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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2003-01-08, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2003. PAGE 5. Other Views I hear the arithmetic of sound We must remember, Mozart and Beethoven didn ’t hear all the sounds we hear. They never heard the sound of a motor car starting, running, grinding, stopping. They never heard a telephone ring, or an airplane roar. - Gregor Piatigorsky And. one might add that, since he died in 1-976. Mister Piatigorsky (no mean musician himself) never got to hear the tell-tale blip of a cell phone, the supersonic howl of an SST, or Eminem singing about The Real Slim Shady. Strange critter, music, when you think about it. My dictionary defines it as “the art of combining vocal and/or instrumental sounds to produce beauty of form, harmony and expression of emotion”. That’s a tad wordy. I prefer Debussy’s take: he called music “the arithmetic of sound”. However you define it, humankind has been making music of one kind or another ever since some nameless Neanderthal used a pair of mastodon ribs and the floor of his cave to produce the world’s first drum solo. But why do we make music? Because it makes us feel better, I guess. Although that doesn’t do much to explain musical aberrations like Muzak, Lawrence Welk - or Eminem singing The Real Slim Shady. Still, there’s no accounting for musical taste. One person’s Bach is another person’s Britney Spears - even your mutt will tell you that. No kidding. Researchers at Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland recently put 50 dogs of assorted pedigrees into New Democrats on the rise The party that was virtually non-existent in the last two Ontario elections could have an impact in the next, due within months. The New Democrats have barely survived with an average of only between 10 and 15 per cent support in polls since voters tossed them out of government in 1995, but stepped up to a more respectable 22 per cent in the latest. This is not exactly a level that suggests they could win the election Progressive Conservative Premier Ernie Eves is expected to call in the tradition of holding votes every four years. The New Democrats are too far behind, have left too many memories of their high spending and failures to keep longstanding promises, and lack the personalities and organization they once had. But 22 per cent is not far below the support they had for several decades, before they were almost wiped out by being in government, and brings them close to having some influence in an election. - The increase in support for the NDP reflects partly voters’ reduced enthusiasm for the Tories and their main rivals, the Liberals, who lead in polls. Eves has retreated on so many issues from allowing a free market to set hydro rates to increasing nursing home fees, that he has an image of being ready to abandon any principle at a hint of protest. Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty has made almost as many flip-flops, his most recent being for and against privatizing electricity transmission and freezing hydro rates. Neither has convinced voters he is capable of choosing policies he can stick to or shown the confidence and sure-footedness they expect in a leader. New Democrat Leader Howard Hampton in contrast, as even some of his critics have acknowledged, has been a model of a room and played a whole bunch of music at them to see how they reacted. The dogs were treated to all manner of music. Everything from Bob Marley to Vivaldi; from Beethoven to Metallica. Not to mention the aforementioned Johann Sebastian and Britney. Results? The scientists found that the dogs - be they Doberman or dachshund, shih-tzu or St. Bernard — preferred classical music to rock and roll. They became calm and placid when Bach or Beethoven was piped into their room. When Metallica came on they went nuts, barking, howling and even snarling and biting at each other. Hey - just like the audience at your average Metallica concert. No question that the making of music has been transformed down through the ages. We’ve gone from mastodon bones to Moog synthesizers. From hollow logs to Hammond organs. And we’ve gone even farther than that. Consider: It is possible for me to go home this afternoon, flick on my computer... And become an instant musician. Despite the fact that I can’t finger a decent G chord on a guitar or get anything but a squeak out of a Eric Dowd From Queen's Park consistency, against privatizing hydro assets and against a free market in rates, among other stands. Hampton also has carried the burden of promoting causes favoured by many who are left of centre, such as increasing the paltry $6.85 an hour minimum wage, which has not been raised since the Tories under Mike Harris, Eves’s predecessor, won government in 1995. Some who deserted the NDP at that time appear to feel it has done penance and have returned to its fold and such signs of NDP healing may encourage others on the same path. The main impact of a stronger NDP will be to take votes from the Liberals, who are closest to it on the political spectrum, and indeed Liberal strength in polls has fallen slightly as the NDP’s has risen. Any sign the NDP is getting back on its feet also will discourage further attempts to organize so-called strategic voting similar to those in 1999, when some unions who normally support the NDP urged electors to vote for whichever candidate in their riding had the best chance of beating the Tory, which Final Thought Be aware that a halo has to fall only a few inches to be a noose. - Dan McKinnon trumpet, my computer allows me to gain instant access to every sound ever made by any musical instrument ever recorded. All 1 have to do is pull down a program called Fruitloops. There, I can choose from any number of drum styles incorporating my choice of tempo and beat. I can sound like Gene Krupa or Buddy Guy. 1 can then toss in a saxophone, electric guitar, bass, cello, trumpet, piano — you name it. It’s all in the program. What’s more 1 don’t have to learn how to fret a chord, handle a drumstick, or find middle C on the piano. There is no piano. All there is, is my computer mouse. Is this music? Well, I have my doubts. The scary thing is, if I do it well enough, you wouldn’t be able to tell it from real music - the kind produced by actual musicians. Is it the way of the future? I hope not, but I did notice a small newspaper item in The Wall Street Journal recently. Apparently the Pentagon has just purchased a carload of what they are pleased to call “technologically- enhanced” bugles. From now on, any member of a U.S. funeral honour guard will be able to put one of these bugles to his lips, press a button, and emit a digitally recorded, technically perfect rendition of Taps. “It provides a dignified visual” explained a Pentagon official, “something families tell us they want.” Well, I suppose. But it ain’t exactly a lone piper silhouetted against the North Sea playing Amazing Grace, is it? often meant voting Liberal. They argued the paramount objective should be getting rid of Harris, because of his cuts in services and hostility toward unions. Harris was among those who recognized the NDP was vulnerable to such calls which could help Liberals, and this produced the odd spectacle of the Tory premier trying to prop up the NDP by saying it at least had policies, while no-one knew where the Liberals stood. The call for strategic voting was effective enough it cost the NDP a handful of seats and it depended very much for its success on the deep resentment of Harris. But unions will be less inclined to push it if the NDP shows signs of gaining a few seats and it will have less appeal anyway now Harris has been replaced by the more moderate Eves, who does not engender the same animosity. If the NDP can notch up a few more per cent, it also would have a level of support that in the past three decades has enabled it to restrict the Tories to three minority governments and push out one of them when it combined with the Liberals — but it still is a long shot. Letters Policy The Citizen welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must be signed and should include a daytime telephone number for the purpose of verification only. Letters that are not signed will not be printed. Submissions may be edited for length, clarity and content, using fair comment as our guideline. The Citizen reserves the right to refuse any letter on the basis of unfair bias, prejudice or inaccurate information. As well, letters can only be printed as space allows. Please keep your letters brief and concise. Bonnie Gropp The short of it Just as I am Well, that certainly went by in a hurry. And I don’t just mean my time off work. There’s nothing like a vacation to recharge the batteries. But when that break is smack dab in the crazy mix that is the Christmas season, you find yourself at the end of it much too soon and running on empty. My holiday was a hectic swirl of activities from preparing home and meals for an influx of people to making not one but two trips to both Toronto and Kitchener. But what also went too fast was the Christmas part of the holiday. In a dizzying blur family, meals, laughter, tears, hugs and kisses flew by. From the organized calamity of me alone in my kitchen Christmas Eve day, in the course of 24 hours, our house was filled to the rafters with people and presents, food and drink, noise and chaos. The joy of being together at times battled with the stress of being together until before we knew it, it was over and, exhausted, we fell into beds. Boxing Day dawned with a line-up for the showers and hustling to yet another dinner. As we finally found the minute to catch our breath, it was again to realize the day was winding down. Squeezing in social engagements between attempts to tidy up had us, suddenly, entering a new year. Which ultimately led to another observation. Forget the swiftness with which the holidays passed; look at the 12 months now behind us. Another year come and gone in a heartbeat. It has been 27 New Year’s Eves which I have spent with the same group of friends. And as we considered the passage of time, as we broke up our revelling in the early wee hours of the morning, one consistent thought came to light — we are getting old. Well, perhaps not old, but definitely not as young. Gone are the days of breaking in the dawn. Gone are the days of over->ndulgencc leaving us to wake up sick and tired. And gone as well it would seem are the days of resolutions. As no one even uttered the words, 1 had to wonder if in our older and wiser state my friends and I have given up hope in perfecting ourselves. Besides, there’s not all that much left I’m willing to give up. I quit smoking years ago. the one habit 1 am more than thrilled to be rid of. The pleasure of junk food has been diminished, thus, as I can no longer enjoy certain foods guilt free I enjoy them much less frequently. I try to live a less sedentary life. I like my wine, but I imbibe, generally, with a level of common sense. So, as 1 sat considering the lack of resolutions, 1 wondered what I might be willing to try to change this year. The answer came with immediate and wonderful clarity. I am giving up trying to change. What’s wrong after all with being who one is rather than who one thinks they should be? Over the years, introspection and retrospection has, 1 hope, helped me to see imperfections which can be adjusted or improved with regularity. However, in my tender middle age I have come to realize I will never be perfect, so why exhaust myself trying. There will always be a dark side that is less kind, easier to anger than would be the ideal. 1 will sometimes pursue hedonistic pleasures which would be best not followed. But, all in all I'm not a bad gal. So in the year 2003 1 will stay just as I am. No change. 1 really don’t have the energy nor the time.