Re[2]: GG: Bach & analytic/creative tasks

["Mark Williamson" <mwilliamson@alston.com>]

     There is also an interesting connection between homebrewing 
     and 18th century music because of Mozart's well-known 
     fondness for beer.  There is a very amusing passage in 
     "Mozart in Vienna" about Mozart and beer, coffee, and 
     smoking:  all three of the worst vices of the time!  
     However, I have been unable to find reliable information 
     about the *kind* of beer Mozart drank.  We can assume a 
     typical Viennese style of the period, but I will have to do 
     some research to know what those were.  Probably an ale, 
     since artificial refrigeration had not yet been fermented, 
     but there were some cold-fermented brews made in caves, etc. 
      What about hop contents of the day?  This will take some 
     looking into.
     
     Does anyone know whether Mr. Gould had any interest in brew?


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: GG: Bach & analytic/creative tasks
Author:  "John P. Hill" <jphill@frank.mtsu.edu> at internet
Date:    5/2/97 12:13 PM


     
Greetings to the Collective:
     
Wow!   Another list member who does *HOMEBREWING*!  Alright!
     
I agree that low-level music listening goes very well with 
cooking, homebrewing and general about-the-house puttering. 
My fave is Bach, although Steely Dan (Royal Scam is the fave)
would have to be right up there in frequency.  Well...lessee... 
Mose Allison and Jimmy Smith are up there too..
     
I also concur on the Bach/morning vibe; fugue-before-breakfast 
and all that.  But then, Bach fits in almost anytime.  And, yes, 
once you've heard the GG versions (even if they're really wacked 
out) it's hard to get excited about other interpretations.
     
Nice to see some threads going again.  Sincere thanks to those 
list members who recently assisted with dumb-ass filtering. 
Much appreciated.
     
jh
     
     
     
On Fri, 2 May 1997, Mark Williamson wrote:
     
> 
>      Hmmm, that is a good question.  Like most of you, I like to 
>      listen to Bach anywhere and everywhere.  And a lot of other 
>      18th century music for that matter.  But it is certainly 
>      true that one can be distracted from the task at hand; all 
>      good music has that tendency to make you want to pay 
>      attention to it and not to something else.  That's what 
>      music is supposed to do (among other things).
>      
>      There are a few people in my office who listen to music 
>      while they work.  I tend to work in dead silence because my 
>      job is very hard and sometimes very boring, so I have to 
>      concentrate.  But I listen to music on the way to work and 
>      on the way home, and when I'm at home I'm usually either 
>      listening to music or playing music.  Listening to music 
>      goes very well with cooking, homebrewing, mathematics, and 
>      bouncing the kiddies on the knee, which are my other 
>      interests.
>      
>      Mark
> 
> 
> ______________________________ Reply Separator 
_________________________________
> Subject: GG: Bach & analytic/creative tasks
> Author:  <tsolomon@whfreeman.com (Tim Solomon)> at internet 
> Date:    5/2/97 11:42 AM
> 
> 
>      
> Hello all, this is my first post, although I've been lurking for many months. 
>      
> I find it interesting to hear that many of you (Catherine, Erich, Arin et al.)
     
> consider it beneficial to listen to Bach while performing analytical or 
creative
> tasks that require concentration.  Personally, Bach (especially when performed
     
> by Gould) is the _last_ composer I want to listen to when thinking / reading /
     
> writing etc.  I find Bach's music so compelling and, well, mesmerizing I 
guess, 
> that all of my other functions shut down and until the CD ends I find myself 
> gazing stupidly at the stereo with a vacant look in my eye - incapable of 
study 
> or conversation.  (I do find myself singing a lot though, and badly.)  When I 
> want to be inspired, but still capable of rational thought, I go for Mahler's 
> Resurrection, which, if I'm not mistaken, Gould also loved..... Hmmm.....
>      
> Just my two cents.  I really enjoy this friendly list. 
>      
> 
> 
>