# Is Zoe Keating a classical composer?



## Bob516 (Nov 2, 2018)

Two videos of her performance.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

It sounds to me from those clips like fairly artful popular music but it may be fairly soft jazz. I didn't hate it but neither did I feel like searching out more. What do _you _think?


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Classically trained crossover -- kind of like a cello Keith Jarrett.


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## Dimace (Oct 19, 2018)

The lady is cheating. The cello sometimes is playing without her intervention. I'm not a fan of this music and I can't write any more… (this is not a classical composition. A classical composition has certain rules, which, in our case, are absent.)


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## Bob516 (Nov 2, 2018)

Dimace said:


> The lady is cheating. The cello sometimes is playing without her intervention. I'm not a fan of this music and I can't write any more… (this is not a classical composition. A classical composition has certain rules, which, in our case, are absent.)


She uses live electronic sampling and repetition of what she had just played, how is that cheating?

I know nothing about the rules classical composition. Does Le sacre du printemps follow the rules of classical composition?


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## Bob516 (Nov 2, 2018)

Enthusiast said:


> What do _you _think?


I have no idea. That is why I asked.

I did not have the opportunity to formally learn about classical music. I grew up listening to everything from Bach to Prokofiev. Now I listen to Pärt, John Adams, Torke, Jóhannsson, Golijov, a lot of the Kronos Quartet, Kjartan Sveinsson, Hilary Hahn & Hauschka and many others.


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## Dimace (Oct 19, 2018)

Bob516 said:


> She uses live electronic sampling and repetition of what she had just played, how is that cheating?
> 
> I know nothing about the rules classical composition. Does* Le sacre du printemps* follow the rules of classical composition?


This is a ballet, my friend*. Cheating… Well... Maybe I was a little bit strict with her. But, what I have seen, reminds me these guys, are going to talent shows with a synth, everything is already recorded and saved into one SD Card or into internal memory, they hit the play button and they accompanying sporadically the music, just to show the jury that they can play the instrument. My apologies if you are a fan of her. One way or an other, I'm not an expert on this kind of music and you can easily ignore my mind.

*...and a big failure, in its premier in Paris (1913) The audience hiss both musicians and dancers. The manager of the theater turned off the lights to prevent the audience from climbing onto the stage, etc... What I want to say is that despite the reactions and the rejections, if something is good will find its place in the history, like The Concentration of the Spring, which I also don't like!!!! :lol:


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

It sounds like the kind of cello music that will be acceptable to people who don't normally listen to mainstream classical.

Modern popular classical perhaps.


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## Bob516 (Nov 2, 2018)

Dimace said:


> This is a ballet, my friend*. Cheating… Well... Maybe I was a little bit strict with her. But, what I have seen, reminds me these guys, are going to talent shows with a synth, everything is already recorded and saved into one SD Card or into internal memory, they hit the play button and they accompanying sporadically the music, just to show the jury that they can play the instrument. My apologies if you are a fan of her. One way or an other, I'm not an expert on this kind of music and you can easily ignore my mind.
> 
> *...and a big failure, in its premier in Paris (1913) The audience hiss both musicians and dancers. The manager of the theater turned off the lights to prevent the audience from climbing onto the stage, etc... What I want to say is that despite the reactions and the rejections, if something is good will find its place in the history, like The Concentration of the Spring, which I also don't like!!!! :lol:


I am not familiar with The Concentration of the Spring.

Yes, I know about the riot at the premier. That it is a ballet means it is not classical music?

While I sort of agree that if something is good it will find its place in history, I was under the impression that artists go in an out of favor over the decades and centuries, with the exception of a select few.

Do I think Keating will find a place? I think most artists will not stand out in history, and I have no reason to think she will.

Are you more concerned about how an artist creates music, than the product itself?


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## Bob516 (Nov 2, 2018)

stomanek said:


> It sounds like the kind of cello music that will be acceptable to people who don't normally listen to mainstream classical.


This is a sincere question, why?


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

Bob516 said:


> This is a sincere question, why?


Probably because a classical cello sonata or even fantasy is a very serious work of art in structure and purpose and places considerable demands of attention and appreciation on the listener and skill of the performer.

By contrast Keatings music seems to have popular appeal - loose structure, no coherent direction and makes limited use of the cello as a solo instrument. I did not study musical theory so cant describe in technical language why this is so and would have to leave this to another contributor who is more knowledgeable.


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## Euler (Dec 3, 2017)

Dimace said:


> Cheating… Well... Maybe I was a little bit strict with her. But, what I have seen, reminds me these guys, are going to talent shows with a synth, everything is already recorded and saved into one SD Card or into internal memory, they hit the play button and they accompanying sporadically the music, just to show the jury that they can play the instrument.


Keating is very different. Nothing is pre-recorded. As she plays the first phrase on her cello, she's recording it LIVE with a sampling pedal operated by her right foot. That sample then plays on a loop whilst on the cello she plays a new phrase, and so on. Every note you hear comes from her cello during the performance. Live sampling takes real skill and is hardly cheating, because a mistake in her playing will repeat every time the loop plays back!

Personally I wouldn't call it classical music, but not because of electronics or a lack of "seriousness". Classical music is made with laptops, radios, tapes, turntables; and plenty of classical is extremely simple.


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## Bob516 (Nov 2, 2018)

Euler said:


> Personally I wouldn't call it classical music, but not because of electronics or a lack of "seriousness". Classical music is made with laptops, radios, tapes, turntables; and plenty of classical is extremely simple.


So what about it is not classical music? Can you explain it in layman's terms?


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

Bob516 said:


> So what about it is not classical music? Can you explain it in layman's terms?


There is no absolute delineation; I tend to think that anything can pass for any genre if arranged in a certain way.


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## Euler (Dec 3, 2017)

Bob516 said:


> So what about it is not classical music? Can you explain it in layman's terms?


No, because classical music is too plural to define solely by intrinsic qualities. Ditto pop. It's as much to do with how and where the sub-culture emerged. Keating I'd place beside Julia Kent, Sarah Neufeld, Kristine Rule, Colin Stetson, Colleen--and I only ever see these musicians discussed on indie rock blogs. Most of them tour with rock bands (or post-rock, avant-prog or whatever), or play in rock bands on the side. To me that's not a satisfying way to classify music, but there probably isn't one and labels are our servants not our masters. If someone insisted Keating is classical I wouldn't argue.


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