tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-577417371475562755.post8488472494697836793..comments2020-12-29T06:12:11.049-08:00Comments on Ask Eric: 11:32Eric Wagnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04312033917401203598noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-577417371475562755.post-38709423173907678482012-04-19T07:42:17.333-07:002012-04-19T07:42:17.333-07:00Eric, I love your observation about how technology...Eric, I love your observation about how technology has changed our relationship to music. The characters in the three "Historical Illuminatus!" books only to get to listen to the Mozart that they happen to hear at live concerts. It's mind-blowing that I can listen to any Mozart (or any Beethoven, or any Bach,, or any Prokofiev, or any Stravinsky) that I want to.<br /><br />Changes in the technology of recorded music also change our experience. For years, when I listened to LPs, it was a relevant concept to talk about the "good side" and the "bad side" of the LP. (I once saw a review of a hard rock album in Creem magazine which remarked that all of the slow songs were on one side, which was handy because it made it easy to figure out which side to use to wipe cat shit from the speaker wires.) I used to have many LPs where I thought it was obvious that one side was better than the other.Cleveland Okie (Tom Jackson)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07810736442596736041noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-577417371475562755.post-124695137743007452012-04-18T13:38:05.645-07:002012-04-18T13:38:05.645-07:00COMMENCEMENT OF COMMENTS: I find one part of my br...COMMENCEMENT OF COMMENTS: I find one part of my brain is trying to listen to music while I'm reading or writing, so I consider it multi-tasking and it doesn't feel good to me. I want to really LISTEN to music, as, along with sex and being in the forest and laffing, these things are sacred - they are my version of "sanctity." I do blast virtuoso rock guitarist in the shower, on my little gadget that plays CDs and can get wet without shorting out. <br /><br />I think the neuro-noise I feel when music is on while I read or write probably constitutes a clue to my temperament, because clearly" many others LOVE having music on while they read or write. I can listen to certain bits of Eno, Satie, Cage, other "ambient" stuff...probably largely BECAUSE this music was devised to be audible wallpaper, part of the total environment...Info-dense music, if on while I'm doing something I want to attend to, can be consciously screened out. I HEAR it, but don't LISTEN to it. But it tends to capture my attention anyway.<br /><br />QUESTION: Aldous Huxley once noted - and this was when people had access to music on the AM radio! - That because music was so easy to access now, we take it for granted, and thus we tend to diminish its importance and not attend to it consciously as we did when we had to dress up and travel to the concert hall. What do you think of this idea? Does it relate to poetry reading in any way?<br /><br />I love the story about Bach walking for 200 miles to hear Buxtehude play organ. People who sleep on the sidewalk to get tickets for Bruce or U2? That stuff PALES in comparison to Bach!michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13526042582094867513noreply@blogger.com