# Schoenberg and Cage meet Bluegrass!!



## Haydn70 (Jan 8, 2017)

For all the folks here who go on about the wonderfulness of combining elements of art music with popular music, here ya go!


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## Haydn70 (Jan 8, 2017)

Haydn70 said:


> For all the folks here who go on about the wonderfulness of combining elements of art music with popular music, here ya go!


Ha, ha, this is great! I don't which I like more: the atonal banjo solo or the "variation" on Cage's 4'33". Too, too funny!

I am currently working on a Mass for 8 Voices. Perhaps I should consider adding a bluegrass-flavored banjo and mandolin continuo! Egads, what a superb idea! Ross, Tommasini and Swed and all the other hipster music critics will love it and praise it for its qualities of egalitarianism, inclusivity and diversity.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

:d

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## Haydn70 (Jan 8, 2017)

Hysterical...thank you Haydn70!


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## Haydn70 (Jan 8, 2017)

ContrapunctusXIII said:


> Hysterical...thank you Haydn70!


You are very welcome, ContrapunctusXIII...very glad you enjoyed!

And I found the lyrics online. My favorites are in bold.

(Gimme Some of That) Ol' Atonal Music 
by Merle Hazard 
Copyright 2019 Merle Songs (ASCAP)

VERSE 1
My dad was a composer. Modern was his style.
His music always made you think. It never made you smile.
He wrote for chamber orchestra; now and then, for voice.
Tonality, in Daddy's world, was just another choice.

VERSE 2
Yeah, Poppa's compositions came in rigid twelve-tone rows.
There was no tonal center to the music he'd compose.
He was a lover of complexity; some have said pretense.
*His music wasn't joyful, it was just abstract and dense.*

CHORUS 1
Gimme some of that ol' atonal music. It lingers in my ears!
Schoenberg and Alban Berg were the genre's pioneers.
*Keep your Bach and Chopin, they're melodic and passe.*
Gimme some of that ol' atonal music, like Daddy used to play.

Give 'em some, Alison!

VERSE 3
Atonal banjo solo

Aha!

That's right.

VERSE 4
Since dear ol' Daddy left us, life has been so hard.
There aren't enough musicians who embrace the avant-garde.
No one plays atonally at their home or on the stage.
I miss Igor Stravinsky, my Dad, and ol' John Cage.

Silence

CHORUS 2
Gimme some of that ol' atonal music, like my Daddy used to write.
It was hard to sing if you rehearsed, impossible by sight.
*Emotion is for simple folk; art should be arcane.
Some compositions feed the heart; my Daddy's fed the brain.*

CHORUS 3
Gimme some of that ol' atonal music. How I love those random hops!
I've tried to write that way myself, but I am not as skilled as Pops. 
*You can keep your Brahms and Chopin, they're melodic and passe.*
Gimme some of that ol' atonal music, like Dad...dy...used...to...play.

I miss you, Daddy!


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Fun, well-done video without malice, but I don't think it makes the point that's been suggested:
it's not so much about mixing genres, it's more about taking a few pokes at atonal music within the standard tonality of a country western setting-and it does that to perfection. Fun to see the words that Haydn70 took the time to post.

Speaking of atonality, there's an outrageous video that has been circulating for years. Before anyone gets upset about it, there's a link to the Arnold Schoenberg website at the end (and I happen to view Berg's _Lulu_ as an amazing opera). The unnerving anxiety, ambiguity, and psychological violence of the music used opens it up to satire.  Stravinsky's _Rite of Spring_ wasn't an atonal or serial composition but he did write such works later in his career.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

After playing the video, I cleared off my CD shelves and tossed out a dozen boxes full of contemporary music discs. Good-bye Arnold, good-bye Alban, and [a silent so-long-see-you :tiphat:] to you Johnnie.

And now, I'm movin' to Nashville! Woooopie!


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Hey, we're hip in Nashville. We just don't talk about it.


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## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

Remember this?


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Hey! After viewing these other two videos, I went back out to the trash heap, picked up my boxes of atonal records and CDs and hauled them back inside.
And I cancelled the bus tickets to Nashville.
I'm just gonna sit here at home and play atonal videos all day long. Keep 'em comin'!


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

One of my favorite records for a long while (ever since I first heard the music on a Bluegrass radio station, gave them a call, found out what the record was and bought a copy) is this one, by a band called Cloud Valley. (Actually, I only listen to the final track, titled "Tundra". You'll find it if you scroll out to the 31 minute mark.) I don't know if this is actually atonal music, but I'm sure Arnold and Alban and Anton and Igor and the Cagey fellow too would have liked it. Not much can get me to dancin' nowadays, but this tune does it.






This is a treasure in my record collection (which is not very heavy on Bluegrass or even Newgrass, though I do have a number of Bela Fleck banjo albums!). Hope you enjoy it. "Tundra" at 31 minutes in.


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