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Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist

A meme of a meme (of a meme?)…heh.

that sounds pretty damn creative to me.

Mac --

Gotta agree with dv8. AFAIC, good design and machining qualifies as “applied magic”.

And it’s a carp-tonne more useful than, say, a modest ability to organize musical notes and different instrument timbres in a manner which a few people find pleasing. (And which even moar folks would likely find displeasing.)

The tools which I use for music -- not to mention the instruments which perform the little dots I put on paper so that folks can hear them -- would literally not exist without centuries of hard-won knowledge of machining and a boatload of other skills and knowledge about stuff like metallurgy, wood-working, electronics, physics, etc.

By comparison, what I do with those tools is pretty damned trivial.

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Maaaaaaan…yesterday pretty much kicked my ass; today will probably be similar. BBL.

dv8
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dv8
4 years ago

well spoken sir!!

Just Sven
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4 years ago
Reply to  Mac

I rarely disagree with you, Mac, but I will here. Your aptitude for metal forming and tool making is every bit art as it is skill.

Quoting Peter Steele here: “Functionless art is simply tolerated vandalism.” OK, that’s a bit extreme, but it popped into my head.

I’ve never been creative, but I can follow instructions. Several years ago, I began making jewelry -- mostly wire work. Bend here, loop there, wrap, repeat. It was a wonderful break from staring at a computer all day and once i got the basics down I began coming up with my own designs. Did I ever consider myself a creative entity? No, but I did begin to see patterns and relationships in the world that I hadn’t noticed before.

Music to me is one type of magic as I can’t wrap my mind around how it all works. Same with painting. It’s beyond me. But a craftsman such as yourself is every bit an artist s a painter, sculptor, or musician.

dv8
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dv8
4 years ago
Reply to  Just Sven

Here here!!!

Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist

Mac --

Being that I’ve been inspired since I was a child by musicians of many varieties who have created things I classify as “Art” (deliberate capital “A”), I can assure you that I have never once committed such an act.

I have great admiration for those with such a gift. (I’ve been keenly aware of my creative limitations as re music since I was a teenager. At best, I’m a mid-level “talent” with an ability to -- on occasion -- borrow / adapt / steal / modify something created by a “Giant” and use it in a moderately clever fashion.)

And I, too, have my own “tool box of standard tools” which is useful in my craft. A large part of what got me taken somewhat seriously in L.A. was my knowledge of, for lack of a better way to describe it, “musical cliches” or tropes created by those Giants.

Nonetheless, I do believe that an ability to what you or I do is, indeed, “creative”. We have both made things which never before existed, which are useful and/or pleasing in some manner.

It may not be Art, but it also ain’t chopped liver. 😉

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Gotta git back to work; BBL.

dv8
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dv8
4 years ago

The thing about capital ‘A’ Art is that people tend to mystify it. But it really is simply a skill supported by a pile of other skills--chops, if you will, which can (in my opinion, and with the proper motivation) be learned by nearly anyone.

So, for example, for anyone who loves music. Think of what it does to you. how it makes you feel. you start by letting that be your guide. While in Uni. I could sometimes thrill an audience; But I have essentially the same nervous system as everyone else, so I knew that If I felt chills and thrills while playing, some listening would feel them too.

Paddy O'Furnijur
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4 years ago

Sure Happy It’s Thursday, Gerbil Nation!
Good morning, Fatwa, and Mac!

Mrs. Paddy and I went to a concert last night to hear a vocal group called Tenebrae at the Christ Cathedral -- the former Crystal Cathedral. We experienced two amazing things: the exquisite sound produced by the choir, and the marvelous transformation of the Crystal Cathedral into a venue where such sound is possible. Mrs. Paddy and I have both sung at the former Crystal Cathedral and it was an acoustic nightmare. You might not be able to hear the person singing next to you, but you could hear someone 20 feet away as if they were singing in your ear. They added white acoustic panels -- think of a square with an ‘x’ cut into it and the flaps opened -- all over the ceiling and walls, effectively dropping the ceiling, while still allowing lots of light in. They transformed a huge, open space into a more intimate one.

Here are before and after pictures:

Crystal_Cathedral_Seating_compressed.jpg
Christ Cathedral interior.jpg
dv8
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dv8
4 years ago

Good group. I have one of their old CDs doing Carlo Gesualdo. Perfect chord tuning. Having spent a lot of time in various types of choruses, go figure, I really appreciate good choral work.

dv8
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dv8
4 years ago
Reply to  dv8

I say “go figure”because it seems counter-intuitive to being a piano major. But every music major has to be a member of a “large and small” ensemble. So there really is nothing for pianists, so you just join the U-Choir. But then, I found I liked singing bass, so I joined the Madrigals as well, I also got invited to join the PSU Chamber Choir, but I thought it was too much extra work at the time.

dv8
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dv8
4 years ago

And good morning (ish) Wheelies! Just now catching up on teh thread.

dv8
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dv8
4 years ago

Does -K ever pop in to say hi up in this thing? Just wondering.

Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist

Drive-by:

Hi, Paddy and dv8!

Goodness; Tenebrae sure does some beautiful sangin’ [sic]. Just listened to a few things at YT including Taverner’s “The Lamb”; pretty impressed with how in-tune the major 2nds were. (Not a singer, but that seems like it would be a particularly difficult interval to sing dead on-pitch.)

Those panels really transform the former Crystal Cathedral, which I thought was hideously garish. (And I can only imagine what an acoustical nightmare it was.) Much more majestic-looking now.

IIRC, not too many years ago, it had fallen into serious disrepair, including a boatload of leaks; glad to see that’s no longer the case.

Does -K ever pop in to say hi up in this thing?

If you’re referring to Mrs. Arbuckle, nah…it’s pretty rare for her to stop by (although I keep her informed of the modest doin’s a-goin’ on ’round here).

dv8
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dv8
4 years ago

Well, just tell her I remember her fondly.

Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist
Reply to  dv8

Consider it done.

Glad that you (and Harper) are “back in teh loop” hereabouts. 😉

dv8
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dv8
4 years ago

Harper is more enthusiastic and considerably less shy about coming on now that she’s been on once again and been reading the threads.

Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist
Reply to  dv8

Excellent!

Brenda sez it doesn’t feel like it’s been so long since we all hung-out here; it seems like just the other day.

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Separated at birth?

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Just Sven
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4 years ago

WTF? Trump is still POTUS????

dv8
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dv8
4 years ago
Reply to  Just Sven

Go figure! Orange man bad….

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Just Sven
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4 years ago

I ran into a guy I worked with 30 years ago and am meeting him for a beer. Curious to hear how his life has turned out. So poof for now.