New Member - from Canada

Started by HomerChapman, July 30, 2021, 10:33:33 PM

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HomerChapman

New to the forum.
Find it a little intimidating-seeing it's a classical music forum and I don't read music, & certainly can't play an instrument :).
My first exposure to classical music was in the '70s listening to the Toronto FM station CJRT. It is a jazz station now, but I remember the days when Peter Keigh and others introduced me to orchestral, opera,  chamber & early music. One of my favourite programs of theirs was on Sunday night-'Music Before 1800'. From there, I've tried to expand my knowledge. Hopefully I can learn a few things through this forum as well.
"Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass, stains the white radiance of eternity..." P. B. Shelley

bhodges

Hello, Homer, and welcome. No need to read music or play and instrument -- neither one is required to have a good time here. Let us know what you're listening to, and enjoy GMG.

--Bruce

Mirror Image

#2
Welcome aboard, Homer! Your avatar looks familiar from another forum --- perhaps the Steve Hoffman forum? Anyway, who are some of your favorite composers? Looking forward to seeing you around and feel free to jump right into a thread of your interest.

Papy Oli

Olivier

Pohjolas Daughter

Pohjolas Daughter

Alek Hidell

Welcome, Homer!

No prerequisites to being a member here - while we certainly do have members who can read, play, and compose music, I think most of us are just "lay listeners" like yourself. I can read music to a certain extent and played an instrument as a kid (over 40 years ago!), but I'm far from being expert - and, except at the most rudimentary level, music theory goes in one ear and out the other with me. So no worries about being out of your depth here.

Anyway, glad to have you!
"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist." - Hélder Pessoa Câmara

André


Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Que


vandermolen

I can't read music and don't play an instrument either but that has never stopped me from contributing my 'expert' (Hahaha) opinions on many subjects - so, please don't feel inhibited by that! As the proud father-in-law to a fellow Canadian I am very pleased that you have joined the forum and hope that you enjoy your time here.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

HomerChapman

Quote from: Mirror Image on July 31, 2021, 06:52:38 AM
Welcome aboard, Homer! Your avatar looks familiar from another forum --- perhaps the Steve Hoffman forum? Anyway, who are some of your favorite composers? Looking forward to seeing you around and feel free to jump right into a thread of your interest.
Some of my favourites are Haydn(who I put on the cd player esp. when I need to believe that 'everything is all right with the world'), Wagner-hope to appreciate the more vocal aspects of his work eventually, for now, his Overture to The Flying Dutchman is near the top of things I like by him. I have a few of the Tallis Scholars' cds, and find that kind of polyphony very attractive. Vaughan Williams, though, is probably my favourite composer. Mostly for the pieces where he embeds folk music and captivating tunes into the fabric- ie In The Fen Country. I find his symphonies a little harder to warm up to. There are others, of course.
Thanx to all for the welcomes.
"Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass, stains the white radiance of eternity..." P. B. Shelley

Mirror Image

Quote from: HomerChapman on August 01, 2021, 06:55:38 PM
Some of my favourites are Haydn(who I put on the cd player esp. when I need to believe that 'everything is all right with the world'), Wagner-hope to appreciate the more vocal aspects of his work eventually, for now, his Overture to The Flying Dutchman is near the top of things I like by him. I have a few of the Tallis Scholars' cds, and find that kind of polyphony very attractive. Vaughan Williams, though, is probably my favourite composer. Mostly for the pieces where he embeds folk music and captivating tunes into the fabric- ie In The Fen Country. I find his symphonies a little harder to warm up to. There are others, of course.
Thanx to all for the welcomes.

8) I hope you enjoy your time here.

foxandpeng

Welcome, indeed. I am also a fan of RVW :)

As far as expertise is concerned, if you turned off the light, I broadly couldn't find my butt with both hands, but I love the music and appreciate the patience shown to me here. Doubtless you will find lots of fascinating discussion to read and join in with.
"A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people ... then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbour — such is my idea of happiness"

Tolstoy

Karl Henning

Quote from: HomerChapman on August 01, 2021, 06:55:38 PM
Some of my favourites are Haydn(who I put on the cd player esp. when I need to believe that 'everything is all right with the world'), Wagner-hope to appreciate the more vocal aspects of his work eventually, for now, his Overture to The Flying Dutchman is near the top of things I like by him. I have a few of the Tallis Scholars' cds, and find that kind of polyphony very attractive. Vaughan Williams, though, is probably my favourite composer. Mostly for the pieces where he embeds folk music and captivating tunes into the fabric- ie In The Fen Country. I find his symphonies a little harder to warm up to. There are others, of course.
Thanx to all for the welcomes.

Huge Haydn fan, too.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot