[Fmpro] FMPRO Latest Rant: "Where are theDistinctive Voicesinscoring?"

Sun Jun 1 03:50:35 GMT 2008

Alain, John Bender here, I read your words and felt sympathy for your hurt 
feelings. I absolutely respect that you have feelings, and I respect the 
veracity of what you tell us you are experiencing emotionally. I re-read 
Ted's post, and if I have the correct one (as regards you feeling insulted), 
there seemed to be two sentences that would be suspect in regards to being 
hurtful:  "I can't believe the lack of sophistication in a statement like 
the one given here. Please get some perspective on music and the musical 
art." I see two valid sides to this situation. I can see that Ted "accusing" 
you of lacking in sophistication, and suggesting that you need to work on 
your academic perspective, could result in you feeling slighted, or 
insulted. Therefore Ted perhaps should refrain from "targeting", or 
personalizing during his retorts. On the other hand, what if Ted's honest 
reaction (right or wrong) to what he read was: "These statements, to me, 
truly give evidence of a lack of sophistication." and "I believe the author 
could benefit from an enhanced perspective."? If, for the sake of argument, 
these actually were his feelings then it only seems logical that he express 
them in retort. My point is I see two potentially valid points of view here. 
It is my opinion we should all structure our posts in such a way, Ted 
included, so as to disarm them of being specifically targeted - 
directly/personally judgmental in the negative. Just because I may sincerely 
believe someone is lacking in sophistication does not make it appropriate 
that I openly express this opinion. For the other side Alain, I also see how 
you might have opted to react academically (not emotionally) to Ted's 
comments, meaning you could have responded "You are wrong, I am not lacking 
in sophistication, and the fact my earlier comments led you to this 
conclusion only further proves that you are still blind to the value of what 
I have been saying." Finally, I personally would like to request that you do 
not leave the group, at least not over such as this. For one thing your 
exiting would leave us one soldier down in the fight to uphold the flag of 
Prince Williams! For another, it is the very sensitivity that compels you to 
quit that is also a more rare and much needed component of any enterprise 
such as FMPRO. I want you here with me! - JohnB

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alain Mayrand" <mail at alainmayrand.com>
To: <fmpro at nxport.com>
Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2008 10:10 PM
Subject: Re: [Fmpro] FMPRO Latest Rant: "Where are theDistinctive 
Voicesinscoring?"

> Dear Ted,
>
> This morning I read your aggressive and condescending email response
> about my Bach/JW post.
>
> I laughed, trashed it and went about my day.
>
> But it bothered me.
>
> You assumed that I don't know what I am talking about, when I took an
> entire post-graduate class on Bach, read many, many biographies because
> I love Bach. I consider him the best composer of all time!
>
> I trashed your erroneous, laughable assumptions about my knowledge of
> Bach, the Baroque and other composers, so I do not have them in front me
> of. Probably a good thing, but did you think I made up what I was
> saying? Did you think I believed there were movies and television in the
> Baroque era? You made no sense at all.
>
> I think you just don't like John Williams.
>
> I wonder what you have to gain by such an email? Does it make you feel
> good? Because it didn't make me feel good, I'll tell you that. I felt
> angry and filled with anxiety because of it, even though I tried to
> forget about it.
>
> Is that what you intended?
>
> Do you even think about the feelings of the /real /person who you are
> being so aggressive towards?
>
> I offered a /light /analogy of Bach to JW, not a /historical treatise/
> that covered /every /aspect of life in the Baroque as it relates to the
> present-day film composer.
>
> This was an /email post/.
>
> And then you get on your high horse and write in such a hurtful tone.
> Why do people get so negative around here and attack so quickly?
>
> I don't understand it, because it certainly was not a civilized response.
>
> I had to reply to make me feel better, but I will not spend another
> second on this. (I should be playing with my boys right now instead of
> writing this.) You can reply if you want, but I will not read or even
> see it. I have no time for this.
>
> Sorry to everyone that you have to read it, but I had to write it and
> send it publicly, things get so nasty around here. I love this group,
> but I might have to leave it.
>
> Alain
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Robert Stanton wrote:
>> I never said Williams was better than Beethoven which has been tacitly
>> suggested by the analogy of Salieri being better than Mozart.  I'm glad
>> however that you pointed us in the direction of the book (spelling errors
>> and all), I'm sure it's a good read - no I haven't read it.  But I stand 
>> by
>> my comment and feel John Williams has more than made his mark in this era 
>> as
>> a great film composer.
>> Best ~Robert
>>
>> Robert Scott Stanton
>> San Francisco Bay Area, CA
>> zolessi at comcast.net
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: fmpro-bounces+zolessi=comcast.net at nxport.com
>> [mailto:fmpro-bounces+zolessi=comcast.net at nxport.com] On Behalf Of Ted
>> Peterson
>> Sent: Friday, May 30, 2008 10:10 PM
>> To: fmpro at nxport.com
>> Subject: Re: [Fmpro] FMPRO Latest Rant: "Where are the Distinctive
>> Voicesinscoring?"
>>
>> Not even close. I can't believe the lack of sophistication in a
>> statement like the one given here. This is like saying Salieri is
>> better than Mozart. Please get some perspective on music and the
>> musical art. A good place to begin is Susan K. Langer's "Philosphy in
>> a New Key." If you would like a reading list, I will provide one that
>> will change your perception.
>>
>> Ted Peterson
>>
>> On May 30, 2008, at 2:34 PM, Robert Stanton wrote:
>>
>>
>>> I completely agree with JohnB!   In my humble opinion attacking or
>>> trivializing the work of John Williams is tantamount to calling
>>> Beethoven a
>>> hack; for all intent and purposes, John Williams is a modern day
>>> Beethoven -
>>> I am aware how subjective this is, I say it to try and make a point
>>> - the
>>> guy is incredible!!  Why don't we rag on Ludwig for his excessive
>>> use of the
>>> 5 - 1 cadence? - It's sooooooooooooooo overdone ;-)
>>> Best, Robert
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> Music
>>
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>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> The Film Music Pro List is sponsored by Film Music Magazine - 
>> http://www.filmmusicmag.com
>>
>> Best of FMPRO: http://www.fmproquotes.com - Quotes site  by Billy Hale 
>> Music
>>
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>> http://nxport.com/mailman/listinfo/fmpro
>>
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> The Film Music Pro List is sponsored by Film Music Magazine - 
> http://www.filmmusicmag.com
>
> Best of FMPRO: http://www.fmproquotes.com - Quotes site  by Billy Hale 
> Music
>
> To edit your list options or unsubscribe, visit:
> http://nxport.com/mailman/listinfo/fmpro
> 