Saul's Music Space

[Szykneij]

Since when is Youtube a standard of quality in classical music?

Since Wikipedia said so.

   

[Scarpia]

I live in Nashville, TN.

All in all, we were blessed that our damage was light compared to what some other suffered, e.g. totally losing their homes -

I've got a one thing in Finale for piano trio that I need to buff up, and something noodling around my head for flute and piano.

I saw reports on the news, very sorry that you were affected so severely.  But writing chamber music in Nashville?  Must be hard to channel the spirit of Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms in a town where the music gods are Elvis, Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton.   

[Franco]

I saw reports on the news, very sorry that you were affected so severely.  But writing chamber music in Nashville?  Must be hard to channel the spirit of Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms in a town where the music gods are Elvis, Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton.   

Actually, I've worked as a songwriter here, and the respect for craft is quite inspiring, and intimidating, no matter in which genre of music you choose to work.  It has been a source of disappointment for me that so many classical music fans do not "get" country music. 

On a different note (PTP) Nashville also has many great musicians: from the symphony, Vanderbilt's music department as well as a few other surrounding music schools - so hopefully, conjuring up a few readings may not be a huge obstacle.

[Scarpia]

Actually, I've worked as a songwriter here, and the respect for craft is quite inspiring, and intimidating, no matter in which genre of music you choose to work.  It has been a source of disappointment for me that so many classical music fans do not "get" country music. 

On a different note (PTP) Nashville also has many great musicians: from the symphony, Vanderbilt's music department as well as a few other surrounding music schools - so hopefully, conjuring up a few readings may not be a huge obstacle.

I used to be a big Johnny Cash fan.

[(poco) Sforzando]

I used to be a big Johnny Cash fan.

He probably gets a lot of YouTube hits too.

[Mirror Image]

You got to be kidding, my music is from inside of me, from my soul, attacking it is personal by every standard.

I will do a test today and go in the street and stop random people asking them , excuse me have you heard of the world famous composer Karl Henning?

How many will say yes?

And I wouldn't even bother doing this with Luke...his music is just how should I say a waste of paper, ink and time.. yet he had the nerve to brutally attack my music in every way possible, knowing full well, that many have actually enjoyed my music, yes, my music is not an insult, yes its  beautiful that's right, something that Luke has a major problem creating in his music, beauty and meaning and no education or skill can make you put beauty on a piece of paper if you don't have this talent.

You're such an ego-maniac. Do you actually read what you write?

As I said, there are people that may enjoy your music, but those people in most cases are not experienced classical listeners. Let me be really honest, you're not talented, you have no good ideas, you're living in the past, you can't take the slightest criticism, and you think having 60,000 hits on YouTube constitutes you being a great composer. You simply do not have the skills right now to compose meaningful music. I seriously doubt your music is from your heart, because 1. it's not a product of the world we live in and 2. it's too impersonal. Not only does your music suffer from poor ideas, but your ego is getting in the way of making a true emotional connection with the listener.

[Scarpia]

He probably gets a lot of YouTube hits too.

And he deserves them!

[Luke]

Out of interest I did a little semi-scientific comparison earlier. I am very reticent about posting my music anywhere except GMG - and even here I hold back quite a lot. I'm the opposite of Saul in that respect. I do not court views - I prefer quality of feedback rather than quantity, in fact I'm uncomfortable with the idea that 1000s of people might be listening to my music and reading my scores, but because GMG has its 500kb limit on attachments, I have to host my files somewhere so that they can be viewed by GMG users, and so, in theory, I guess they can be viewed by anyone who uses GMG. So, expecting a pretty small number of views, I counted up the number of hits my files have had on esnips, the file-hosting site I use. Bear in mind that 1) esnips is a functional little file-hosting site with a miniscule traffic compared to a major phenomenon like youtube; 2) I have never found the idea of self-promotion attractive, as Saul clearly does, and so I have not sown the internet with links and promotions of my files taking them to esnips - in fact the only place I have put the links to these files is on GMG; and 3) because my files are basically for GMG users, comments on them are made here at GMG, and I've only had one (exceedingly positive but slightly misled!) comment on esnips from a non-GMGer (esnips not primarily being a comment-based site in any case).....and the file that he commented on has been viewed about 3x more than any other file bar one - I assume a causal link between the comment and the increase in views.

IOW, were my files hosted at a comment-centred file-hosting site, I would be expecting them to have been viewed about, at a conservative estimate, at least 2x more than they have been. And were I to spread around the links as Saul does, they'd rise still further. And were they hosted at a major video-viewing site like youtube, I'd expect that number to rise even more sharply. As it is, I have done about the minimum possible to make my files available just to GMG users and no one else....and yet I still seem to have had 44000 'hits'.....

No, hang on - I just remembered something...a year or two back, esnips' files were made available on Scribd too....I had nothing to do with that, all my post-whenever uploads were automatically uploaded to Scribd too and are just sitting there,I think, though I've never even looked at the site. Let me go and check it out now....OK, it seems that even without my having placed the files there, without me even really knowing about the site apart from its name, I've got another 2800 hits there also, for the 10 or so files that are there.

I am mentioning this merely to help put into some perspective Saul's idea that his 60000 hits really means anything at all. Clearly, as my own files show, even without any promotion at all, if you put a file on the internet, 10s of 1000s of people will look at it. The internet is a big place. A lot of people use it. 60000 is a pretty small number.

[Florestan]

Since Wikipedia said so.

   

Good one!

[knight66]

I know that this is really a thread about composing; but further back there was discussion of prose and poetry. Some interesting points were made. So, self indulgently, I though I would submit an extract from a rather longer piece I wrote last year about a visit to Venice.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

One highlight was our first visit to the Ghetto. This is the city where the word, the concept, was invented. Italian for 'a forge', two adjacent forges sat on a tiny island within the north of the city. Due to the danger of fire, the forges and armour makers were removed to the much more distant island of Murano, where the glass industry subsequently flourished. This tiny original forge area was then dedicated to the Jews; who were given a very qualified welcome back to the city in medieval times.

The island has three bridges as the only access and although the Jews could leave the Ghetto during daylight hours, they had to be back on the island by nightfall. Drawbridges were raised and the exits guarded by Christian soldiers. The Jews had the dubious privilege imposed upon them of paying the wages of their gaolers.

They were permitted to ply only three trades, two of which were Bankers, (for Christians were not allowed to lend money, but had a constant need of it), and Doctors. These latter were permitted accompanied egress at night when the Christians needed attention. If there might be an idea that you are merely visiting an historical site; banish it. The past and present collide. Issues around persecution and schism are very much alive here.

We took the official tour, the only way to visit the synagogues for a non-religious purpose. The guide of our 20 or so party was a stylish forty-something woman with a leonine mane of wavy hair. We got off to a difficult start. Climbing flights of stairs we were confronted by a locked door and the key was not doing its job. After quite some effort and no success, I quietly voiced the question: anyone know a prayer for locked doors....thin smiles from the men around me with their skull caps. After a spell in the museum we were recalled.

The door was open and we were ushered, men all with head coverings, into the synagogue. Our guide gave a sensible amount of information.

So crowded were the Jews that they had built tenements up to eight stories high. As the Synagogues have to have a roof looking onto heaven, they were built on top of houses. The interior walls were painted to look like marble, as the Roman church had forbidden the Jews to possess marble, too good for them seemingly. There had been several thousand Jews living cheek by jowl and very much on top of one another. Some floors have headroom of less then six feet.

In modern times the Jews were allowed to live wherever they wished, but the centre of Jewish life remains firmly in the Ghetto where The Community comes together on a regular basis. Early in the tour it was explained that before the Second World War the number in the city had dwindled to about 700. There were then three round-ups by the Fascists and Nazis, the last dragging ill Jews out of the hospital. Over 200 died in concentration camps, the rest became part of the Diaspora. Now there are about 300 in the city.

It was tentatively suggested that there might have been some who were saved by local Venetians. This was scoffed at, "No Madame! That was not likely the case. Venetians were in league with the Fascists." At this point tension was suddenly present and by the end of the tour, the air crackled with it. There was one idiotic Gentile female whose third asinine remark questioned one story that had been mentioned as being in the Torah. "Well, it is not in my Old Testament...Aaron, I do believe, he is in the OT, but that guy you mentioned; never heard of him." The guide was clearly angry, but did not reply. The screw of tension was again turned.

There was a pattern to this questioning. The guide would give information, ask whether there were any questions, extended silence, then one eventual question followed by a flood. But not the flood one might expect. It was a flood of salt water. Only the women spoke and almost all the questions were barbed. The Venice Community is strictly Orthodox. There is no Reform Community evident and all of the strictest rules are adhered to when joining community occasions.

"Are the women still segregated in this Synagogue?" "Can the women be seen or are the curtains drawn?" "Surely it must get very hot for the women up there?" "Does the Rabbi go to the Torah or is it brought to him?" "Where and how are the children educated?" "Why do you not have your own school?" "If you have no doctor here now, who acts as the Mohel?" "You said this building is used every week for Shabbat, look, this lamp in the sanctuary has been allowed to go out!" "Why are there name plates on these seats?" "Why cannot the seats be passed down the generations within the family?" Subtle meanings here that are only really clear to the initiated.

The men looked on grimly, or stared at their feet. Those of us who were not of The Community were raising eyebrows and catching one another's eyes. By this time the tension was palpable. Who would ask what, next?

All this may look on the page like a mere list of questions, but they were actually passive/aggressive challenges, some of which were up-front, outright aggressive. The body language added much. The divisions in the community were laid bare and our guide was being used as a punch-bag representative of the ultra orthodox by, I assume, reform Jews, or by some who felt that Venice was not nearly ultra orthodox enough.

Going through this ritual four times a day must become an endurance test. Our guide was a no nonsense feisty sort, restrained somewhat by the fact that these people insulting her were paying for the privilege. Her smile was tight as a thong, her remarks largely uttered through gritted teeth. I suspected she was envisioning piano wire. It was riveting theatre in a way and we learned a great deal; not all of it part of the official menu.

The final of the three Synagogues we entered was more elaborate with beautiful carvings. It had been used to film part of 'The Merchant of Venice' with Al Pacino. Our not so tame dolt Gentile asked....'The Merchants of Venice?' and pulled a puzzled expression. 'Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice' she was told. She remained puzzled. I assume there is no such merchant in her version of the Old Testament. 

Interestingly for the creation of this synagogue Venice had in this instance felt sufficiently sure of herself as to defy the pope's edict. But with an eye to its mercantile reputation it sold permission to the Jews to use real marble. They however had to employ Christian architects who imposed a modified version of the standard sacred Solomonic architecture, Christianising it to an extent. The 'pulpit' was raised higher than the place in which the Torah is stored, very much a solecism, an anomaly, a departure from the orthodox.

The things people do to one another never cease to amaze. No wonder that on occasion the locks refuse to allow the doors to open. On occasion wisdom should prevail and the door be left locked.

Mike

[Luke]

Very nice, Mike, thank you for sharing. A really interesting, thought-provoking account, and beautifully, evocatively written (great spelling too  )

And if I'm not wrong there is a little hidden moral in the last paragraph, which I want to try to take heed of if possible re this thread. Clearly the door is firmly locked, and maybe I was stupid to try to open it. Apologies to all if I've been either annoying or frustratingly but pointlessly persistent on this thread. 

[karlhenning]

Wonderful travelogue/diary, Mike; most meaty.

[bhodges]

And if I'm not wrong there is a little hidden moral in the last paragraph, which I want to try to take heed of if possible re this thread. Clearly the door is firmly locked, and maybe I was stupid to try to open it. Apologies to all if I've been either annoying or frustratingly but pointlessly persistent on this thread. 

I could be wrong, but I don't think the message was directed at the generous locksmith, but rather at the one who seems key-less. 

--Bruce

[Saul]

Today I opened my Email and found the following comments about my Romance In E minor and My Prelude In G minor that I uploaded 2 days ago.

First one on my Romance:

Oh, another great song, good work you've done !!!!

Second comment :

Wow, this is amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTVLrNrjHJA



On my G minor prelude I was Delighted with :

Pretty intense! Good job, man!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RulebBhsJlw

My musical philosophy is the following:

I'll rather eat a cake that looks beautiful and tastes great but is presented on a plastic or glass plate, rather then eat a tasteless and ugly looking cake that is presented on a golden plate.

Those who are good with allegories, will understand this very well.

Best Regards, Friends.

Saul

[Mirror Image]

Today I opened my Email and found the following comments about my Romance In E minor and My Prelude In G minor that I uploaded 2 days ago.

First one on my Romance:

Oh, another great song, good work you've done !!!!

Second comment :

Wow, this is amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTVLrNrjHJA



On my G minor prelude I was Delighted with :

Pretty intense! Good job, man!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RulebBhsJlw

My musical philosophy is the following:

I'll rather eat a cake that looks beautiful and tastes great but is presented on a plastic or glass plate, rather then it a tasteless and ugly looking cake that is presented on a golden plate.

Those who are good with allegories, will understand this very well.

Best Regards, Friends.

Saul

...And the endless self-promotion never ends.

[Saul]

...And the endless self-promotion never ends.

You know pretty well that this has nothing to do with 'self promotion'.

[Saul]

I know that this is really a thread about composing; but further back there was discussion of prose and poetry. Some interesting points were made. So, self indulgently, I though I would submit an extract from a rather longer piece I wrote last year about a visit to Venice.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

One highlight was our first visit to the Ghetto. This is the city where the word, the concept, was invented. Italian for 'a forge', two adjacent forges sat on a tiny island within the north of the city. Due to the danger of fire, the forges and armour makers were removed to the much more distant island of Murano, where the glass industry subsequently flourished. This tiny original forge area was then dedicated to the Jews; who were given a very qualified welcome back to the city in medieval times.

The island has three bridges as the only access and although the Jews could leave the Ghetto during daylight hours, they had to be back on the island by nightfall. Drawbridges were raised and the exits guarded by Christian soldiers. The Jews had the dubious privilege imposed upon them of paying the wages of their gaolers.

They were permitted to ply only three trades, two of which were Bankers, (for Christians were not allowed to lend money, but had a constant need of it), and Doctors. These latter were permitted accompanied egress at night when the Christians needed attention. If there might be an idea that you are merely visiting an historical site; banish it. The past and present collide. Issues around persecution and schism are very much alive here.

We took the official tour, the only way to visit the synagogues for a non-religious purpose. The guide of our 20 or so party was a stylish forty-something woman with a leonine mane of wavy hair. We got off to a difficult start. Climbing flights of stairs we were confronted by a locked door and the key was not doing its job. After quite some effort and no success, I quietly voiced the question: anyone know a prayer for locked doors....thin smiles from the men around me with their skull caps. After a spell in the museum we were recalled.

The door was open and we were ushered, men all with head coverings, into the synagogue. Our guide gave a sensible amount of information.

So crowded were the Jews that they had built tenements up to eight stories high. As the Synagogues have to have a roof looking onto heaven, they were built on top of houses. The interior walls were painted to look like marble, as the Roman church had forbidden the Jews to possess marble, too good for them seemingly. There had been several thousand Jews living cheek by jowl and very much on top of one another. Some floors have headroom of less then six feet.

In modern times the Jews were allowed to live wherever they wished, but the centre of Jewish life remains firmly in the Ghetto where The Community comes together on a regular basis. Early in the tour it was explained that before the Second World War the number in the city had dwindled to about 700. There were then three round-ups by the Fascists and Nazis, the last dragging ill Jews out of the hospital. Over 200 died in concentration camps, the rest became part of the Diaspora. Now there are about 300 in the city.

It was tentatively suggested that there might have been some who were saved by local Venetians. This was scoffed at, "No Madame! That was not likely the case. Venetians were in league with the Fascists." At this point tension was suddenly present and by the end of the tour, the air crackled with it. There was one idiotic Gentile female whose third asinine remark questioned one story that had been mentioned as being in the Torah. "Well, it is not in my Old Testament...Aaron, I do believe, he is in the OT, but that guy you mentioned; never heard of him." The guide was clearly angry, but did not reply. The screw of tension was again turned.

There was a pattern to this questioning. The guide would give information, ask whether there were any questions, extended silence, then one eventual question followed by a flood. But not the flood one might expect. It was a flood of salt water. Only the women spoke and almost all the questions were barbed. The Venice Community is strictly Orthodox. There is no Reform Community evident and all of the strictest rules are adhered to when joining community occasions.

"Are the women still segregated in this Synagogue?" "Can the women be seen or are the curtains drawn?" "Surely it must get very hot for the women up there?" "Does the Rabbi go to the Torah or is it brought to him?" "Where and how are the children educated?" "Why do you not have your own school?" "If you have no doctor here now, who acts as the Mohel?" "You said this building is used every week for Shabbat, look, this lamp in the sanctuary has been allowed to go out!" "Why are there name plates on these seats?" "Why cannot the seats be passed down the generations within the family?" Subtle meanings here that are only really clear to the initiated.

The men looked on grimly, or stared at their feet. Those of us who were not of The Community were raising eyebrows and catching one another's eyes. By this time the tension was palpable. Who would ask what, next?

All this may look on the page like a mere list of questions, but they were actually passive/aggressive challenges, some of which were up-front, outright aggressive. The body language added much. The divisions in the community were laid bare and our guide was being used as a punch-bag representative of the ultra orthodox by, I assume, reform Jews, or by some who felt that Venice was not nearly ultra orthodox enough.

Going through this ritual four times a day must become an endurance test. Our guide was a no nonsense feisty sort, restrained somewhat by the fact that these people insulting her were paying for the privilege. Her smile was tight as a thong, her remarks largely uttered through gritted teeth. I suspected she was envisioning piano wire. It was riveting theatre in a way and we learned a great deal; not all of it part of the official menu.

The final of the three Synagogues we entered was more elaborate with beautiful carvings. It had been used to film part of 'The Merchant of Venice' with Al Pacino. Our not so tame dolt Gentile asked....'The Merchants of Venice?' and pulled a puzzled expression. 'Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice' she was told. She remained puzzled. I assume there is no such merchant in her version of the Old Testament. 

Interestingly for the creation of this synagogue Venice had in this instance felt sufficiently sure of herself as to defy the pope's edict. But with an eye to its mercantile reputation it sold permission to the Jews to use real marble. They however had to employ Christian architects who imposed a modified version of the standard sacred Solomonic architecture, Christianising it to an extent. The 'pulpit' was raised higher than the place in which the Torah is stored, very much a solecism, an anomaly, a departure from the orthodox.

The things people do to one another never cease to amaze. No wonder that on occasion the locks refuse to allow the doors to open. On occasion wisdom should prevail and the door be left locked.

Mike

I want to know what was the third job?
Any ideas, Knight?

[karlhenning]

...And the endless self-promotion never ends.

And a fan who calls a Romance (presumably a piano solo piece?) a song ; )

[Scarpia]

Today I opened my Email and found the following comments about my Romance In E minor and My Prelude In G minor that I uploaded 2 days ago.

First one on my Romance:

Oh, another great song, good work you've done !!!!

Second comment :

Wow, this is amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTVLrNrjHJA



On my G minor prelude I was Delighted with :

Pretty intense! Good job, man!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RulebBhsJlw

My musical philosophy is the following:

I'll rather eat a cake that looks beautiful and tastes great but is presented on a plastic or glass plate, rather then it a tasteless and ugly looking cake that is presented on a golden plate.

Those who are good with allegories, will understand this very well.

Best Regards, Friends.

Saul

Saul, bless you heart, didn't anyone ever teach you any manners?   You mother never told you that boasting, tooting your own horn, flaunting any complementary word anyone ever offers you is crass, rude, and shows a lack of good taste?  Have you failed to notice that you are the only person on this entire web site who engages in such behavior?  Are you really that starved for attention, that you have to stoop this low?

[Saul]

And a fan who calls a Romance (presumably a piano solo piece?) a song ; )

I was ready you gonna point that out, but that's fine. A song is a also a word to describe music. Songs without Words, Songs written by Grieg for Solo piano, Songs written by Mahler for Orchestra, and many other examples where the word Song is used to describe a Work.

Face it Karl, my music is been enjoyed by many people, layman, and professional musicians, as I said I have been asked many times to provide the scores to some of my compositions. Remember that just casual listeners don't ask for scores, these are people who play instruments and are 'above average' music listeners.


As to Franco who said that he didn't find any of my youtube videos with over 4.000 views...

Walla:

58.237 views
234 ratings - 215 likes 19 dislikes 91 comments - Favorites: 159

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM2YUJzKqu8

Next:

32.546 views At the Ocean.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ga98fFu_qM

Best Wishes,

Saul