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Thread: Music and birds

  1. #1
    Oliphaunt Jizzelbin's avatar
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    Default Music and birds

    I've always hated birds, kind of. Because the most prominent are the .... refrain from comparing one of god's creatures to a shrieking harpy or merman ... crows that are constantly shrieking and crapping all over the place.

    (btw Vergil's description of harpies is probably the most horrifying thing I've ever read -- I was struggling with the Latin text a few years ago and it really has a way of making you concentrate on every last detail. not that i recall now, I'd have to look it up, but I'd look into it, if you're a horror fan).

    Oh yeah, so independently I've been enjoying these little songbirds out my window...never noticed this one before, but nice little melody. Kind of an ostinato, or maybe a refrain...I can't remember the right terminology.

    So you know just walking over to the kitchen to make some coffee you just plink out the melody on the piano.

    They have an odd microtonal thing going on. And the melody is certainly atonal.

    I've been a student of Messiaen for years now, and despite his indications in the scores of which birds are supposed to be what part, I never realized how (apparently) possibly naturalistic his mimetic art was.

    Also, "Craney Crow" was a good song but I still hate crows.

    Also, the song of this particular bird is rhythmically absolutely sound. The pulse is there, and the rhythmic displacement is almost invariable. At least to my ear, without studying it.

    I always thought Didimus the percussion player was just smacked out when he talked about "I just listen to the birds, man" or whatever.

    No, there's a lot of music there.

    And Messiaen's Turangalila or however it's spelled Symphony, with the incorporation of extra-natural (yeah I know but you know what I mean) sounds is perfect, when you really listen to what's going on.

    And no I'm not on drugs.

  2. #2
    Oliphaunt Jizzelbin's avatar
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    Hey music assnecked skateboard twinks, can a melody be atonal all on its own?

    I think yes, because without outlining, even obliquely, a common-practice/major-minor (I think those are both correct terms for tonal harmony of the common practice period) system of harmony, it's not possible to construe ANY given diatonic harmonic progression which makes sense tonally in major-minor.

    So, I'm thinking if you took, say, one strand out of Berg's piano sonata, isolated it (I don't have the score with me, and I never really studied the piece as I should have), you'd have a melody, extended over n bars, that is in itself atonal.

    Rhythmic coherence, I suspect, may have been the last natural bond of music to have been loosened or deprecated.

  3. #3
    Oliphaunt Jizzelbin's avatar
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    No, that can't be right. Take a Wayne Shorter joint, like "Nefertiti" or something else. Non-functional? Yes, I'd say up and down that is non-functional harmony.

    However, melodic coherence by itself, I suspect, within functional harmony can be achieved no matter the qualities of the melody. ETA BUT, only if a kind of elasticity can be impressed upon the melody. You know how you could say that something 50 feet high that kind of looks like a chair is a chair? Well, there's probably a similar way rhythmic liberties can be taken with a melody. Maybe that's the condition.

    It's only when given an harmonic context that tonality is establishable.

    That's my unreasonable suspicion.

    So, yeah, birds are in tone, just like the dial tone of a phone is.

    I think there is some phenomenon of ..... I forgot what it's called, but where you get multiple pitches from a single source. Like when Jethro Tull (... ... ...) that great (... ... ...) flautist (... ... ... salmon farmer) overblows the flute or Trane is off giving something for some Europeans to copy.

    Not sure, but kind of sounds like it.

    Trust me, it's better than it sounds.
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 06 May 2014 at 09:21 PM.

  4. #4
    Mi parolas esperanton malbone Trojan Man's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Jizzelbin View post
    Also, "Craney Crow" was a good song but I still hate crows.
    I fed a crow some scraps today, and gave him your address so he can fuck your shit up.

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    Oliphaunt Jizzelbin's avatar
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    Default


  6. #6
    Mi parolas esperanton malbone Trojan Man's avatar
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    Your pimples are caused by your nail polish. Try another brand.

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    Member Elendil's Heir's avatar
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    Things are pretty interesting in Oregon these days, eh...?

  8. #8
    Oliphaunt Jizzelbin's avatar
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    Nah. The inhabitants of Oregon are very fine people. Some of the very best.

    Aw, fuck it. No, OR sucks balls right now. Completely non-partisan statement.

    It's complicated.


  9. #9
    Mi parolas esperanton malbone Trojan Man's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Jizzelbin View post
    Nah. The inhabitants of Oregon are very fine people. Some of the very best.
    That's not been my experience.

  10. #10
    Oliphaunt Jizzelbin's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Trojan Man View post
    Quote Originally posted by Jizzelbin View post
    Nah. The inhabitants of Oregon are very fine people. Some of the very best.
    That's not been my experience.
    Sarcasm. Master it! Recognize it! Be the sarcasm you desire!


  11. #11
    Mi parolas esperanton malbone Trojan Man's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Jizzelbin View post
    Quote Originally posted by Trojan Man View post
    Quote Originally posted by Jizzelbin View post
    Nah. The inhabitants of Oregon are very fine people. Some of the very best.
    That's not been my experience.
    Sarcasm. Master it! Recognize it! Be the sarcasm you desire!

    Great response, jizz.

  12. #12
    Oliphaunt Jizzelbin's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Trojan Man View post
    Great response, jizz.

  13. #13
    Mi parolas esperanton malbone Trojan Man's avatar
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