[pianotech] An alternate but not quite parallel universe

[William Truitt]

At the risk of getting roundly abused myself, I really liked it also and
found it quite beautiful, and listened to it several times.  I also enjoy
Phillip Glass in his many forms (have you seen the Koyanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi,
and/or Naqoyqatsi films?  Stunning visual imagery along with Glass' film
score.  I cut my teeth on minimalism along about 1970 with Terry Riley's "In
C", which starts with that repeated piano note. You can find that on You
Tube also.  I like John Adams' present day work - he's the nephew of my
favorite piano teacher here in N. H. 

I have read that La Monte Young is considered to be the first minimalist
composer.

Music like this piece can challenge our notions of what music is or can be.
Many of us tend to think of it only in the western virtuoso sense or as
background wallpaper for the mind, but the reality is that music is as broad
as the human experience itself.  If you have ever done chanting as a form of
meditation, you know that music can be a consciousness altering experience.
I think that is the context where La Monte Young begins, or at least that
was where I connected to it.  The sustained purity of the intervals was
quite engaging to me, perhaps because I am a piano tuner.  If you like Just
Intonation, try on Harry Partch for size, with pieces like "Daphne of the
Dunes", and "Eight Hitchhiker Inscriptions on the Way to Barstow".

Will

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of David Doremus
Sent: Friday, May 14, 2010 10:52 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] An alternate but not quite parallel universe

William Truitt wrote:
>
> La Monte Young - The Well Tuned Piano
>
> .
>
> .
>
> A piano tuning acid flashback?
>
> Will Truitt
>
At the risk of getting roundly abused, I really like this piece, and I'm 
not alone http://melafoundation.org/quotwtp.htm but then I also enjoy 
Philip Glass, Steve Reich and other 'minimalist' composers....

-- 




--Dave

  New Orleans