Re: Chord connection


"Bob Pease" <Popester@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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"Abstract Dissonance" <Abstract.Dissonance@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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"Steve Latham" <llatham@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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Snippa lot

Yeah. I guess I need to learn from someone in an academic way instead of
just working on it on my own... I tend to get lazy if I do it myself.


What I'm going to try to do is just start writing pieces. I'm not going
to
care about rules or anything but only what I think sounds good. I'm not
going to care about what others think. I've read enough books that if I
got
anything out of them then it would show up and I will learn to use them.
I
know the way I keep going by reading will probably not completely solve
my
problems. Theres a lot of things I gotta learn but probably the main
thing
is to actually try and write a full piece of music. I think the real
issue
is that I'm fraid that people will call it crap but I guess thats
something
I gotta deal with and maybe crap is the first stepping stone.

Its not that I don't logically and intellectually understand what you are
saying but there seems to be something that is holding me back. Only
thing
I can think of is that it would be rejection. Unlike science music is
about
sharing with other people. If no one wants what you have to offer then
surely it would make you feel useless(which some people don't care to
much
about but I do). I guess my brain feels that if I just keep putting it
off
then I won't have to face it. Psychogically it makes perfect sense but
its
still hard to do ;)

I have been following this thread with some interest.
My impression is that you don't want to get your feet wet by just wading
in
and doing some composing.


Maybe. I think that surely might be part of it. (I do "compose" but usually
just scraps. I think thats due to the fact that I usually have lack of
creativity or don't know how to make it go).

I find that a lot people who find excuses for not getting started are
really edxperiecning a compulsion towards being "Perfect"


Sure. I think thats it. I tend to have that problem. I tend to be of the
mindset that if you can't do it right then don't do it at all. I know that
its not necessarily a good thing to think though but thats the way I am for
better or worse.

If you never compose anything, nobody can cut you down for producing
something they judge as inferior.
I agree that experience and an adequate base of knowledge of a particular
field is needed in order even to get going.
Your familiarity with Schoenberg and Piston certainly is more than
enough.
I'm still at the "Bach 371" and Charlie Parker stage, myself


yes, I agree. I do believe that I should have plenty of "knowledge", atleast
from reading, to allow me to compose something that is ok... but every time
I try I am not satisfied with what I do and it tends to discourage me.

Personally, I'm slightly uneasy with your belief that a "Mathematical"
understanding of something is needed , especially for emotional comfort.
It would be very easy to use this as an excuse for not doing anything


No, I don't believe that it is necessary but I it tends to be necessary for
me. I just hate doing things in an ameturish way. Mathematics for me is
really the process of systematic and anayltical thinking. I feel that if I
am to do something and want to do it well I need to understand it well(not
necessarily perfectly but until I feel comfortable and don't feel that I'm a
novice).

Although Hofftadter and Kurwzeill have some peculiar ideas , they might
offer you some insight as to the futility of making Mathematics and
Epistomology the same thing.


ok. I'll look into it and see what happens.

I don't try to explain Mathematics to anyone because usually they don't
understand a Mathematical worldview and the background gap is difficult to
bridge.


Sure. I understand completely. I'm sure that can be said of any intellectual
field of though.

(just for clariification of background and viewpoint , I have a M.S in
Applied Math which includes Real Analysis and Boundary Value and Complex
variables and enough coursework for Ph.D but I dropped out before the
thesis because I needed a life )


I have a BS in applied mathematics and have taken over 200 hrs(not that it
particulary means anything). I've tried to learn as much as I can in as many
things as I could. I liked math because it was clear cut and there wasn't
this need to "feel" or guess. It was just there. You either saw it or you
didn't. I happpened to see it and I did well in it. Eventually I got tired
of it because I felt I was missing another side of life. For example, I
couldn't see why people liked to go out and party or why they liked to do
things that really didn't mean much in the long run. After going to college
and meeting some of these types of people and having them trying to get me
to do things that I didn't really like I realized that maybe theres more to
life than mathematics. I got into music and did things I never though were
interesting but later on actually started to like(such as dancing and going
to parties). While I still am not sure if its worth doing these things I
now feel that one should experience them because one can't be complete if
they don't try other things. I think this is one of these reasons I like
music. Its a way to express myself that I normally could not do(among other
things). I think this need to express and create is in all of us but for
me(not just me ofcourse) its much stronger than avg. Mathematics and science
is also about creation... but there is no expression. Music is about
creation and expression. But I just don't get music. Maybe I'm just not cut
out for it... But I have a need to express. So I continue to do music(and
because I do like it, most of the time).

But I also have sudied and read into Semantics , Etioogy and Philosophy
as
a natural consequence of being a "Math Guy"


yes, I think this is natural. It should be natural for everyone but seems
that some people are more concerned with immediate happiness than
understanding the world around them.


I guess Math is my religion as much as anythng else, but there are times
when I can't let it interfere with the proces of making music, because the
"Mathing" interferes with the process enough to derail me.


Maybe I never learned that. Starting about 16-17 mathematics because my
life. All I did was math(and computers, but usually it was mathematical in
nature(3D graphics, fractals, programming, etc...)). I guess that I never
knew anything but math. Maybe its to late for me now to change but I do hope
its not. I want to experience life as much as I can and I also want to
express my feeling to others. Maybe its not music I'm after but its the
only thing I know that I believe can do this.

Just for Fun.. What would you think if someone asked you to prove that 2 +
2
= 4 ?


lol. I'm not sure. I don't know how to prove it but I suppose my response
is that its provable and I would tell them were they could find the proof.

I would definately say that its not always the case that 2 + 2 = 4 and give
them a counter example. On a practical side I might say that it doesn't
matter if its true or not because its still useful. I'd then probably go off
on some long explaination about grammars, groups, operations, and
representation theory and probably try to include some history of man type
of crap ;) (i.e., 1 + 1 = 2 hence 2 + 2 = 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 4 = 1 + 1 + 1 +
1).

It would all depend on if I thought they really wanted to know or was just
trying to waste my time.


I, ofcourse, don't really know the proof but I have read that Hardy and
Whitehead have proved it and its very complicated. Actually, at this point
in my life I don't care to much about it. I don't think being a great
mathematician is going to save my soul or make me life for ever(which I
guess is what I truely want... well, that or knowing everything).

caution ... not a simple question


;/

Mainly just make music and have fun


lol. Easy for you to say ;/ I know what you mean and I try but I end up
feeling like I'm hitting my head against a wall. I'm going to try and force
myself to do that though. Maybe I'll succede.


Thanks,
Jon


.

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