Day 285: Amazing teachers, amazing friends
36yearsago.com
Vienna 1971—A Student Journal
A year of music, study, travel, sightseeing &
friends.
Day
285 — Amazing teachers, amazing friends
13-May-1972
(Samstag–Sat.)
TRANSCRIPT
Had some fun playing in horn ensembles this morning.
Spent the rest of the day doing the taping of project
[Fantasy]
for future educational work.
At night, went to Madame
Butterfly. Always enjoyable.
Puccini’s music is much easier to listen to because
of its melodies. That’s why it’s more popular.
REFLECTIONS
Amazing
teachers. Once again
it’s Saturday morning and we’re playing horn in
ensembles with Prof. Gabler’s horn classes. It never
ceases to amaze me—the dedication of the Hochschule’s
professors (on their own time) to provide additional
performance and professional activities for their
students: (1) performing the Bruckner 8 in the
Musikverein; (2) Prof. Gabler inviting me to
rehearsals at the Volksoper, including sitting in the
orchestra pit with him; (3) performing in the
Saturday horn ensemble classes and concerts; (4)
performing in a student ensemble at Schönbrunn
Theatre; (5) in electronic music, Prof. Kaufmann
taking us to contemporary music concerts; and (6)
Prof. Kaufmann’s evening lecture series. If that
weren’t enough, both professors took us students out
for an occasional drink, food, camaraderie, and great
conversation.
As always, give thanks and your respect to all of
your teachers (they are there to guide you), and
especially to those teachers who go the extra mile.
Thanks again to all my professors at the Hochschule
für Musik in Wien.
Education
tapes. I am in
the studio making the educational example tapes
of Fantasy
on Broken Glass. These
tapes show how the entire composition was built from
its single sound. I wish I had those tapes today. For
many, many years I’ve saved those tapes, but
apparently I have lost them.
Amazing
friends. “Amazing,
the Internet is,” says Yoda, quietly. Ok, it’s not as
powerful as the “force” but I did manage to find my
1971 Vienna friend, Mike, through the Internet(s) and
send a brief hello email to him. Mike was our student
leader, the Canadian organist who studied with Anton
Heiler, and who most likely directed us to the many
operas and concerts of that year. Did I mention that
he has had an insanely successful professional career
over these many years? Congratulations Mike. Mike
sent a very kind response, with both of us wishing
that digital photography had been invented in 1971 so
that we could have taken thousands of pictures
instead of just the few we did. Thanks, Mike. It’s
great to hear from you. It’s a small world—both in
place, and in time.
Puccini’s
melodies. You have
to love Puccini and his melodies. They are the magnet
that draws opera lovers to see his operas time and
time again. Madame
Butterfly is a
favorite. Check out Puccini’s Wikipedia page—his
birthplace house is very interesting. It shows you
can rise to great heights even if you were born poor.
I won’t post a YouTube link today, but just do a
search on YouTube to feast on those wonderful Puccini
melodies.
Melodies
and hooks. If you
write pop music (like I do on occasion), we used to
say you needed a “hook” for a song. Hook = melody. It
can be in the chorus/refrain or in an organ
introduction—think Procol Harum’s White
Shade of Pale (a
legendary song and hook). Even though the trend has
been away from melodies and hooks over the years, I
am of the mind that a melodic hook is a good thing.
DJs,
trance, and hooks? My
step-son, Walter, is exploring and learning about the
DJ scene. I would like for him to try it and see if
he likes it and also see if he can do well. As a
result, I am exploring “trance” music—big in Europe
and with the top DJs of the world. I like it. Are
there melodies and hooks over seemingly repetitive
kick drum and bass patterns? You bet. Take the
brand-new mega-hit, the recently crowned No. 1 Trance
anthem by Rank 1, called “L.E.D. Let There Be Light.”
A short 5-pitch motive is the melodic pattern that
constantly repeats and becomes the driving “hook” of
the piece. I am surprised and impressed at its
effectiveness. It works.
Melody, folks.
Links:
Giacomo Puccini
in
Wikipedia
Madame Butterfly
in
Wikipedia
Procol Harum in
Wikipedia
John
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