mis-ing

[Judith R Cohen <judithc...>]

hi,
I'm not against change.
I'm for making changes based on knowledge - one of my favourite aspects
of the Picasso and the Juan Miro and Salvador Dali museums is how they
show the progression of the artists' from learning standard form and
technique to experimenting to developing each of their own unique
vision. Or, as my high school band teacher Archie Etienne (who, we
discovered to our amazement from old yearbook files, in the 1940's had a
band called "Archie 'n' his Rhythm Rascals" used to tell us constantly,
"kids, first you learn the theory rules, then you can be Beethoven".)

Other than that, I have not much else to say except that - as perhaps
you (plural you) may have noticed by now, I think oral tradition should
be learned from oral traditional performance wherever possible, and also
think having terrific transcriptions like those in a recent publication
by Josh Horowitz and Aron Saltiel is an absolutely splendid backup to
learning this way and one which no one should miss having the
opportunity to take advantage of.

I don't think this advocates "cultural constipation", "musical anal
fixation", traumatizing octagenarians with minidisc mikes or any of the
other misbegotten behaviours which have been suggested. 

Change is fine, (though perhaps not always all it's cracked up to be),
mistakes can lead to neat things, as Josh says, mis-whatevering can lead
to neat things, as my daughter would say, "it's all good" (I'm ok you're
ok?)

By the way, have I mentioned that I think it would greatly enhance the
value of the songbook under discussion to have a cd included with or
planned for it? ............ catch you later, Judith


> To expect everyone to develop an advanced case
> of the musical equivalent of anal fixation is to invite cultural
> constipation on an epidemic level..........
> 
.......
> minidisc mikes into the nostrils of their newfound octogenarians, 
.......> 

> 
> mis-remembering verses; mis-learning tunes from written rather than sound
> sources; mis-interpreting texts and generally missing the point.
> 
> All of these are genuine catalysts of change, ..........
> 
>

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