the fragments, microphrases, intervals and motifs we have already heard.
So the feelings we have for a piece will change as we get to know other new pieces.

Also we can get bored with pieces! Listening to even the greatest pieces on repeat can get annoying and boring....there has to be space and time between for it to be fresh.

Can you speak on your opinions towards 'commitment' to particular pieces?
Devoting time to what you know and like, safe and secure, versus trying new ones.

[Karli]

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[opus10no2]

Fair enough 

Well you seem to think I have leapt to judgements about you, they're really just ideas and potential conclusions based on my own ideas.
Our minds both are made of the same elements, born in the heart of a star, so I think of humanity as more of a whole than most seem to, it makes me patient and curious about how other minds work.
On that note I'd be curious to hear the way you interpret how my mind works  if you care to tell.

[Karli]

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[ikedian]

My aggravation with the fact that not enough people play vintage on MWS.  Then out of the ones that do, 55-60% are playing Vault decks.  Then my aggravation that my deck is 13-2-0, two losses two vault, when that's supposed to be my best match-up :x

[opus10no2]

You've avoided making judgements there but I do know you have stronger opinions which you're not getting into.
Judging from what you know of me, do you think I may ever be a person of great consequence, capable of achieving great or at least unique things?

[Karli]

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[cmg]

You've avoided making judgements there but I do know you have stronger opinions which you're not getting into.
Judging from what you know of me, do you think I may ever be a person of great consequence, capable of achieving great or at least unique things?

Ah, what an interesting dialogue this has become!

As I recall, in the older days -- when "Karli" was "Mayla" -- you two became embroiled in nasty, sexually tinged threads where "Mayla" grew incensed at your provocative language and publicly denounced you for inappropriateness. 

And now we have such yearning, searching sallies into deeper, metaphysical explorations of one another's talents?  Fascinating and sophomoric.

Could you two give all of us break from this pseudo-cyber-seduction? 

Kindly confine your more "intimate" lives to PMs, please.   

[quasimodo]

Oh c'mon cmg, at least it's entertaining. This forum is so boring these days.

[cmg]

Oh c'mon cmg, at least it's entertaining. This forum is so boring these days.

True, quasi.  But, both of these posters have been so intolerant of others in the past, I just can't avoid a parting shot. 

Karli's a genuine "head case," posing as a feeling intellectual with the most irrational pronouncements on music that I have ever read.  No, irrational is a compliment.  She's demented and beneath amateurish.  Nothing she writes makes sense.  Opus is "da original speed freak" from a parallel universe who has irritated and driven away some of the most thoughtful pianists on this forum.

That they united in this unholy dialogue strikes me as the most absurd development here in months.  This Forum deserves them. 

[Karli]

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[cmg]

People are so weird  .  Occasionally there is a moment where I actually like humanity again, and then I become quickly disappointed.

Cheers.

"Cheers," my arse.  You don't like any "humanity" except that depraved segment that finds your verbal narcissism similar to their own.

Get over yourself and stop behaving as if you're some victim.  You're a classic predator, girl, and you know it.

[Karli]

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[cmg]

er ...    I guess it's my cue.  See ya'all 'round.

Oh, this is your "victim" position?  No reflection on your behavior?  No response to your totally rude (and nearly psychotic) post to General Disarray on his comments on Stephen Hough's latest CD?

 

[Bob]

Jesus... Pianistimo....

I'm wondering if there's anything to it, that Pianistimo "returns" shortly before Easter.  Hmmm.

[ahinton]

Jesus... Pianistimo....

I'm wondering if there's anything to it, that Pianistimo "returns" shortly before Easter.  Hmmm.

Only to disappear again? I wouldn't worry about that if I were you!...

Best,

Alistair

[Bob]

I see another ad for Rosetta Stone.

"He was a hardworking farm boy.

She was an Italian supermodel.

He knew he would have just one chance to impress her."

(Bob adds) We know that he has a snowball's chance in Hell no matter how much Italian he knows.  But this farm boy will fully understand, in her native language, that she's really not interested.  If he gets to an advanced level in his Italian language study, he can understand the slang terms the supermodel uses to describe him.  I bet he'll be a very satisfied customer after purchasing the language software and spending hours and hours studying it.  Not to mention the slight learning gap between meeting the Italian supermodel and completing study of the Italian language enough to be fluent in it.  Also disregarding the frequency that farm boys encounter Italian supermodels.   

That ad cracks me up everytime I see it.  "Good luck with that dude," I think when I see it. Haha.


This farm boy just wasted $200 and showed a supermodel that he can be an ___ in English AND Italian.  Don't you want to buy it?

How does a farm boy come into contact with an Italian supermodel for this interaction to take place?  For the sake of argument, let's say he's a farm boy in Italy -- Then what's he doing learning Italian if that's his own country?  Ok, so maybe it's a farm near Italy... How does he run into a supermodel working on a farm?  I guess in the world where farm boys can meet Italian supermodels and have time to go buy langague learning software, learn it, and then meet the supermodel again, in that world purchasing this software makes perfect sense.   

Just one chance to impress her?  He must have run into her at least twice for this to take place.  I don't think he knows what the situation is.  Why would I want to follow along behind someone like that and buy this software? 

And what's he doing out in the field with software?  Is he installing it on his computer out there in the field?   

Good luck dude.  He should start by learning "No!" "Get the ___ away from me!" and "You're under arrest," in Italian.  Maybe also "We don't allow... um, t-shirts... in this establishment... sir.   

[Karli]

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[Bob]

Hmmm.  Well that would explain all those guys with laptops sitting out in the fields I suppose.  They look very hopeful and keep scanning the horizon for something.