-=> Ardith Hinton wrote to James Bradley <=-   
      
    AH> Hi, James!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:   
      
   NOT so recently...     
      
    JB>  "Great" orchestral works in the day, were [...] disposable.   
      
    AH>  Yes... and the same also applies to various other types   
    AH>  of music.  I heard that a patron of J.S. Bach, for   
    AH>  example, insisted on a new chorale every week.  It seems   
    AH>  the desire for novelty has been a factor for a long time.   
      
   ...   
    AH> Opera trickled down to the masses as operetta (e.g. Gilbert   
    AH> & Sullivan) and later as the "Broadway" musical (e.g.   
    AH> Rogers & Hammerstein).  Now, when did you last hear either?   
    AH>  :-))   
      
   I'm afraid show tunes don't get much play around here.  Last heard on the CD   
   player, (Ya... I'm "old school"! |-) early Dave Mathews Band.     
      
      
    JB>  Now that you mention it, works of a choir   
      
    AH>            A cautionary note... I take it chorales were not   
    AH> intended to be sung only by a choir.  Martin Luther   
    AH> evidently had the idea that the congregation of the church   
    AH> should be allowed to sing along.  Good pedagogical   
    AH> strategy....  :-)   
      
   As in, Martin Luther King (Jr.)? Before my time, (both) but I'll assume they   
   were named after the fella that you speak about. I just remember sitting in a   
   Catholic/Orthodox church before I could read, listening to everybody singing   
   while looking at a hymnal. I just assumed that's the way it was always done,   
   and there was something wrong with me if I didn't get with the program.   
      
   Hmmm... "Pedagogical"...  No wonder I had   
   never seen the word before. (-;   
      
    JB>  would also apply to the "pop" category of yore. B-]   
      
    AH>            Uh... yes & no.  Until relatively recently, the vast   
    AH> majority of the common people were illiterate.  The "popular" music of   
    AH> earlier times is largely unknown to us now because the   
    AH> gramophone had yet to be invented & the few folks who   
    AH> understood how to write it down were seldom motivated to do   
    AH> so.  (I imagine you & I & Dallas & Richard would have made   
    AH> a bare living as wandering minstrels in those days!)  Some   
    AH> of it, however, is still in use for various reasons.  One   
    AH> is that familiar tunes were often used to accompany   
    AH> religious poetry... another is that years ago the Lord of   
    AH> the Manor was usually expected to pay for a house of   
    AH> worship for his own family as well as for the serfs who   
    AH> lived on his estate. In my irreverent "1066 and All That"   
    AH> interpretation, Bach had to keep coming up with new hymn   
    AH> tunes so his wealthy patron would not suffer the   
    AH> embarrassment of falling asleep in church.  Certain folk   
    AH> songs & hymns may have survived because they came to the   
    AH> attention of or were composed by someone who had the skills   
    AH> to pass them along.  The average person may be unable to   
    AH> read four-part harmony as the choir sees it, but chances   
    AH> are they'll recognize the soprano line.....  :-)   
      
   Ah... Those treble chargers ruled before electricity was harnessed!     
      
   Now, the first music "recording" in standard notation - even if a phenomenal   
   work and heard whistled throughout the land - did not displace the author from   
   the clutches of poverty. The artist had to depend on a Lord for sustenance. I   
   only wish to point out the disparity that today's flavour-of-the-day needs one   
   novelty song to never have to work another day, where the "great" composers   
   would more often die a pauper.   
      
    AH>  To this day, folks in the entertainment business say "you're   
    AH>  only as good as your last [gig]".  But once in awhile a song   
    AH>  which has dropped off the Top Ten list will eventually   
    AH>  resurface as a Golden Oldie or whatever.  I had a Beatles   
    AH>  poster in my band classroom after the initial excitement   
    AH>  had subsided, and was often asked "Who are the Beatles?"   
      
      
    AH>            Uh-huh.  There's a senior citizen in our community band who   
    AH> comes to life when we play songs from the 1920's.  I come to life   
    AH> when we do stuff where all one has to do is read the notes   
    AH> (baroque & classical era).  Different folks have different   
    AH> talents.  My attitude is "I am who I am... take it or leave   
    AH> it!" Some folks actually like me that way.  If the younger   
    AH> crowd views things from a different perspective, they can   
    AH> make their own unique contribution too....  :-)   
      
   If they asked why "Beatles" was spelled wrong, you knew they had no place in   
   pop culture?     
      
   Just yesterday, I was researching stuff on the community Internet connection,   
   where a fella about a decade older than me was streaming a pop radio station   
   over the speakers. A song or two found me bopping my head, but mostly I was   
   contemplating to put on my own favourite radio station on my computer station,   
   to start a volume war.    
      
   Avoiding hostilities, (Who in their right mind prefers it?) I still wished he   
   would use a set of headphones instead of expecting everyone to share his taste.   
   You mentioned how taste could be such a subjective thing, but until my   
   preference went more eclectic/international, I too didn't understand why   
   everyone didn't enjoy power chord-rock. There's that glass house again.    
      
      
   ... James   
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