Part of the blog's mission statement is commentary.
And so far, I'll admit that most of the commentary I've had to make about things has ended up in either a forum among those where I'm currently active, or in my head for reprocessing.
Therefore, not much was left to post here. However, I recently had an epiphany and decided to make a satirical post about the aforementioned GMG Forum's everyday realities, as seen through the eyes of someone coming to the forum with the purpose of learning about life.
"Why are you explaining this, now?
Isn't a joke supposed to go unexplained?"
Well, yes, but it appears that almost everyone who responded in that by-now reasonably popular thread missed most of my less obvious irony, and I thought I'd make it plain that there is less-obvious irony to be found. I hope that helps, because I might even say that, judging from the responses, the very specific target I was aiming at has been hit.
So without further ado, here follows a reproduction of my commentary on both GMG, and the actual world of classical music lovers in general, in spite of(?) the various stereotypes in abundance.
[Further hint: neither order nor spacing are random, at any point.]
[Edit: Forum member Greg perceptively adds:
12. "In classical music, we always skip 12."
No, that was not deliberate.]
...............................................................................................
1. Classical music is for everyone.
2. Except bigots.
3. Or maybe especially them.
4. If composer or performance practice: old is good, new is better; older is best.
5. If conductor or soloist: new is bad, old is better; older is still best.
6. Each person is entitled to their opinion.
7. Unless they are wrong.
8. No matter their age, everyone has something to prove.
9. Classical music listeners are not elitist.
10. Non-specialist musical discussions are largely useless.
11. Classical music listeners also excel in philosophy, theology, sociology and psychology by default.
13. Non-specialist discussions on the above are far preferable to the lies specialist discussions give birth to.
14. Richard Wagner's music is boring and shallow, due to its dependence on long-winded text.
15. Richard Wagner's music is exciting and profound, especially due to its dependence on long-winded text.
16. Consistency is optional.
17. As are manners.
18. But mannerisms are not.
19. Nor is etiquette.
20. Classical music is for those who can understand it.
I almost don't believe the time it took me to realise the font for this was the wrong size...
ReplyDeleteIf I've learned anything from GMG, it's that there's truth in the maxim "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt".
ReplyDeleteErgo, I am willing to let others more knowledgeable about the inner workings of music explain them much more eloquently and accurately than I can. :)
I'd rather speak and remove all doubt than suffer the self-importance that tends to go along with said knowledge, to be frank.
ReplyDeleteAfter all, some people in GMG are erudite in music, others are erudite in different subjects. I don't see most of those people (the latter) make a fool of themselves, though.
(When some of the musically-learned do so pretending their musical erudition permits them to present any old opinion, on anything, they come up with as a universal truth.)
So my "take" is that, within the boundaries of reason (and a certain measure of decency towards those professional in the subject), it won't hurt if an opinion written in anything other than musical symbolism appears!
Well, you can see that I post more frequently in the Diner — spec. the movie and current reading threads.
ReplyDeleteWith the availability of information being greater than ever before, it seems to me that the only way out is "in". You must stay in your own little sphere of specialization, or else risk looking like a clueless fool if you happen to stumble into someone else's sphere. The book I'm reading now (The Man Without Qualities) deals quite a bit with this — the amazing thing is that it was written in the 20s (well, from the 20s up until about 1942, Musil spent nearly all of his adult life working on it). I don't think there's ever been a worse time for the dilettante, and this is very apparent if one hangs around GMG.
So that is the main reason why I shut up for the most part about music apart from a few desultory comments and opinions. The other reason is that I've only been listening to classical music for about three years, and still feel like a neophyte (but I doubt I will ever feel like an "expert" in any field).
If you ask me, the 1920's and our current time are not entirely dissimilar; not at all!
ReplyDelete