# Back in Bach, Plinkity Pluck



## Guest (Dec 5, 2020)

_Back in Bach in time, what's that sound I hear?
It's plinkity pluck, the sound of a harpsichord.
"Inferior, not so good, not so grand," so I said.
"No, I want a grand good time, so give me Glen."

Life, a continuum, same ole same ole, until it's not.
To live is to learn, the great weakness to living.
To learn you must live, live a life not yet lived. 
And until then? Same ole same ole, to mark time.

Ignorance is bliss, if it's just a life never lived.
The waste is years of bliss, lost to a better way.
Plinkity pluck, it is what is, not better or worse,
but good when it's good, and it is good, so I say.

Back in Bach in time, what's that sound I hear?
It's the sound I heard so many times in my life.
No, not a grand pipe organ in a grand cathedral, 
but still, "Ah, Momma, that's the sound of Bach."_


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Pretty entertaining.


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## Guest (Dec 6, 2020)

GezzMontC said:


> _Back in Bach in time, what's that sound I hear?
> It's plinkity pluck, the sound of a harpsichord.
> "Inferior, not so good, not so grand," so I said.
> "No, I want a grand good time, so give me Glen."
> ...


Why does everybody misquote the 'ignorance is bliss' epithet? The expression actually is:

"*IF* ignorance is bliss it's folly to be wise".

That's one hellova big "IF".


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## chu42 (Aug 14, 2018)

Christabel said:


> Why does everybody misquote the 'ignorance is bliss' epithet? The expression actually is:
> 
> "*IF* ignorance is bliss it's folly to be wise".
> 
> That's one hellova big "IF".


The full context is in a poem by Thomas Gray:



> To each his suff'rings: all are men,
> Condemn'd alike to groan,
> The tender for another's pain;
> Th' unfeeling for his own.
> ...


So the meaning of it is "why think about or know bad things, just focus on your fleeting happiness".


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## Guest (Dec 6, 2020)

Stuff deleted. If someone didn't like the other, they may not like this one.

I guess the top post is okay.

The rules of the game, on how the long-timers can play, but the newbies can't. I don't know, I don't think I want to learn the rules. 

Nothing here is a really good fit anyway.


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## Guest (Dec 6, 2020)

Stuff deleted that Phil said was trolling. Phill will have to edit his comment to get rid of what I wrote, since he quoted it.

No, it wasn't meant to troll, it was actually meant to soften some things, but you know how that kind of thing works. We can't read other people's mind.

Too bad we can't delete whole threads. Living in the moment, that could be archived forever.

And I was paying homage to my mother, on other's people's time.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

GezzMontC said:


> *Momma and Christabel*
> 
> _Momma, I can hear you play the organ,
> still hear you play today.
> ...


Shall I compare thee to a troll?
Why do you bite your thumb, sir?


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## Guest (Dec 6, 2020)

Phil loves classical said:


> Shall I compare thee to a troll?
> Why do you bite your thumb, sir?


If you want to, because it's all perception. If you rephrased your question, I would answer it different, but there's no need for that. My actions speak louder than words. I don't understand "biting my thumb" but you don't need to explain it.

I think I've been more of a freeloader. Wanting to say stuff, but not really wanting to talk to anyone.

I perceive thou use of old English as funny, and I perceive that thou didst intend it be thee funny.

Adios, amigo. Take the good and leave the bad.

EDIT:

Nothing ends up here being any kind of big deal at all. It's a typical situation where the end result is that I learned something new. In particular, thanks to chu42 for posting the poem, and even thanks to Christabel for actually bringing up the issue, otherwise chu42 wouldn't have posted the poem for the complete context.

However, in principle, there's a problem, Phil, though it's of no practical consequence, and in the last paragraph I explained my current view about a person central to all of this.

A bit of a double standard here, isn't it, Phil? However, I do appreciate your initial appreciation here, and I even bookmarked your YouTube page several weeks ago, and listened to your complicated recordings.

Back to the problem: a person gets to correct me on a phrase that long ago came into English as a common phrase, but I don't get to come back and play a little hard, where it was the first that was a little hard, not the second.

The second was actually pulling back. I do understand, I think, why the second could be perceived to be in bad taste.

But to get pedantic, "Christabel" is a very lyrical and musical name, and anything musical sounding makes for good, what I call, "rhythmic prose". I took liberties I probably shouldn't, but still, you have a double standard.


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## KRoad (Jun 1, 2012)

_I don't understand "biting my thumb" but you don't need to explain it._

Shakespeare - Romeo and Juliet:Act I / Scene 1. Prelude to a fight between Capulate and Montague servants.

Alles klar?


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

_*Ah! To grow a thicker skin
an armor to deflect the pin 
of wit and snark which scratch and bite;
To answer pricks with wit, not spite

Ah! To have the calm of mind;
a peaceful place in which to find
the solace from the ones unfree 
who hurt themselves instead of me.*_

*- Me*

I wrote this. Just now.


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## Guest (Dec 6, 2020)

pianozach said:


> _*Ah! To grow a thicker skin
> an armor to deflect the pin
> of wit and snark which scratch and bite;
> To answer pricks with wit, not spite
> ...


*Art is Ambiguity*_

It's a matter of style, my man
You have yours, I have mine
Thick skin, that's for politics
Thin skin, the hype of genius

Enough of your flowery talk
You love me, or you hate me,
Or love them, or hate them,
Or love nobody, love everybody

You want to lift us up high
Or drag us down very low
Give us sweet sweet dreams
Or fill our minds with nightmares

Thick skin, that's well and good
If we can just know what you mean
But we do understand your dilemma
Art, it must always be beautiful_


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## Guest (Dec 6, 2020)

KRoad said:


> _I don't understand "biting my thumb" but you don't need to explain it._
> 
> Shakespeare - Romeo and Juliet:Act I / Scene 1. Prelude to a fight between Capulate and Montague servants.
> 
> Alles klar?


Minimal Deutschlander talk, that's nice and clear, because it's easy to clear up. Thanks for the Deutsch, as a mono-lingual English speaker I like to hear it.

So to clear up "Why do you bite your thumb, sir?", I now need to read Romeo and Juliet, and I guess I might could get some fuzzy feelings about that, since it's a classic. Something to do with fighting. And I do engage in rhetorical combat, but if I'm assigned some lowlife character who misrepresents what happened in this thread, that would make me very unhappy.

I'm a simple person, and I like to start with the obvious. We completely understand "troll", and I don't take it lightly. That's what's clear. But that has nothing to do with you. Thanks for the literature lesson.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

GezzMontC said:


> If you want to, because it's all perception. If you rephrased your question, I would answer it different, but there's no need for that. My actions speak louder than words. I don't understand "biting my thumb" but you don't need to explain it.
> 
> I think I've been more of a freeloader. Wanting to say stuff, but not really wanting to talk to anyone.
> 
> ...


Sorry, I guess I interpreted it wrong.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

pianozach said:


> _*Ah! To grow a thicker skin
> an armor to deflect the pin
> of wit and snark which scratch and bite;
> To answer pricks with wit, not spite
> ...


Nicely done, especially the part about the pricks.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

EdwardBast said:


> Nicely done, especially the part about the pricks.


I still love your little poem, btw:



EdwardBast said:


> I wrote these two for a limericks thread:
> 
> There was a composer named Lully
> Who in business was a bit of a bully
> ...


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

hammeredklavier said:


> I still love your little poem, btw:


Thanks. I was going to recommend the limericks thread to the OP.

Note that the first two lines of the one about Lully were written by one Matt Morse, a student in one of my music history classes, as part of the answer to an essay exam question he wrote in the form of limerick verses.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Not worth it ........................................


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## KRoad (Jun 1, 2012)

_...but if I'm assigned some lowlife character..._

Oh dear, I hope this exchange of witty verse has not made you feel as though your original contribution has been under-appreciated.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

This is not a classical music thread - needs to be placed in a different sub-forum.


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## Guest (Dec 7, 2020)

Bulldog said:


> This is not a classical music thread - needs to be placed in a different sub-forum.


Of course, that's your opinion, and I'd actually like this thread to be deleted.

Please allow me to explain why it satisfies general discussion about classical music: Bach, harpsichords, and general showing of appreciation for Bach.

If you don't like the tone that I set, just say it.

This was phase two of Talk Classical for me. Hopefully, phase 3 will be only operating as a reader and observer.

I've thought about "on topic" a lot, how it works for Talk Classical, because I observed first.

Nobody stays on topic in Talk Classical forums. I define "topic" as the topmost post that a person posted.


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## Guest (Dec 7, 2020)

chu42 said:


> The full context is in a poem by Thomas Gray:
> 
> So the meaning of it is "why think about or know bad things, just focus on your fleeting happiness".


But the true expression, complete with "IF", is to be found in the poem. Many people adulterate the expression by removing the 'IF'.


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## Guest (Dec 7, 2020)

KRoad said:


> _I don't understand "biting my thumb" but you don't need to explain it._
> 
> Shakespeare - Romeo and Juliet:Act I / Scene 1. Prelude to a fight between Capulate and Montague servants.
> 
> Alles klar?


And it's a terrific scene in the play - and the ballet!!


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## Guest (Dec 8, 2020)

Phil loves classical said:


> Sorry, I guess I interpreted it wrong.


Thanks, but that's not why I'm replying.

To everyone else, I'll let the thread die, unless maybe I feel the need to reply based on principle. For example, I could probably find 10 active threads where after about the first 5 replies, the thread goes off mainly into a different subject.

No purpose in trying to prove my case, because whatever opinion the moderators have, they'll act on it, and I assume "been there and done that" kicked in a long time ago for them.

*Impressed with My Brilliant Solution of a Request Channel: Here*

I'm trying to check out permanently, but I need to make a request of Phil Loves Classical, and I don't want to open any new thread, and my policy is to not do things in private, and the only other way to make this request is to drop a comment on his YouTube page, which I prefer not to do. For one, it's not practical.

It should be obvious that me and Phil aren't friends, but a person who's working for the world deserves some credit and attention brought to him.

The request is basic Phil, though you probably don't have time for this, and you shouldn't do anything special for me because I may never actually study your stuff in depth. But if one person, me, is asking, there could be a couple of more people, or maybe lots of people eventually.

WEB PAGE: You need a web page where you organize your stuff and separate your studies and academic stuff from what's intended to be your published music. Do you need suggestions? Old school blogger.com and wordpress.com seem to be about the only things that don't go away, or change their focus. You might could get away with the ultimate platform, GitHub.com, where it's easy to use Markdown. Just don't put up audio-video stuff on GitHub.

PDFS: If you want people to study your exercises, it would be nice to have PDFs of your scores. Wordpress.com and probably blogger.com will host your PDFs, and GitHub also.

TUTORIALS: If you're really wanting to work for the world, then write some stuff up on what you're doing, and put it in PDF form in addition to HTML.

I don't know how common your uncommon stuff is because all I know about is what's common. I'm trying to start working through Prout's first Harmony book, so for fun and relaxation, I would occasionally listen to your studies to see if I could understand what you're doing.

First come, first serve, Phil. Get in early with your stuff so you can get famous. People like me, we get dissed on and never make it, because we do the moonwalk better than Michael Jackson. Putting up uncommon theory, you'll only get dissed on by people who have no idea what you're doing. Do the searches on Dizzy. Bebop got dissed on at first; the rest is history.

I've ripped all your 130 YouTube videos with youtube-dl.exe.

Thanks. Being long-winded, I could write another 1000 words.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

double post.....................................


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Bulldog said:


> This is not a classical music thread - needs to be placed in a different sub-forum.


Amen .................................


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## KRoad (Jun 1, 2012)

_so I use *periods* in place of spaces_

I am sure you meant to say _*ellipsis* _rather than periods - but I digress...

I have enjoyed your posts (more than many I have read here lately) and appreciate the considerable effort you have put into responding to the replies you have received.

Yes, there are, regrettably, often pretentions of intellectual superiority in some of the posts - but these too can be amusing and a reliable source of entertainment if you approach them in the right frame of mind. And there is a certain demographic factor to consider here also, namely that of the aged, bored, possibly frustrated and therefore cantankerous. But so what, eh?

I like your honesty.


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## Guest (Dec 8, 2020)

This reply is to Rogerx and KRoad. Here on out I have to add the clutter of a preface. This thread should die, but there has been no sin here at all. Any appeal for fairness and consistency is to the moderators only. Let us assume, as they're obviously not tyrants, they always make the best possible choices.



Rogerx said:


> Amen ..


I'll get back to you Roger, but ultimately I show respect for the knowledge I assume you have.



KRoad said:


> I am sure you meant to say ellipsis rather than periods - but I digress...


No, it's a period as a holding place, and 3 just happened to look like ellipsis. HTML strips leading spaces. There are HTML tricks for forcing spaces, but the TC editor didn't seem to accept the HTML code.

And as to digressions, I claim superiority not only in number of digressions, but in quantity of words in each digression. But I've digressed no more than the many undisciplined artistic types here, though I have probably used more words. (Again, that has nothing to do with you.)

I always like to know how good a person is, where I use the measuring stick of the best. With music, like piano and performers such as Evgeny Kissin, that's easy. Literature is all over the place. Walt Whitman strings sentence fragments together and others rave about him, where I say, "What's up with that, but okay, I guess."

Okay, so if a person has some mastery of Shakespeare, they might be very good. But where's the outlet in life when you're good at literature or poetry, writing it or reading it? Where's that paying job that you're supposed to get where you never work another day in your life?

I suppose there are tons of literature forums, but reading good literature is work, and reading lots of sub-par literature, that would be far inferior to sorting through threads on a classical music forum.

KRoad, it's not our personal playground, as complaints have been made, but thanks. In a more perfect world, we'd be team, until at such time our ideology separated us.

In an imperfect world, 90% of the interesting questions to be asked can never be answered. Bach and Germans. Germans put out some of the best music software on the face of the Earth. Probably more that they're just good technically, rather than some connection to the Germany area being a center of music culture in the past.

*Back to Rogerx, V.2*

So, Roger, there are people we like, people we vibe with, people who we know don't like us, and people whom we choose to respect because they both conduct themselves decently and because they have superior knowledge, knowledge and understanding which they undoubtedly had to work hard and long to obtain.

It's easy to get confused here about who knows what. If I've put you on a pedestal you don't deserve, I'll eventually figure it out.

It's always a big disappointment to me when an intelligent person, one I have an interest in or relationship with, is what I call "analytically selective".

I hate bringing Luchesi into this, but maybe I'll stroke his ego enough to where it's not all negative. He was nice enough to talk to me, and wise enough to stop talking.

Luchesi is a nice guy who has been accepted here for quite a while, so I claim that what Luchesi does is acceptable behavior.

The forum is clearly marked "Music Theory". I had in no way talked about God and spirituality, but he switched the subject and asked me what I thought about the spiritual side of the music of Bach, Telemann, and Handel.

It's not a question I wanted to hear or answer, but I don't run from these things. With me, as a starting point, there's only God as creator. I then refine a little, but not much.

I like to cut to the chase, so he uses "spiritual", but I say, "Why don't we just switch to Christianity and Jesus?" But nobody wants to hear me preach, and if I do preach I'm going to make enemies. I can actually compartmentalize because with the technical, it's anybody who wants it.

Back to you Roger. Where were you with that? Why didn't you step up and say, "Amen.." to something like "Asking about the spiritual and God is clearly not music theory. Such talk should be in a different sub-forum."

*Over to Christabel*

People who have a more sophisticated knowledge of literature and poetry, like Christabel and KRoad, I can appreciate that, because I got a minor in Enlgish when I got a 4-year degree in math. Norton Anthologies of English and American Literature, nice. And the structure of English language course that emphasized linguists view of things, nice.

I'm sure if I would have put some effort into Shakespeare, the words "Romeo and Juliet" would excite me.

Christabel, she can say what she wants. Her knowledge is superior to mine. I let her slide.

Everyone says, "C'mon dude, I want to hear interesting snippets about your relationship to Romeo and Juliet."

Yea, so Leslie and Linda eventually got married. I call Leslie the last of the friends. But Leslie and Linda did a scene from Romeo and Juliet, for I think the fall one act plays.

The interesting part is how Leslie told me about the big wart on his knee, how with wearing the leotards, the wart stuck out.

*Back to Luchesi*

Having not yet sufficiently stroked Luchesi's ego, what I want to know is how good Luchesi plays the piano. It appear he's played a long time. Whether he's really good or just good, you know he's now got his ego stroked.

I also want to know Tikoo Tuba's experiences as a piano teacher, though I don't want him to tell me about it here. I didn't at first, but now I take everything that guy says serious, no matter how strange it sounds.


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