Hello everybody!

[ericwood992]

My name is Frederick Wood but have always been known as 'Eric'. I am 77 years of age and my primary hobby has always been, since childhood, listening to "GOOD" music, including melodic classical, melodic jazz, and melodic popular music, ideally in live performance.
As can be seen from this, melody is my top priority in music.
This topic forms the "first movement" of my future threads.
I have never mastered playing an instrument, sadly. I did make a concerted effort in my early teens, but decided that I loved music too much to ever be satisfied with my progress to the concert stage, and conceded that my role in appreciating music was always going to be from a seat in the audience!
My education was science based and my career in technical management ended 18 years ago when I retired from a fatally wounded British textile industry.
Anyway, back to melody; I would be profoundly grateful to anyone with views on my personal notion of melody being an essential ingredient in any good music, please.
P.S. I realise that this is probably a controversial subject amongst the forum members!

 

[JHC]

Hi Eric, you are in the right place most of us are old farts :grin: where are you living? You are right with melody being an important if not essential part of music I would also add rhythm (classical and Jazz) plus form or construction ( 12 or 32 bar for jazz etc and of course Sonata form is a good basic for classical although not the only one) I want to enjoy my music so those three ingredients are pretty much a must. Greetings.......

 

[teddy]

Hello Eric and welcome to the forum. I look forwaard to listening to your posts, particularly on the JAZZ section of this site

teddy

 

[Krummhorn]

:wave: Welcome aboard, Eric ...

You've found an excellent forum for a plethora of music topics and general discussion. Looking forward to your continued participation.

 

[wljmrbill]

Welcome Eric. Always remember: If we didn't have people who liked to listen to us..we might not be performaing.

 

[Chi_townPhilly]

Hi there, Eric... welcome to MIMF.

... melody is my top priority in music.
Anyway, back to melody; I would be profoundly grateful to anyone with views on my personal notion of melody being an essential ingredient in any good music, please.

Hmmm, an aesthetic perspective that seems to me to be worth talking about.

I'll say that melody is (or can be) a pleasing element in music, a desirable and significant element... but an essential one? Well, let's just say that I think there are composers out there that do enough wonderful things with structure, antiphonal effects, counterpoint and harmony that I can forgive their inability to provide a lot of "big tunes" that stay in our head. I say this primarily thinking of one of my "belovèds" in Classical Music... Bruckner.

Of course, I know I just said more about myself than I said about music. Hang out long enough and you'll see me discuss additional "belovèds." [Hint: a couple more of them have surnames ending in "er."] Looking forward to finding out more about which composers engage your interest.

 

[ericwood992]

Hi Chi_townPhilly, (Do you have a shorter name, or is it customary to address members in this way?),

Thank you very much for your help. This is exactly kind of educated view I was looking for (mainly because it is something I have suspected for many years and have always wanted to engage in a discussion about it with someone who "knows their subject" which you obviously do!).

Of course, I would never deny the possibility that there is good music out there completely lacking in melody; it is just my personal experience that melody is an essential ingredient of the type of music that I like, and I was deliberately setting out to provoke a lively discussion.

I often get the feeling that I hear music which has no melody in a parallel way to the way I see paintings in which I can see no meaning i.e. abstract art. Often I am actually offended by both.

I suppose I should explain my view of good melody in any form of music as appealing to my emotions deeply. I think that the 3rd movement Adagio in Rachmaninov's 2nd Symphony is possibly the most moving and deeply emotional piece of music I know, and the whole symphony is my favourite. This is the kind of experience I look for in classical music.

I think that you were absolutely correct when you said "Of course, I know I just said more about myself than I said about music". Everything I have said so far is more about me; in fact I think that music depends on personal taste so much that one cannot express a view without giving a reflection of oneself.
Just a little more about me, in terms of classical music, I love Rachmaninov, Wagner, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Elgar, Grieg, Puccini, and much of Beethoven, Mozart, Handel, Schumann and JS Bach. These are the composers I listen to most. I hope that Wagner is one of your "er" beloveds"? Possibly Weber? I like some of Weber, and many, many more "melodic music" composers, including a couple of Americans!
I will explore Bruckner in much more depth now, thanks to your recommendation.

Thanks again for your time and interest in my musical fumbling. I hope to hear from you again; pity we're not nearer, I would love to dicuss all this face to face over a couple of glasses of Scotch, with or without the "rocks"!

Best regards,
Eric.

 

[Mat]

Welcome to MIMF, Eric. And allow me to second Teddy's comment:

I look forwaard to listening to your posts, particularly on the JAZZ section of this site

 

[marval]

Hello Eric

Welcome, you have got people discussing already, well done.


Margaret

 

[ericwood992]

Hello Margaret,

Thank you! And yes, I can whistle!! I forgot this, I used to whistle incessantly during my career - I could whistle my favourite music from start to finish, including Beethoven's 9th from the allegro through to the end of the magnificent finale!!

Eric.

===

Thank you Mat! Please be patient with me - only had a computer since I was 68 and still learning to manipulate it!
Eric.

===

Hi,
Thank you for your welcome, and yes I agree, I have found a GREAT forum! My only restriction is time! But I will be a member of this fantastic group for a long time.
Eric.

 

[Chi_townPhilly]

Hi Chi_townPhilly, (Do you have a shorter name, or is it customary to address members in this way?)

For short, I happily answer to 'CtP,' 'Chi,' and even 'Chy.'

I hope that Wagner is one of your "er" beloveds"?

Actually, that's an emphatic "yes." I'm a "card-carrying-member" of the Wagner Society of New York. Also, a while ago, I reached that dangerous point where I started to have confidence in my own Wagnerian observations and analyses. Probably the most well-circulated of those musings can be found here.

Possibly Weber?

Admire Weber... but my other great 'er' composer-craze is Mahler.

I would love to dicuss all this face to face over a couple of glasses of Scotch, with or without the "rocks"!

I've confessed elsewhere that perhaps iconoclastically, I prefer whiskey to whisky... but I still have some 'The Glenlivet Nàdurra' within reach.

 

[ericwood992]

Hello Chi,

I enjoyed reading your response to the Kennicott article more than I have enjoyed reading anything for a long, long time! Thank you!

One paragraph of yours says it all I think: “Often lost in the musings about Gesamtkunstwerk and (now nearly of equal frequency) the Cult-of-the-Singer is that we occasionally look past the primary appeal of Wagner- and that is that he was a supreme master of Orchestral composition. His mastery was such that, on most sincere lists of their kind, fewer that half-a-dozen composers are rated equal to or superior to him, in the entire multi-century history of Western Art Music”.

I completely agree with you; and in my personal sincere ratings list I put Wagner without equal in mastery of Orchestral composition.

I don't mind whiskey or whisky as long as it is Scotch! Try to sample Glenmorangie Nectar D'Or this Christmas!

Best wishes, Eric.
[h=3][/h]

 

[Mat]

Regulator note:

As per Colin's suggestion, some of the posts from this thread have been moved to a new location. If you wish to further discuss melody please do so in THIS thread, and continue to use this one for its introductory purpose. Thanks.

Mat,
Regulator @ MIMF

 

[John Watt]

I'd like to introduce you to the fact that Jimi Hendrix described Wagner as being a big influence.

 

[Chi_townPhilly]

I don't mind whiskey or whisky as long as it is Scotch!

I guess I'm guilty of a "little-too-clever" subtlety here--

Canadian and Scotch bottles will say "whisky."

American and Irish bottles will say "whiskey."

My Dad was a bourbon-consumer from back in the day, so I picked that up from him. My best friend is of Irish ancestry, so I've kept some Irish single-malt around. That said, I can enjoy Scotch, Irish, or Bourbon- depending on the brand.

It's been a long time since I've had any Canadian- but then again, my first Canadian was Lord Calvert- certainly far from the best example of its kind, I know.