Music in the Classic Period

Very clear and concise. The book focuses on Haydn y Mozart. Recommended to all classical music fans, and those interested in the historical aspects of Europe's arts, culture, history, and music in the 18th century.

One of the most important things that I almost overlooked was the cultural differences between the classical styles, most notably opera. Operas were best heard and most liked in Italian, but eventually, the Germans started to form their own operatic styles based on folk music and legends. Mozart tried to write French operas but they just didn't ring as well from the established grand operas in Italian. It appears that Italian was the best language for opera.

Also noteworthy was the fact that many of the composers' notes during this time period for their music were written in Italian. So even if you were an amateur musician playing from scores, you would've known a little Italian to play your parts. 

Lastly, it should also be noted that composers, travelers, and merchants were expected to speak multiple languages like French, Italian, and German, it was the norm for composers like Mozart. 

The development from this 'classic period,' from the baroque to sonata form-rondo, to concertos, to symphonies, to chamber music and string quartets, to opera, to sacred music, and finally into the Romantic era of Beethoven is an amazing development in the history of music, culture, and art. The past has greatly influenced the moderns in terms of classical music and beyond, ad infinitum.

How are you doing?

Time for a vlog style blog post, spring 2019 style. I like to write these every now and then, talk about real life, as opposed to sharing memes, tweets, and Facebook posts via social media. That stuff is so blah.

First off, I quit soda and energy drinks cold turkey. I've noticed a big difference in my stamina and stress levels. In addition, I'm starting to lose weight again, albeit very slowly, about a pound or two a day. At this rate, I'll lose twenty pounds in twenty days. This might be the way I lose weight and keep it off forever, in shallah. [as the Muslims say] 

I really needed to do something drastic because I don't want to get diabetes. I was drinking soda and energy drinks every day at work. I'm glad I'm not buying and drinking that crap anymore. 

My body is detoxing. My stress levels are down and my stamina is up. I still get tired after one am shifts at the job, however, without the sugar chemicals messing with my system, I don't get as tired as I used to. It's quite a change. 

Speaking of changes, I've been taking things slower with my reading. I'm spending more time reading the news during the day before work and reading physical books at night before bed. I'm letting all the readings ruminate more. Rather than say, reading a book in three days and then starting another one on the same day. I'm guilty of that. 

I'm also guilty of being completely obsessed with classical music. I've always liked it but now its pretty much my favorite thing to listen to. Saying since most modern straight-ahead jazz is pretty clean cut, not many interesting things going on, I mostly listen to classical music, usually while reading. 

My favorites lately have been baroque composers within the last couple months-Bach in particular right now. Coincidentally it was his birthday the other day. I'm getting into piano prodigy Glen Gould's Bach interpretations. I've also been listening to Handel, Telemann, Vivaldi, Mozart, Chopin, Corelli, Marcello, there are tons of composers from 1600-1700s that display beautiful music, composed of functional harmony. I've become a huge fan of harpsichord and clavichord. So much to the point that I'm planning on playing keyboard more seriously and possibly having my dad put together our harpsichord one day [yes I have a harpsichord]. I have the time, I just need to put in the effort. "Or so it goes."

Work is work and I'm glad to get the hours. My jazz trio is coming along nicely, although I need a bass player asap to complete the sound I want, a chamber jazz sort of sound, with bass playing the role of percussion. The plan is still to record at a studio [and release an album on bandcamp], and apparently, the saxophonist can get us free recording time at the studio because he's done session work for the studio, ie they owe him. I'm still working on my memoir, and I've got thirty-four pages to work with so far. I'm at a crossroads with the text at this point, but I'm getting ideas on how to make it flow more thematically now that I've covered all the facts, exposition and lots of dialogue between characters. Lastly, I've been doing well making new friends, of the female variety. As that Ramones song goes, "I don't wanna be a pinhead no more, I just met a nurse that I can go for." 

April will bring hot temperatures and soon summer will be among us Californians. Bring on the one-hundred-degree heat. I love it when its over one-hundred degrees in the Valley.

Not! 

April Fools     :D 

What's in your earbuds? 12/2 Edition

Lately, I've been listening to a lot of new music. For a while I was really into black metal, particularly from Sweden. Sweden is one of my favorite countries because of their black metal scene in general but also because I really dig Abba. Bands like Opeth (not black metal but still great band), Tribulation, and Ghost were played nonstop for a long time while I played Heroes of the Storm.

But with the exception of one techno album I listened to yesterday (which was ultimately forgettable because I can't even remember the name of the album or band) I've been listening to classical music. Mostly baroque stuff. I've been turning on YouTube playlists of Vivaldi, Chopin, Mozart, Liszt, Bach, and Beethoven. It really calms me down after long tiring days and I love the harmonic complexity. Although I can't explain what the composers are doing I understand the sound, the intervals, the scales, the harmony, and rhythm. It comes with being a musician for a long time and listening to music a lot. You expect certain cadences and resolves within the harmonies and it happens. The music is beautiful too.

One thing to realize is that classical music can be really heavy and brutal like metal too. There's a lot of shredding in classical music. There's a lot to it other than just pretty violins, timpani, and horns. The more I listen to it the more I get drawn in to listen more and learn more about music theory in the future so I can understand how these brilliant composers came up with this stuff.

As Frank Zappa said,"All the good music has already been written by dudes with wigs and stuff." I couldn't agree more. Even John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy studied classical etudes and classical music and harmony. They studied all the old dudes with wigs and stuff and expanded upon the musical foundation. It's quite a tradition, this thing we call music.

My friends listen to a lot of metalcore, rap, and rave music but honestly I get tired of that stuff. I've heard it all before and the new stuff all sounds like the old. I wish jazz could develop and do more interesting things but you'll only find the innovative jazz musicians in the free jazz scene. Until then I'll be kickin' it old school in the Baroque era with my homies Beethoven and Vivaldi.

Ah, you kids today with your techno music. You should enjoy the classics like Hasselhoff.