SKF NOTE: I’m learning about screenwriter Melissa Mathison for the first time this morning. Very sad to say I’m reading a news report of her death.
Mrs. Mathison is immortalized for three (four?) words: “E.T. phone home.”
I am reminded — I don’t know why — of this passage from the King James Bible:
But when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
And I am reminded of Shakespeare’s, Brevity is the soul of wit.
Be good, indeed. R.I.P. Melissa Mathison.
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CNN)The woman behind the simple, immortal lines “E.T. phone home,” “I’ll be right here,” and “Be good” has died.
Screenwriter Melissa Mathison, an Academy Award nominee for “E.T. The Extra Terrestrial,” died in Los Angeles on Wednesday after an illness, according to her brother Dirk Mathison. She was 65.
SKF NOTE: Years ago I read a story of Confucius studying music. The story is at the end of this blog entry. (As I write I cannot recall either the book author or title. I will update this blog post when I do.)
Developing, as Confucius did, the ability to know “what kind of man composed the music,” by practicing the piece of music captured my imagination upon first reading.
That intuition, as I interpret this story, is the last step in mastering music. The first step is mastering the melody, then the rhythm, then the mood, and finally “what kind of man composed the music.”
Am I there yet? No. I can often identify musician’s by their sound. Once, while listening to Joe Zawinul playing solo during a Weather Report concert, my intuition was that he was playing impressions of his life as an Austrian child during World War II. When the song and the applause ended, Mr. Zawinul announced the song. It was, he said, impressions of his World War II childhood.
“How do you know that?” Soph asked Liebman in response to his “trip to Barcelona” comment. Liebman answered that he, Liebman, had been to Barcelona. And he was hearing in what Joe Henderson and the others were playing, sounds he knew were impressions of Barcelona.
I don’t know if Confucius or Music-Master Hsiang Tze always knew “what kind of man composed the music.” But I still think aiming for that level of musical intuition is a positive, worthy goal.
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The Story
Confucius learned from the Music-Master, Hsiang Tze, to play the zither. For ten days, Confucius made no progress. The Music-Master, Hsiang Tze, said: “We will try something else.”
Confucius said: “I have practised the melody, but I have not yet acquired the rhythm.” After a time, the Music-Master said: “Now that you have practised the rhythm, we will proceed.”
Confucius said: I have not yet caught the mood.” After a while, the Music-Master spoke again: “Now that you have practised the mood, we will proceed.”
Confucius said: I have not yet ascertained what kind of man composed the music.” After a time the Music-Master said: “You are so serious and sunk in thought. You are so cheerful, so full of high hopes, and of an open mood.”
Confucius said: “No I know who he is. Dark and black, tall and large. His eyes are those of a ram looking into the distance; his mind is that of a king of the four quarters of the earth. If it was not King Wen, who else could have composed anything like this?”
Then the Music-Master, Hsiang Tze, arose from his mat, bowed twice, and said: “According to the tradition of the Music-Masters, it is actually repurted to be a melody by King Wen.”
In my career I’ve written album reviews and drum equipment reviews. I don’t like doing it. Both types of reviewing rely on written words to describe sounds that change, listener to listener.
I’m imagining sitting in an theater seat. Onstage is a standard five-piece Gretsch drumset: 20-inch bass drum, 8×12 and 9×13 rack toms, a 16×16 floor tom. It includes all Sabian cymbals: 20″ Ride, 18″ Ride/Crash, and 14″ Hi-Hats. All drums are double-headed with Remo coated Ambassador drumheads.
Tommy Lee walks onstage, sits down at the Gretsch drumset and says, “I’ll play these drums and cymbals so you can hear what they sound like.” And he does.
When Tommy Lee finishes, Brian Blade sits down at the Gretsch drumset. He says, “I’ll play so you can hear what these drums and cymbals sound like.” And he does.
Do these Gretsch drums and Sabian cymbals sound the same when played by Lee and Blade? Suppose my style is closer to Brian Blade, and only Tommy Lee shows up to play so I can hear what these drums and cymbals sound like?
How drums, cymbals, and all drum gear sounds and functions is, from where I sit, totally subjective. And in my example I’m using out of the box equipment. Add to that the almost limitless personal sound touches drummers add to their gear: tape, cotton, foam rubber, car keys, tuning, drum heads, on and on.
I have friends who excel in writing drum gear reviews. T. Bruce Wittet, Chip Stern, and Bob Saydlowski are three. But I have neither their aptitude nor enthusiasm for it. Caveat: I love and appreciate well-made, great sounding drum gear. My challenge is translating my love and appreciation using words.
My aversion to album reviews is easier to explain and clarify. I can write, in brief, about albums I like. No sweat. But writing negative album reviews? I am unable to shake the axiom: If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything.
Here again, music is subjective. My musical tastes are changing all the time. It took me awhile to appreciate John Coltrane‘s Ascension. At first, I didn’t like it at all. But I loved Coltrane’s earlier work and his work with Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, and Red Garland. My introduction to Coltrane — and to Elvin Jones — was Coltrane’s Africa/Brass album.
I took a methodical approach to Coltrane’s later works. Coltrane was a music master who played brilliant, unique mainstream jazz. Unlike other avant garde players, I never questioned Coltrane’s mastery of music. So, I wondered, how did the John Coltrane playing Monk’s Mood with Thelonious Monk at Carnegie Hall evolve to John Coltrane playing One Down, One Up at the Half Note?
I listened chronologically, to almost the entire Coltrane discography, and I read as much as I could find about Coltrane’s evolution. And I’m not finished with Coltrane. I am still wrestling with his band with Rashied Ali on drums and Alice Coltrane on piano. Stay tuned.
I follow that same process with most music and musicians. Sometimes I hear a musician play one song and I’m sold for life. That happened to me with singer songwriter Guy Clark after hearing him perform, Desperados Waiting for a Train. Other times, it takes awhile before I understand music. And there is plenty of music I just don’t like.
All that’s a roundabout way of explaining my aversion to writing album reviews. I understand what it means to be a musician trying to earn a living. There’s no point in my publishing a bad review of an album someone else loves, that I may love another day.
SKF NOTE: I’m learning about screenwriter Melissa Mathison for the first time this morning. Very sad to say I’m reading a news report of her death.
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