Stephen Sondheim: An appreciation of some particularly ingenious passages

[Almira]

Stephen Sondheim: An appreciation of some particularly ingenious passages#1

Posted: 8/16/10 at 12:29pm

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/08/12/arts/1247468480469/happy-birthday-stephen-sondheim.html

Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people. - Eleanor Roosevelt

[jasonf]

Stephen Sondheim: An appreciation of some particularly ingenious passages#2

Posted: 8/16/10 at 1:55pm

Very cool - not being a "music" person, I would never have noticed some of that stuff. Makes me appreciate Sondheim even more (if that was possible)

Hi, Shirley Temple Pudding.

[Freedomme]

Stephen Sondheim: An appreciation of some particularly ingenious passages#2

Posted: 8/16/10 at 8:45pm

Almira - Thank you so much. It's wonderful to be able to hear the musical passages being discussed, instead of merely reading about them. I slogged my way through Steve Swayne's book, but without a musical composition background a term like "suspended dominant" has a whole different meaning. I think the the real point of confusion for me is that I don't know why the closest thing America has to a musical poet laureate can't be subsidized. I'm so tired of "reductive" revivals where the orchestra consists of eight guys and a kazoo. What kind of hoops does this poor guy have to jump through before we "comp" him? Nothing ostentatious, just a guy in a dark suit and sunglasses rolling out of a government car with a blank check would be fine.
Sorry about the rant, Almira. Thanks again for the link.

[Almira]

Stephen Sondheim: An appreciation of some particularly ingenious passages#3

Posted: 8/16/10 at 8:54pm

When it comes to the mechanics of music, I fall in the "less learned" group of the Mozart quote.

Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people. - Eleanor Roosevelt

[singtopher]

Stephen Sondheim: An appreciation of some particularly ingenious passages#4

Posted: 8/16/10 at 9:26pm

I wish I had had more passion for the piano when I was taking lessons as a kid. It's never too late though, right?

"If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it." -Stephen Colbert

[Almira]

Stephen Sondheim: An appreciation of some particularly ingenious passages#5

Posted: 8/16/10 at 9:35pm

As George Eliot said:

"It is never too late to be what you might have been."

Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people. - Eleanor Roosevelt

[LuminousBeing]

Stephen Sondheim: An appreciation of some particularly ingenious passages#6

Posted: 8/16/10 at 10:22pm

Re: "It's never too late"--

I'm 26 years old, and I started taking piano lessons a couple months ago. Granted, I had the advantage of prior singing and violin lessons, so I already knew how to read music, but piano is an entirely different animal. I don't know how old you are or what (if any) your current musicality level is, but I would say that taking piano lessons has been one of the best decisions I've made for myself. It's worth the price of the time and expense, and even the frustration, to be able to play just one song at the end of a day's practice. No, it's never too late, and just think--you don't want to wake up 50 years from now and think, "man, I could've been studying piano for the past half-century! Oops!"

Go for it.