Time

The sand will wash away but the gold will remain.

Suggestion

Google is kind enough to suggest what you might be searching for, based on other searches.

It's surprising what is popular!!

Simple English

Did you know there is a language called Simple English? It's a simplified version of the English language (as experienced on Simple English Wikipedia).

Actually I have noticed that a lot of the time I am writing in simplified English. The reasons for this are that a lot of the people reading this are not native English speakers, or that they might not be, or that in fact (and this is true) a lot of the people in the world are not actually native English speakers, believe it or not. People who speak English tend to assume that everyone else does, but they might not, you know...

So even though I know that most people reading this can actually read English (of course they can; that's how they are reading this), I try not to write anything too complicated.

Even for first-language English speakers (Anglophones - you see, it's complicated already!) I don't want to alienate anybody. It's easy to sound "clever" with a lot of po-ly-syl-la-bic words but that is not the same as being intelligent. And if I write something that someone can't understand then I feel it has failed. You see, sometimes the ideas are so difficult to understand that we need all the help we can get.

Here is an excerpt from an article in Simple English:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was an Austrian composer and pianist. During his short life he wrote more than 600 pieces of music. Many people think he was one of the best composers of music of all time. He was born in the city of Salzburg on January 27, 1756. He wrote over 600 pieces of music, including the operas (music with a story) Don Giovanni and Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute). His works began with a minuet (a dance) that he wrote when he was four, and end with his final piece, the Requiem, which he left unfinished. Mozart was a prodigy at the piano, and he was known as a great pianist as well as a great composer. He died on December 5, 1791 when he was 35 years old.

Well, you can't really fault it. It is clear what it means. But it is a little bit offensive when it gets over-simple. Or is it? If you are eight years old would you rather read this than

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (IPA: [ˈvɔlfgaŋ amaˈdeus ˈmoːtsart], full name Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart^[1] (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791), was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over six hundred works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers.

Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood in Salzburg. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty; at seventeen he was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg, but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position, always composing abundantly. Visiting Vienna in 1781 he was dismissed from his Salzburg position and chose to stay in the capital, where over the rest of life he achieved fame but little financial security. The final years in Vienna yielded many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and the Requiem. The circumstances of his early death have been much mythologized. He was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons.

Mozart always learned voraciously from others, and developed a brilliance and maturity of style that encompassed the light and graceful along with the dark and passionate—the whole informed by a vision of humanity "redeemed through art, forgiven, and reconciled with nature and the absolute".^[2] His influence on all subsequent Western art music is profound. Beethoven wrote his own early compositions in the shadow of Mozart, of whom Joseph Haydn wrote that "posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years".^[3]

?

Well, otherwise, you end up with

Mozart was a music-man. He did a lot of music. He was alive. He is not alive. The end. Bye Bye!

I'd rather have the whole truth than the easy version of the truth. Even if it's harder work. Still, you have to reach as many people as you can.

I don't know if there is ever a perfect way of communicating.

A piece of music, a drawing, a poem - they don't exist without an audience. Even if the audience is the author. So you change it to suit the audience. You always do.

Or are there exceptions?

Spotify used for Classical Music

Spotify is a type of software designed by Swedish people. It enables you to listen to music on your computer rather like you might listen to the radio, except you can choose what you want to hear.

To make it work, you just go to the website, create your account by typing in your desired account name and password, as well as a little personal information about yourself. Then follow the download instructions, and it will work.

When you search for music, e.g. "Beethoven", or whatever it is, you get choices that match your search. Then because it is a P2P application (Peer-to-Peer, like Skype) there is no appreciable time delay in downloading the music, because you're not really downloading it - it's being shared with the network and therefore they are getting it to you as fast as possible.

Used for classical music, it's a simple way of getting to hear what pieces sound like. It's free and easy to use. There is quite a lot of choice so far as pieces and composers go (e.g. they have Finnissy and Xenakis as well as more famous people), though you may perhaps only have a choice of one recording. This is different to more popular music where often the one recording is the work itself.

It's the new fastest way to hear what a piece of music sounds like, if you don't know it. And you can hear all of it, so that's helpful.

I don't really listen to music - for some reason - but if you do then it could be useful, especially if you don't much care who is playing the piece you want. If you are a music lover who just wants to experience music without paying anything then it must be wonderful!

Thank you to my colleague for introducing me to it.

What's Left or What Comes Next

Hey, some people have a problem then they put it in a piece of music or whatever. Then they feel a bit better.

But how do we feel?

If we have the same problem (and probably, er, 30% of people will) then maybe it persuades us to feel better too?

But if it's new to us does it make us feel worse?

Probably not. But it's worth thinking about.

Then on the other hand, what do you write about if you don't have any problems?~?

I wonder...

Laugh Cry or be Serious - **MARI ARAKI**

Hello my dears!

People can be a bit serious.

Why is that?

First of all everyone has to pretend to be grown up. That's one reason.

Why is it? It must be because of our training - I can't think of any real reason to be serious like that.

Also sometimes people get a bit gloomy in their life. Then they do gloomy things.

What about artists? Do they write happy music or serious music? Do they paint happy or sad pictures?

The same thing can seem sad to one person but not sad to another person.

--

Look at what I have written today, for example. It's serious! It's serious because I was trying to understand something.

People maybe prefer to have another Martini? Or make chit-chat.

--

Once upon a time, everything was whole. Things worked well and people smiled. You all remember it.

Let's bring it back.

If something is serious and important, we will listen quietly and think hard.

Otherwise we will enjoy ourselves and dance and sing - because we know a bigger thing.

Why do we do anything? To make the world whole again.

Did you know that? Of course you did!

Some things, places, and people are important and we must look after them.

Everybody brings a talent to the world. Most people are still learning their skill. Some don't know about what they can do.

What you can do? It is a happy coincidence - it's the thing you enjoy doing! You enjoy it because you were always meant to do it.

And when people follow their talent...and let the light come through the window....and open the front door for visitors....and protect their treasure and their friends...they will be very important to us.

When you use your talent you are keeping the world in one piece. That is why we have talents.

When your talent brings a special message from far away (but very near), something we needed to know, but something it was impossible to know before you said it...that's called genius.

It's talent-plus-impossible.

I like the impossible. It's possible! Let's do it!

Today I would like to introduce a talent-plus-impossible person.

There are not many, this is the first one I have introduced to you so far.

She is an artist. Her work appears simple, normal, or sometimes even cute. But it is a trick! There are messages in there for us. Sometimes it might be uncomfortable for you to see the work. Don't worry, you don't have to look! If it gets uncomfortable it's because she looked deep inside and said a true thing to us.

Then on the other hand, it makes me laugh too. Why is it not looking serious but it is really being serious? Because it is telling the truth.

We could all create a system called something-ism. Then give lectures about our system. And make work that fits the system. We would all be serious. We might get an award! But it's bad luck for us if the truth was different all the time.

The really serious person knows that some things are difficult. But they don't try to make it worse for you. They tell the truth and you can recognise the truth because it is still true even if you make a joke about it.

So my artist I am introducing is a bit like that. That's what I think anyway.

You can see it for yourself. Look at her website.

Her name is Mari Araki. Be nice to her.

Buy her work!! Now!!!


---

He who knows not and knows not he knows not, is a fool - shun him.

He who knows not and knows he knows not, is simple - teach him.

He who knows and knows not he knows, is asleep - wake him.

He who knows and knows he knows: he is wise - follow him.


~~Where are we in this? Who knows!!

Hahahahahahaha!!!!!!!

Health Warning

I was just out of the city for a few days. Now i am back. Health warning! Being in the city is not so good for you! In many respects! So be careful there.

Quotation to think about

"Music expresses that which can not be said and on which it is impossible to be silent."

-Victor Hugo

Today at the ROH

This morning, thanks to a friend of Gabriel, I attended the final dress rehearsal of Verdi's Il trovatore ("The Troubadour") at the Royal Opera House. It was first performed there on 10 May 1855, eight days after its world première in New York - that's 154 years ago! It's still going strong.

Conducted by Carlo Rizzi, directed by Elijah Moshinsky, the cast included Roberto Alagna! (Manrico) and Dmitri Hvorostovsky! (Count di Luna) as well as excellent performances from people I did not know previously, particularly Sondra Radvanovsky as Leonora with some super pianissimo high notes and Małgorzata Walewska's well-characterised Azucena, who eerily and ambiguously inhabited the vocal range between female and male.

I had photographers in front of me but other than that it was the strongest cast I have seen in an opera, and my seat was in the sixth row!

I was lucky to see it.

Verdi is extremely good at his job. (He still is).

Just as the lighting designer (Mike Gunning) illuminates certain important areas, Verdi points out certain areas of the voices, supporting them and reinforcing their lines as if the orchestra is the canvas supporting the colour. The orchestra is always contributing to the feeling, but it's in such a subtle way because often the propelling phrases are so archetypically musical that you don't notice they are there. Not like a melody that you will remember and sing yourself, but like little cells of notes that are almost pre-musical.

Verdi supports the voices in this way, but most of all he supports the drama.

That is his achievement.

(And some good ensemble pieces with three or four things being sung at the same time!)

Thank you Mr. Verdi.

Thank you all!

Integrity

Integrity means: doing what you believe is right, and sticking to it.

You should always do the right thing, but you don't always have to tell everybody what you think - sometimes being quiet is the best thing to do. "The tallest tree is the first one to fall".

It's really OK to do the thing you are interested in.

It's really OK!

Yes you can do it!

You can always pretend you are normal, if you would like to.

It will be our little secret!

Communications

Today I went to Loon Fung to get some rice, and while I was at the checkout the manager came over to ask something to the checkout lady. He could of course ask her anything he liked because (a) he is the manager and (b) she wasn't talking to me because I am foreign. It's a strange syndrome, the "invisible foreigner" syndrome. I have studied a lot about Asian culture and behaviour so I have a small idea what it's about, but without study of this kind one might feel it's a bit rude.

Why am I invisible in a Chinese shop? Well, I'm less invisible now I have more training, but it's probably mainly caused by what people would term shyness, I think. The person is shy of interacting with a foreigner for some reasons which include having to speak a foreign language which might be complicated. The whole thing is complex and I don't know all about it by any means. This particular behaviour doesn't seem to be a feature of non-Asian cultures, which is interesting.

But what is more interesting is that probably if I joined in nicely and asked a question or whatever it is, everything would be fine. I'm sure she speaks English - she works in a shop in England. But it takes two sides to make a nervous situation.

And of course if I spoke Chinese (I can't)! What would happen? I've heard of Westerners speaking perfect Chinese and some Chinese people not being able to understand them. I think there could be several reasons for that too.

Anyway that's just all about "I heard this" and "Maybe that" so we have to go on what i actually know, don't we?

What I really wanted to say was, while the manager was talking to the lady, I heard him say, "something something san something". And I thought maybe san is three, because I know it is in Japanese. And I looked up and he was holding three things!

It's not worthy of the Nobel Prize for services to the translation industry. It's not going to get the Polyglot Pulitzer. But I am always amazed that one can learn a word and it will give you a secret key to understanding what previously sounded like a load of nonsense!

Amazing. (To me).

Yes it's worth learning a few things. They can be words - which you then understand - or they can be cultural facts about people and their behaviour - which you can then understand a lot better.

We're all the same really. It's just that some people say san and some say three. It's the same number.

Nugget of Information for Composing

If you treat the piano like an orchestra, and the orchestra like a piano, then you'll be alright.