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There are times that one author, quoting
another, and finding an error or omission in the
source material, makes his audience aware of
this fact by use of the bracketed term [sic];
thus it was, as if to say "that's the way I
found it, folks, don't blame me." One curious
effect of the strange collision of tones in the
fourth measure (11 seconds into the present
recording [in this blog post]) is that I
want to bracket it and write [sic] above it,
saying "Look, I know it sounds like a wrong
note, but the composer wants it that way; it's
not my fault." It's a curious dynamic, because
many times a composer writes a dissonance that,
even if it sounds a little odd going by, turns
into something wonderful by the end. But this
may well be an example of a dissonance that
doesn't really work. And so I'm issuing this
curious little piece by [a] typically operatic
composer with a little distancing. I don't
really like this chord. And I'm not so sure
about the one near the end, either. (it's at
1:45, and I'll give it this: it is a very
interesting chord)
On the other hand, maybe I am being picky.
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[Sic]
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They Laughed
when I started to Play
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A couple of months ago, during a performance, I
had one of those moments onstage where everybody
was laughing at me. You've probably experienced
something similar in your nightmares, only this
was actually happening. And I loved it.
....It seems that artists have spent so much
time trying to get the audience to behave
decently (often by bullying them) that what
results is a culture of fear, rather than
respect. Keeping quiet because you want to
understand and communicate with the music is not
the same thing as being quiet out of the fear
that if you dare to make a sound, people will
look at you like a leper with hemorrhoids.
read on |
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Repetition
before you can't get that song out of your head
you have to put it in there
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When I was just starting music school I
remember asking myself, "how does a concert
pianist practice?" I figured I couldn't very
well sneak into somebody's house and find out.
But right away, my response to my own question
was, "become one and find out!"
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Piano vs. Organ (part 3)
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We get tourists, sometimes. Or visitors. In
any case, a young woman walked into our
sanctuary one afternoon while I was
practicing the organ and decided to ask the
question that was pressing on her mind:
which is harder to play, the piano or the
organ?
She did not, it seems, want a complicated
answer.
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