Preface

    Welcome to my (tentatively named) music journal.

    If you didn’t already know, one of my passions (!! dang that sounds awfully cheesy…) is western art music, mainly classical music but also some jazz.  I am not even going to pretend, though, that I understand more jazz than the average person next door.  I listen to it for pure enjoyment and that’s about it.  On the other hand, I have a special affinity for classical music that extends beyond mere listening or even performing.  Over the years, I have come to the realization that playing a classical instrument (piano, violin, flute, etc.) is very different from actually understanding and loving the music.  Why?  Because there is much more to music than the simply a summation of the notes on the page.  Like a novel, music is a communication from one person to another, and musicians are no more important than the paper on which words of a novel are printed.  On the other hand, one need not play an instrument to approach this music.  Much like thousands of basketball fans who do not play the sport (we Dukies, of all people, ought to know), many classical music lovers never touch an instrument in their lives.  The key, IMHO, is just to have fun whenever one encounters it (classical music is so ubiquitous anyway that it’s nearly impossible to avoid it).  Having rambled all that, the plan here is to dedicate this portion of my web space to anything music-related that I may find interesting and perhaps convince a few people along the way that this is pretty good stuff.

    So what exactly will you find here?  Well, pretty much anything music-related that comes to my mind.  Basically, anything from random facts to midi samples is fair game. Of course, if you want anything specific, drop me an e-mail and I'll try my best to present it in one of the upcoming entries.

    Lastly, a warning to you English majors.  Writing has never been my forte, and I regret the fact that I lack the expressive skills to make everything I write interesting.  In fact, if you ask me, this little preface is quite BORING.  Therefore, I beg you to overlook the sometimes dull presentations and enjoy the actual material instead.  Thanks!

 

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