ChristopherSchlegel

One year later update! The site continues to grow. I've been consistently publishing new lessons to keep new content happening. We are close to 100 lessons total. And the big new news: The admin just added a forum! You probably have to register to post in the forum, but viewing the lessons is still free for now. Please feel free to drop by and have a look.

I am very talented! It is a great combo. Life is fabulous. Thanks!

Thank you , sir!

Last week the local newspaper ran a feature article on me & my music. It's archived here: http://www.mckenziebanner.com/2006/2006fea...herschlegel.htm

The owner of the guitar lesson site at which I teach http://www.guitartricks.com liked my idea of creating a similar site for novices interested in learning piano. So, earlier this year I put together a set of beginning lessons to have some content. I have gradually been adding content & it now has over 80 little video lessons! http://www.pianotricks.com It's very bare-bones simple and basic (no frills!) as we are still putting it together. For the time being, it will be absolutely FREE! We are just trying to generate some traffic & get some feedback while we add content & functionality. Eventually, I hope to build it into something that will be similar to the guitar site. If you ever wanted to learn how to play piano, learn a little music theory, or if you are simply curious, here's your chance! Please feel free to check it out.

A little late to the thread... But I finally got a chance to read through it all & wanted to address a couple of points. Yes, they have: Nihilism. Rand covers this explicitly in The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution. This is inaccurate. Consider the Crusades of the Dark Ages. The Christians and Muslims waged war off and on for a couple hundred years. The Catholics & Protestants of Ireland (and other places) have been at each others throats for years. For the last 1500 years Muslim "denominations" have been actively trying to kill each other. All these groups share "fundamental principles - faith, sacrifice, statism". What is missing from - and absolutely essential to - this formulation is that modern, American Republican (and Democrat) politicians, intellectuals & leaders are disarmed by their acceptance of the irrational poison of Kant & Hegel.

The first products of my revived musical career are finally ready. My latest CDs are now available via CDBaby.com! “Concert Electric Guitar” - http://cdbaby.com/cd/schlegel4 “Classical Guitar Sonatas” - http://cdbaby.com/cd/schlegel3 And for reference all my work available via CDBaby are here - http://www.cdbaby.com/all/schlegel The music on the new CDs should be available for digital distribution starting next week; for example, through Napster, iTunes, MSN Music, Rhapsody. Just search any of those download services for “Christopher Schlegel”. I have also started posting thoughts about the creative process behind the pieces on these CDs on my "Prodos" blog. The first post deals with the first piece on the "Concert Electric Guitar" CD. http://christopherschlegel.thinkertothinker.com/ Happy listening!

I tried "Beethoven" and it gave me modal jazz. I tried "Ludwig van Beethoven" and it asked me if I wanted the artist "Camper van Beethoven". Then I found this on their FAQ page (http://blog.pandora.com/faq/index.html): "The Music Genome Project doesn't contain any classical music at this time. We're still trying to figure out how to tackle that animal..." I did, however, eventually find some Tchaikovsky & Mozart in a "Holiday" genre.

I recently performed at The Carroll County Arts Council "Evening with the Arts" show at the Dixie Carter Performing Arts Center. It went quite well. It was a showcase for local artists. After a recent recital I was asked by the Arts Council to be on the show. I did two pieces. The first is the opening Allegro from my A Major Sonata. I followed that with "Over the Rainbow". All was well received. I had several requests for CDs & more performances. Good stuff! We shall call it a victory. And, thanks to my good friend Matt for being there to capture it on video from the balcony! You'll have to crank the audio up; it is very low, but audible. Guitar Sonata in A major "Opus Primo" Movement 1 "Allegro" "Over the Rainbow" Happy viewing and listening.

You mean like this? http://www.truthagainsttheworld.com/Electr...tricGuitar.html http://www.truthagainsttheworld.com/DVD/

Music (noun) - The art of arranging sounds to be heard in linear time passage which produce a unified auditory object (i.e. a “composition”) using characteristic components of melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre. A proper definition should contain reference to the group of concretes to which it’s object belongs (for example, in this case “art”) and reference to how it differs from other concretes in the group so that it deserves it’s own stand alone term (in this case “arranging sounds” by means of the specified list of characteristics). Often, problems arise in differing opinions & thoughts in accurately indentifying those characteristic components: melody, harmony, rhythm and timbre. Particularly, “melody”. But this is why I did a great deal of writing on those subsequent terms in other posts. Particularly the thread which Groovenstein mentioned above (click for thread on music). I have also collected many of my writings on musical issues such as these on my Prodos blog site (click for blog).

They can be considered differently due to different contexts, perspectives, listeners preferences, etc. But they do share a similar formal language: western tonality. Therefore it is possible to compare them is some ways. Some comparison is done by referring to some metal music "Neo-Classical Metal". Much of it is really more Baroque (i.e. "Bach & Roll") in form, melody & harmonic structure than Classical per se, but the general association and identification still rings true. Some people do this. Doesn't mean it's a "standard" reaction or conceptual tag. Why not? I have many times! Really, though, I love the passion, drama, excitement & RAW POWER of some classical pieces. A good orchestra blasting away on the first or fourth movement of Beethoven's 7th (for example) can easily rival a metal band or song for sheer raw energy. Again, why not? I can appreciate that it may not have this effect on you. But it does on me.

Drums by themselves can be music if they contain all the necessary components (i.e. the definition of music, in particular melody! - Please see my post on melody here). Any "auditory object" can be used to create music as long as the object in question is a pure enough tone to be heard by a human ear & understandable to a human mind as pitch specific. (For more on that see this post I did). So, drums (and other percussion instruments) can of course be used to present a melody or melodic information. But, in a way, this approach to the problem is "putting the cart before the horse". I think it might be better to ask, "What qualifies as a melody?", then, "What is the melody of THIS piece?". Then once you have those answers, you can ask, "Is this musician using drums (or whatever instrument) to play a (or "the") melody?". Hope this helps!

(Emphasis added by me.) The lyrical content and the artist's execution or "delivery" of those lyrics seems to me to be the essential characteristics of Rap & Hip Hop. However, the vast majority of Rap & Hip Hop I have heard contains background info in the form of a "beat", a sampled loop or some auditory object that clearly marks time passage (sometimes even a section of music! ). This is the standard by which the artist gauges his execution. Are there many or any "a capella" Rap/Hip Hop recordings? That is to say, spoken lyrics as the only object in the recording? Objects in reality should be clearly, consistently & objectively identified. Is it proper concept formation that annoys you or just the fact that music in particular has a specific defintion? It's not, therefore I don't. Because as I stated before...Objects in reality should be clearly, consistently & objectively identified. You could if you wanted to. Would you like to call the defintion I have provided into question? If so, how would you amend or reformulate it? Will you please offer your reasoning behind the rejection of my defintion and then explain why the one you will offer is more accurate? I disagree & I respectfully submit that if you thought it was insignificant you wouldn't have replied as you did. It seems more akin to poetry than any other art form. Poetry is meant to be spoken aloud in a specific rhythm/meter after all; but not necessarily to a "beat" (or any other background info).

I listened to a 30 second sound clip sample of this piece. What I heard may have not been representative. But I heard no rapping (i.e. talking in rhyming, rhythmic form), What I heard was actually singing (i.e. lyrics being sung with discernable pitches; "melodically"). Since Hip Hop typically contains rapping as it primary means of presenting the words of a piece, I thought... Exactly! ???? Walt Whitman? Emily Dickinson? Beat generation-era? You have conveniently skipped from 1600 to approximately 1975. Leaving out this large a chunk of contextual history it might be possible to regard Hip Hop (& rap) as "challenging" and "innovative". Exactly. Music (noun) - The art of arranging sounds to be heard in linear time passage which produce a unified auditory object (i.e. a "composition") using characteristic components of melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre. Without all necessary components (i.e. in this case melody & harmony) it is NOT music. I know I already went into this in another thread, but I wanted to stress this again. It is annoying to me that rap & hip hop artists refer to something they do as music when it isn't.

You STILL haven't?! Put that one at the top of your list, man! Oh, whew... Good idea! Congrats! That's wonderful. I know that's true.

Beethoven Video News Story on MSN This is CSI-style scientific evidence that Beethoven did NOT die of syphilis ("he was a promiscuous womanizer") or liver damage or cirrhoses ("he was a wasted, loner drunkard"). Personally, I really wish everyone would just not give a damn about ANYTHING but his music. But as it is - there have been close to 180 years of "speculation" on the cause of his death; somtimes suggesting it was due to something that implied B. was a degenerate. Anyway...I got a bit worked up over it. (Bonus! They show a lock of his hair! This might seem trivial, but it is important to me because it is an extremely concrete reminder that he was an actual human being & not an abstract "mythological giant".)

Thanks. Good luck. I hope you find it enjoyable; I sure do.

Thanks. An original piece. To hear the whole thing go here. Sure! I can play anything on guitar. I have a whole repertoire of Classical & Romantic pieces I've arranged for electric guitar (& some for acoustic classical guitar).

Christopher Schlegel Video Sample This is a brief sample from a DVD introduction to my musical skills. I put it together to use as an Introductory Multimedia Portfolio. I did the music (arrangement, performance, recording & production). Friend & fellow OO.net member Mark Weiss (mweiss) did the video editing. It came out so well I wanted to share a bit of it! Happy viewing & listening!

Existentialism: see Camus & Sartre.

Beethoven is not good...Beethoven is GREAT!!! The BEST....EVER!!! That's "Rite of Spring" but, ironically, your typo is a more accurately descriptive title!

My hero! Roark talking about architecture. Good stuff.

There is a thread in Aesthetics related to this topic right here. I tried to address the problem explaining basic musical principles as if to a novice on the subject. I even included some musical examples that coincidentally use Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" theme from the Finale of the Ninth.

Another guitar pic!