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Aaron Copland was way HOT!!!


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Aaron Copland was way HOT!!! Dig this...

 

"When I speak of the gifted listener, I am thinking of the non-musician

primarily, of the listener who intends to retain his amateur status. It is the thought of just such a listener that excites the composer in me."

 

- Aaron Copland (1900-1990)

*********************************

 

I try to keep his words in my mind's ear when I mix.... When I grow up I want to retain my amateur status.

 

Bruce Swedien

:cool::cool::cool::cool:

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One thing that always struck me about Copeland is how great his music sounds when played by "other" instrumentation. A great example is ELP playing Fanfare and Howdown on synthesizer, or Bela Fleck on banjo. I played that same piece for my college music senior project using electric guitar, electric violin, bass and drums and it worked great!

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Big Copland fan here... In college I did an all-synthesised version of his OUR TOWN movie theme, which came out quite good.

 

Copland was always an advocate of new music to be unveiled in America's various symphony halls... He sharply criticized the symphonic societies who programmed mostly the "greatest hits" of the classical idiom!!

 

Every time I hear a perfect fourth or open fifth interval, I subconsciously think of Copland.

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This is one of my favorite Copland things. Even more favorite because this entire performance at the link was done with VSL. Samples have come so far since the lowly days of the Mirage.


 

 

Yes, this is amazing that it is played with samples. I worked with the very first Emulator unit and the Mirage later, and yes, it has come an awfully long way!!!!

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I try as much as possible to keep my way to listen to the music as if I were not a musician, or a guitar player or a sound "mangler". I need a way out, sometimes.

 

I remember when I was nine years old (1970) that I loved to listen to some records at an older friend's "stereo" where I lived in Naples, Soft Machine, Deep Purple, Hendrix...I wasn't even able to know what instruments was I hearing and totally unaware of the recording process, but my mind was absolutely free to ride in other worlds and I was really happy...

 

I must say that when I find some music that makes me forget how is it performed and enginered, that is great music for me.

 

:)

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of the listener who intends to retain his amateur status. It is the thought of just such a listener that excites the composer in me."


- Aaron Copland (1900-1990)

*********************************


I try to keep his words in my mind's ear when I mix.... When I grow up I want to retain my amateur status.

 

 

 

Kurt Andersen brought up a good point abt the meaning of "amateur" a few years ago in a commentary on his arts radio program "Studio 360"

 

 

[text version]

http://www.studio360.org/yore/commentary070602.html

 

[audio version]

http://www.wnyc.org/stream/ram.py?file=studio360/commentary070602.ra

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Perhaps somewhat tangential (I hope not too much, I bring up the tangent to examine the interesction)

 

Yo-Yo ma did a little interview on NPR the other day

 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6835078&ft=1&f=1008

 

 

in that (I want to say abt 3/4 ofthe way through...it's not all that long) he talks about his passion not being msic, as such, but about people [that's as far as I'll paraphrase/distort it]

 

I think it ties into that idea of keeping "the other" in the picture so that the art and process doesn't become to self-absorbed...selfish

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Every time I hear a perfect fourth or open fifth interval, I subconsciously think of Copland.

 

 

Yes! I went through years of college being told to steer away from P4s and P5s, then suddenly Copland and Stravinsky opened up another world for me. Now I try to write with as many of this chords as possible because I like they way they sound but also to piss off my old professors!

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Yes, another thing to remember is that Copeland was one of the few composers who could actually conduct his own music in a performance that was compelling. Many of the recordings of other composers trying to conduct their own music fail, miserably (I include Stravinsky in this).

 

However, Copeland I think held on to the ability to hear the way he hoped his listeners would hear, and that, in my opinion, made his music far more universal than much of the more technically innovative work of his contemporaries.

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Aaron Copland was way HOT!!! Dig this...


"When I speak of the gifted listener, I am thinking of the non-musician

primarily, of the listener who intends to retain his amateur status. It is the thought of just such a listener that excites the composer in me."


- Aaron Copland (1900-1990)

*********************************


I try to keep his words in my mind's ear when I mix.... When I grow up I want to retain my amateur status.


Bruce Swedien

:cool::cool::cool::cool:

 

Excellent!!!

 

Someone who values the "average listener". I applaud that totally, and already have more respect for Mr. Copland.

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I find that the average listener in many ways is the best gauge of whether a musical recording is "good" or not. With all of our knlowedge and experience it seems like we can get mired in the gray areas and the technique, etc. The average listener seems to simply like it or not and says so.

 

Any other thoughts on this anyone??

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I find that the average listener in many ways is the best gauge of whether a musical recording is "good" or not. With all of our knlowedge and experience it seems like we can get mired in the gray areas and the technique, etc. The average listener seems to simply like it or not and says so.


Any other thoughts on this anyone??

 

 

Dr Dre was asked how he knows if his productions are hits or not. He said something like, "I bring a CD home and let my 3 year old hear it. If hes jumping up and down to it, its a hit."

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Dr Dre was asked how he knows if his productions are hits or not. He said something like, "I bring a CD home and let my 3 year old hear it. If hes jumping up and down to it, its a hit."

 

 

Ernest.....

 

Along that same line of thought - I think Igor Stravinsky had the same idea when he said:

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