Introducing the Music forum

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Rich Engle sent me an e-mail asking a pretty obvious question. Given that I was a professional musician for many years, that he was and the Roger Bissell was, why didn't we have a music section.

That was a good question.

Robert Jones and Ed Hudgins have been discussing beautiful music and there has even been a start at looking into the Joseph Schillinger music composition method.

So, here it is. Now we have a special place to discuss the music and musicians you like and why, including technical information. I will send the discussions about music in other sections over here.

Groovy.

Michael

[Kat]

I see that while I was away at Beatlefest being totally immersed in music that I love, a new music forum was started on OL and only classical music is discussed. I'd like to see all types of music discussed. Robert and Roger gave wonderful talks on music at the summer seminar and they were about various types of music, popular, blues and jazz. We all are individuals with our own personal tastes in music we shouldn't have to defend our tastes because they are not Objectivist enough. People like what they like musicwise and should be free to talk about music we like here without the judgmental bullshit that we have sometimes seen. Please no classical versus popular or John versus Paul wars.

I know that I am not the only rock fan on Objectivist Living and that Ayn Rand has influenced rock bands such as Rush. Here are links to a couple of JARS articles on the topic by Chris Sciabarra:

Rand, Rush, and Rock

Rand, Rock, and Radicalism

I realize that Ayn Rand did not personally like rock music but that doesn't mean that we can't like it or talk about it on Objectivist Living. I know I'm not the only rocker here.

Let's Rock!

Kat

[Jonathan]

I, too, look forward to the discussions that an OL music section might generate. But, actually, I'd much rather hear the original music created by members here. I've heard Roger's work and think he's amazingly talented. Any chance that some of you other pros will post clips?

J

[Rich Engle]

I, too, look forward to the discussions that an OL music section might generate. But, actually, I'd much rather hear the original music created by members here. I've heard Roger's work and think he's amazingly talented. Any chance that some of you other pros will post clips?

J

Michael, thanks, mon!! This will be awesome.

My band, On The Air, is finally beginning our first album, after being together for about six years. A week ago Friday marked our 100th gig as a band. It is hard because we are dual-sided, we do copy music for money, which we then save up to use for recording, and of course gear. OTA is a rock band, normally we work in quartet configuration- bass, drums, guitar (me!), and a female vocalist. For the album, we will be using our friend Oksana Melnychenko, a native Ukranian violinist/master musician.

I am very excited about this project, there's about a dozen songs we're putting into the can, very wide in variety. I'm particularly anxious to hear one composition I did called "Talking In My Sleep," which is sort of Jungian influenced. My bassist is a cop, who works in the worst district in the city- he wrote a couple of street-influenced songs that are very different than what I write. One is called "Profiler," which is as advertised (profiling criminals), and another bluesy one called "Show Me Your Hands." These two are very strong, and we're getting good feedback at the clubs when we slip them in between cover songs.

I live in a musical house- my roomate is one of the top bassist/B3 players in the area, at the tender age of 26. He just completed an album with a band called Copperfoot that is quite fun, I'm excited about it. Roomie no. two is his girlfriend, who is working on her musical doctorate. She's a seasoned player, upright bass and piano, does all kinds of work, including lately a lot of cocktail piano gigs, and singing with the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus (just did Mozart's Requiem at Blossom Music Center).

So you can imagine what our apartment is like- it looks like a bloody music store! And, an 1100 watt THX sound system, because we can't tolerate anything less! Nothing like a 400 watt Cerwin Vega subwoofer in your living room!

I should have some pre-mix rushes in a month or so to put up- after we're done with all of them, they go to NYC for mastering.

rock on!

r

[Gonzalo Jerez]

What a surprise! I am so glad because of already we have a Music Forum. It is great. I play Spanish guitar and trumpet.

The composer who I like more is called Rimsky Korsakov, and other one is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. I like some Shostakovich´s auditions. About Tchaikovsky... His "1812 Overture" is phenomenal for me. I think that the power of that is spectacular being the cause of this, for instance, the plot of the composition. I think that there is an anachronic fault. At the end of that, I can hear an ancient Russian Anthem, which is known as God save the Tsar and this anthem was not official at 1812, and neither La Marseillaise, I think that.

About Rimsky Korsakov, I would recommend Capriccio Español or Scherezade. It is so powerful.

I also enjoy hearing Mike Oldfield. Do you like his compositions (ex. gr. "Tubular Bells")?

Thank you for create this forum,

Gonzalo Jerez

Edited August 15, 2006 by Gonzalo Jerez