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Sydney Menees

Give me one word...

May 16, 2006 at 3:16 PM

My blog disappeared. That was because I made a promise that my next blog entry would actually have something interesting in it. So, here is something I find intriguing:

Today I just decided to see what people I keep in e-mail correspondance with thought of classical music. It was just to get a general consensus, although it's still extremely biased because a lot of my friends are classical musicians, especially violinists. Anyway, the question was

What is the first word that comes to mind when I say "classical music?"

The first person I got an answer from was my friend who plays clarinet and she said, "My word for classical music today seems to be JOSHUA BELL." She continued by saying, "If I blocked all of your joshua bell influences, then my word would probably be STRINGS. "Okay," I thought, "That was funny. 'Strings' is interesting, though, considering she plays clarinet." I didn't think I would be getting anymore "Joshua Bells," but boy was I wrong. I'll put the rest of the responses that I have (so far) in order:

Joshua Bell
Bach
Violin, Joshua Bell, CD
Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven
Violin, orchestra, Joshua Bell
Cultured
Strings
Formal, old music
Violin
Bach (>powdered wigs>Mozart>crazy laugh>Michael Jackson>THE seagull>violin>classical music>Bach) {leave it up to Linda}
Sydney Menees
Transcending
Janine Jansen
Brilliant
Pride and Prejudice
Beautiful
Orchestra
McCullough
Joy
Mozart/piano/orchestral music/flutes
Brightness
Elegance
Work (positively)
Depth
Beethoven
Class
Mozart
Mozart, violin
Joshua Bell
Bach
Bach
Violin, Yehudi Menuhin
Emotion
Challenging
Wisdom
Passion
Life

I'll update this as more responses come along, but I find that so interesting! I'll need to have a talk with some of my friends...


From Carley Anderson
Posted on May 16, 2006 at 3:40 PM
So.....our blogs disappear if we don't update every so often? Hmm...

Um, best wishes with your campaign or whatever you call it, I guess... :P

From Bram Heemskerk
Posted on May 16, 2006 at 6:54 PM
Hi Sydney. You are back!! I had the same some time ago. After 3 or 4 weeks you dissapear from the blogroll. Carla Leurs had not written for half a year and suddenly came back. But now she also dissappear, because she had not written for 3/4 weeks. Some people write a lot and have a lot to tell and other people write sometimes.
By the way I miss the name "Janine" in your list.
And by the way2: I was with an orchestra in Bath under Bristol, Great-Britten and in Bath there was a Sydney Park, Sydney House, Sydney Road. I don't know the reason of this name or that it has something to do with the city Sydney in Australia, but it reminds me of your name and I made some foto's of it, because I parked my car there without paying, and I can put these foto's on my blog.
From Sydney Menees
Posted on May 16, 2006 at 7:25 PM
What's Janine in my list?
From Linda Lerskier
Posted on May 16, 2006 at 7:42 PM
Muhahaha! It's a magical ring of... er.. eternity! You should have seen how long the email was.
From Colleen Russo
Posted on May 16, 2006 at 8:37 PM
HEY now you dont have MINE up there and mine was the BEST one!! not quite as good as lindas though... hmm lol
From Kelsey Z.
Posted on May 17, 2006 at 6:45 AM
Sydney, the word that comes to me when someone says "classical music" is : transcending
From Jesus Contreras Espada
Posted on May 17, 2006 at 12:14 PM
Classical music is brightness, that's the word that comes into my mind when I think of it for a second.
I hear almost once per week somebody say "i like classical music, it's so relaxing...".
What can you say to that? Do you think Berg's Lyric Suite is relaxing? or a Shostakovich symphony, or Bartok's violin concerts...?
but maybe this is a topic to be discussed in another blog...
From Sydney Menees
Posted on May 17, 2006 at 4:05 PM
Um, if you click on blogs on this site, the header at the top of the window says "Violin Diaries on Violinist.com." Did it always say that? Hahahaha, I think that sounds funny, no offense :-)
From Elizabeth Chavez
Posted on May 17, 2006 at 6:21 PM
Composers...like Beethoven.
From Karin Lin
Posted on May 18, 2006 at 5:06 AM
Blogs are diaries. Why is that funny?

Personally, I think it's funnier that when I was a child, diaries were little books with keys and locks, and now people keep blogs where they post details of their private lives on the Internet for anyone to see...

From charles johnston
Posted on May 18, 2006 at 6:47 AM
Violin, Yehudi Menuhin. Bell is an extremely fine violinist and musician, and he is capable of giving a truely riviting performance ( Tanglewood, a few summers ago- the Saint-Saens ),but he doesn't have an indivdual style, though he is of course vastly superior to the generic music-making of the Delay products.
From Sydney Menees
Posted on May 18, 2006 at 8:57 AM
Karin, you kind of made my point for me! Except for this: to me, my blog is NOT my diary. My diary is in a __ ____ on the ____ blocked by a ______. My blog is like a log on the web (a web log? :)) that keeps track of less "inside" aspects of my life.

That's just my take on it.

From Sean Gillia
Posted on May 18, 2006 at 1:48 PM
Generic?

Itzhak Perlman,
Gil Shaham,
Nigel Kennedy,
Midori,
Sarah Chang,
Chuanyun Li,
Cho-Liang Lin,
Anne Akiko Meyers,
Nadia Salerno Sonnenberg,
Shlomo Mintz,
Robert McDuffie,
Mark Kaplan,
Rachel Lee,
Kyoko Takezawa.
etc
etc
etc

Really?

From Sydney Menees
Posted on May 18, 2006 at 2:17 PM
What? Who said generic?

I loooooooovvvvve Cho-Liang Lin!!! And the best part - he just recorded a violin/cello concerto and 2/4 seasons with the KC Symphony! :D

From Sean Gillia
Posted on May 18, 2006 at 2:29 PM
I was only responding (off topic sorry) to Mr. Johnston's comment above about what he regards as the generic music making of Dorothy DeLay's students by listing some of her students...
From Wesley Surber
Posted on May 19, 2006 at 12:59 AM
I think of Bill and Ted kidnapping Beethoven for their history report.
From Sydney Menees
Posted on May 19, 2006 at 7:22 AM
Is that from...? I've seen that movie before! Bill and Ted are worshipped by a planet because of the air-guitar thing they do, right?
From Wesley Surber
Posted on May 19, 2006 at 10:19 AM
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Actually, they were worshipped by Earth in the future for their music.
From Sydney Menees
Posted on May 19, 2006 at 10:52 AM
Hahaha, oh yeah!

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