The Daring Deception
Are you having a bad day? Why not brighten up your drive? And then, presumably, crash. I'd like to see someone explaining that to the traffic police.
I said I was getting ready to read my next sensation novel, but I didn't have the strength. I have to psyche myself up for them, you see. They are not for the faint-hearted. Instead I thought I would read something nutritious and wholesome, so I started The Secret Life of Musical Notation. I thought it was going to be a sort of Bill Bryson-esque romp through the treble clef, but it's rather more serious than that. I would have known that if I'd read that Amazon page, which successfully conveys that it is not a light-hearted book.
So, it's not fun, but interesting enough. The thing about it is, he is one of these authors who is all about the author. You know the crescendo and diminuendo marks (these things < >, used to indicate an increase or decrease in volume)? Well, the author has noticed that sometimes Chopin wrote these in contradiction to the immediately preceding direction, so the author has decided that Chopin didn't use those symbols as volume directions. Instead, the author first considers the idea that Chopin meant them as a choreographic direction (meaning that the pianist was to lean forward or back in a dramatic fashion), before deciding that, no, Chopin really meant them to be speed directions. They indicate a tiny change in speed, according to the author.
It is hard to tell whether this is a reasonable conclusion, or whether the author is a fruitcake and knowledgeable people would look strangely at me if I said to them, 'Hey, guess what I heard about these musical symbols!'
I said I was getting ready to read my next sensation novel, but I didn't have the strength. I have to psyche myself up for them, you see. They are not for the faint-hearted. Instead I thought I would read something nutritious and wholesome, so I started The Secret Life of Musical Notation. I thought it was going to be a sort of Bill Bryson-esque romp through the treble clef, but it's rather more serious than that. I would have known that if I'd read that Amazon page, which successfully conveys that it is not a light-hearted book.
So, it's not fun, but interesting enough. The thing about it is, he is one of these authors who is all about the author. You know the crescendo and diminuendo marks (these things < >, used to indicate an increase or decrease in volume)? Well, the author has noticed that sometimes Chopin wrote these in contradiction to the immediately preceding direction, so the author has decided that Chopin didn't use those symbols as volume directions. Instead, the author first considers the idea that Chopin meant them as a choreographic direction (meaning that the pianist was to lean forward or back in a dramatic fashion), before deciding that, no, Chopin really meant them to be speed directions. They indicate a tiny change in speed, according to the author.
It is hard to tell whether this is a reasonable conclusion, or whether the author is a fruitcake and knowledgeable people would look strangely at me if I said to them, 'Hey, guess what I heard about these musical symbols!'