Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

The Celtic Moon album is so beautiful !
And same for me, my musical theory knowledge is ridiculous !
But the idea about a big music discussion topic that is a very good idea

Bragatyr wrote:But speaking of the augmented fourth, with a screen name like that, how can you not like The Rite of Spring?! Surely a more devilish piece of music has never been conceived, based on the contemporary reaction to it!

I majored on the bassoon in college. (I already played the piano and the saxophone before then as well; I didn't want to have to memorize my pieces to audition on the former, and the latter is FAR more competitive than the bassoon.) This is the story of my life:

Person: Oh, you're a musician! What instrument do you plan?
Me: Lots of them, but the bassoon is my primary instrument.
Non-Musical Person: *blinks* What's that?
--or--
Mildly-Musical Person: Oh, that's the one from that piece, Peter and the Wolf!
--or--
Moderately-to-Very Musical Person: Oh, you must really love Stravinsky, then! There's that crazy bassoon solo right at the beginning of The Rite of Spring!
Me: No. No, I do not. That solo is an abomination.

There's an old legend that says when Stravinsky was alive, he would personally audition the bassoonists for that solo. Allegedly, if the bassoonist played those "stratosphere" notes too well, Stravinsky would reject him, because he wanted it to sound like the bassoonist was straining to convey the suffering of humanity at the dawn of time, or something like that. There's enough suffering when it comes to playing the bassoon as it is. I resent Stravinsky for making it worse.

(I am indifferent to Peter and the Wolf.)

Anyhoo, regarding the two hands doing different things - that is one of the many reasons my future children will be required to take piano lessons for a couple of years. In addition to musical skills, the piano teaches so much in ways that a lot of the other instruments can't, like that sort of coordination, spatial relations, and so on. When I took my college conducting classes, we'd sometimes have to do exercises where our two hands would be doing completely different things. It helped later on when I realized I could sign hall passes with one hand and continue conducting my middle school band with the other at the same time.

I had no idea you played bassoon. You've gotta upload some videos with that instrument if you ever get a chance. I think the last time I saw a VG music cover on Youtube with bassoon was a version of Shadow's theme, from FF VI. Bassy instruments represent!

Yeah, I remember reading several biographies on Stravinsky in college, and he seemed kind of...offsetting, on a personal level. But then it seems like composers are typically strange people. I always thought Satie seemed like a pretty hilarious guy.

I still want to know more about everyone's taste in music, so I'm going to have to make a topic about it pretty soon.

Yes, we want to see some videos with basoon !
Shadow's theme from FF VI ? Great one ! (as are many of the music of this great game).

Hahaha, I'll have to see if anything readily lends itself to a bassoon arrangement.

Bragatyr, you just reminded me of the creative writing project I had to do for a music history class. I wound up writing a little sketch where Rachmaninoff and Satie were brought back to life and interviewed on a news show. I'm pretty sure I wrote Rachmaninoff to be all mopey and emo and Satie to be on the strange side (and I think it just devolved into them arguing while the interviewer tried to separate them). It got an A. I wonder if I still have that on a hard drive somewhere....

And now I'm anxiously awaiting the start of your music thread! Dooooo it!

That sounds like one of the more awesome ideas for a sketch ever. It almost seems like Monty Python must have done it at some point. I'm not familiar at all with Rachmaninoff, but just putting Satie on TV would be epic. I seem to remember he had the most epic fashion sense. I really like him as a composer, though. Definitely my kind of music. You must find that sketch, if at all possible, and I'll be on the lookout for any upcoming bassoon arrangements!

Now I'm going to go and make that music thread! I hope everyone joins in!

I'll join the music thread, even if I'm not a great musician.. but a lover of great music !

You gotta do the music thread, myau56! I'm trying to get everybody involved. Tell me what kind of music you like!

yes I'll tell about my musical world but later ! As I've seen all the (very long !!) text that the other has posted lately and it's truly amazing ! As for me, with my "weak" writing english skills... I'll post but later as for today It's a very busy working day ! But I'll try to do my best