What is currently stuck in your head?

[Karl Henning]

At least you'er not humming back to yourself my passacaglia motto, eh?

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

Many melodies come and go but the ones that seem permanently welded into the recesses of my neuronal network are from Sibelius' 2nd.  No telling when they will pop-up but they do so regularly.  And I don't mind. 

[EigenUser]

I was out earlier playing tennis with a friend on this beautiful afternoon. We were talking about "Jeux" beforehand (the piece is from a ballet about tennis). From then on, I had the piece stuck in my head.

[Ken B]

I was out earlier playing tennis with a friend on this beautiful afternoon. We were talking about "Jeux" beforehand (the piece is from a ballet about tennis). From then on, I had the piece stuck in my head.

This helps

[asin]B0041DOOWW[/asin]

[EigenUser]

Ligeti's Piano Concerto, 4th movement "Allegro Risoluto, Molto Ritmico" Gershwin's "Variations on 'I've Got Rhythm'"

[king ubu]

That wonderful "creeping" slow motif in the second part of Beethoven's seventh.

[EigenUser]

That wonderful "creeping" slow motif in the second part of Beethoven's seventh.

Oh, nice! I can never tell if it is a stately ballroom dance or if it is a funeral march. Depends on the tempo.

[king ubu]

Oh, nice! I can never tell if it is a stately ballroom dance or if it is a funeral march. Depends on the tempo.

Indeed! And calling it an "Allegretto" must be some sick joke, I guess? When I saw the great polish film "Ida" a few weeks back (it has the "Jupiter" in the soundtrack, Coltrane as well, and some fun 60s sounds) it kinda crept into my head as if it had been part of the film (but it wasn't, as far as IMDB tells me, the credits ran too fast for me to catch all the info about the musical pieces used on the soundtrack).

EDIT: playing Vivaldi now, I guess I'll soon have some other melody haunting me 

[North Star]

Indeed! And calling it an "Allegretto" must be some sick joke, I guess? When I saw the great polish film "Ida" a few weeks back (it has the "Jupiter" in the soundtrack, Coltrane as well, and some fun 60s sounds) it kinda crept into my head as if it had been part of the film (but it wasn't, as far as IMDB tells me, the credits ran too fast for me to catch all the info about the musical pieces used on the soundtrack).

EDIT: playing Vivaldi now, I guess I'll soon have some other melody haunting me 

No, playing it slower than allegretto is a sick joke, but it kind of works that way, too, I guess.

[king ubu]

Guess I've got some comparative listening to do there 

[Ken B]

Oh, nice! I can never tell if it is a stately ballroom dance or if it is a funeral march. Depends on the tempo.

EigenUser has heard Beethoven's Seventh??

Pall-bearers executing a stately dance!

[EigenUser]

EigenUser has heard Beethoven's Seventh??

Ken, I've performed Beethoven's 7th. I know it inside out. One of the few Beethoven works that I can say this about.

[jochanaan]

Indeed! And calling it an "Allegretto" must be some sick joke, I guess?...

Lots of "slow" movements from classical symphonies are only "slow" by virtue of being placed between two faster ones.  In B7, for instance, the Allegretto is surrounded by a Vivace and a Presto.  In Beethoven's Eighth, the tempo relationships are even closer: Allegro con brio, Allegretto scherzando, Tempo di menuetto, Allegro vivace.

[Jay F]

"Old Man," from Love's Forever Changes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbzmX0BDpC4

[asin]B000058983[/asin]

[king ubu]

No, playing it slower than allegretto is a sick joke, but it kind of works that way, too, I guess.

Lots of "slow" movements from classical symphonies are only "slow" by virtue of being placed between two faster ones.  In B7, for instance, the Allegretto is surrounded by a Vivace and a Presto.  In Beethoven's Eighth, the tempo relationships are even closer: Allegro con brio, Allegretto scherzando, Tempo di menuetto, Allegro vivace.

Okay ... dug out Gardiner (only HIP Beethoven cycle I've got here, I like it very much so wasn't yet checking for more  - got plenty of "old" recordings that I like a lot, too, and Kleiber of course). Anyway, he does take it somewhat faster, but the magic's still all there, of course! But yeah, I guess I was somewhat off here, it actually IS faster than it felt for me anyways. I'm really not that much into what tempo IS but more into how it FEELS - I'm no conductor/scholar, so 

And now it will haunt me for another day, I'm sure!

[EigenUser]

This has been a particularly bad couple of days. I've had the 3rd movement of Schumann 4, Poulenc's "L'embarquement pour Cynthere" that amw posted earlier on this thread (my friend and I sightread it yesterday), the fast part of the slow 2nd movement of Haydn 79, and 1st movement of Shosty 9. I love these pieces, but it gets old after awhile. Especially the Poulenc.

[zamyrabyrd]

It would be interesting to know if music in one's head is heard with the original instruments or how one hums it to oneself. I discovered recently that there are two ways of doing this after having to prepare a rather difficult piece for a concert.
In my free time I would imagine it from beginning to end and by now I do agree with Schnabel that one hears the piece slightly ahead of one's actual performance. When I am playing, even practicing, I have this track going on but if I have to identify the sound, it is usually how I would hum it.
Any thoughts?
ZB

[EigenUser]

I don't really know, to be honest. I think I usually hear the instruments, especially if the melody contains elements that are instrument-specific (i.e. string glissandos).

I also whistle quite a lot. I have been known to whistle while listening to my headphones . Even Ligeti. Don't ask me how -- I find a way.

[North Star]

I certainly hear the instruments & timbres too, if I hear something in my head.

[zamyrabyrd]

Well, if I want to hear something specific like the Tschaikovky 1st Piano Concerto, I would turn it on in my head and hear the original instruments. But recently, I caught myself with pieces I play, sort of humming them in my mind but not hearing an actual piano sound.
I don't know if I am weird.
ZB