tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10680113.post4377831791261973143..comments2024-03-23T11:40:13.092-05:00Comments on Musical Assumptions: Becoming SensitizedElaine Finehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248422399226824168noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10680113.post-50807847139503871432013-01-20T09:53:54.537-06:002013-01-20T09:53:54.537-06:00For anyone who’d like to see the Nabokov passage J...For anyone who’d like to see the Nabokov passage Joe mentioned:<br /><br />With the help of the janitor he screwed onto the side of the desk a pencil sharpener — that highly satisfying, highly philosophical implement that goes ticonderoga-ticonderoga, feeding on the yellow finish and sweet wood, and ends up in a kind of soundlessly spinning ethereal void as we all must. He had other, even more ambitious plans, such as an armchair and a tall lamp.<br /><br />Vladimir Nabokov, Pnin (1957)<br /><br />It’s sometimes a pleasantly small world: Elaine and I both read (and gape at the photos in) Contrapuntalism.<br /><br />[No great effort involved here — I posted the Nabokov on my blog a few years back.]Michael Leddyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05547732736861224886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10680113.post-32205767322242462013-01-18T08:26:58.478-06:002013-01-18T08:26:58.478-06:00For lovers of pencils and music:
http://contrapun...For lovers of pencils and music:<br /><br />http://contrapuntalism.wordpress.com/<br /><br />(I have no connection to that blog other than my pleasure in reading it. Lots of pencils, but dig around and you'll find plenty on music, too.)peregrinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05310871394184407035noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10680113.post-29592241250220232492013-01-16T13:51:38.845-06:002013-01-16T13:51:38.845-06:00Remember The Gershwin Piano Rolls? Now Debussy che...Remember The Gershwin Piano Rolls? Now Debussy checks in.<br />http://www.openculture.com/Joe Carlsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10925042164233399553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10680113.post-54236343459481664132013-01-16T13:03:55.485-06:002013-01-16T13:03:55.485-06:00It is interesting to involve Nabokov because altho...It is interesting to involve Nabokov because although his words are extremely musical to me, he hated music! He has synesthesia, but music sounded like noise to him!<br />Elaine Finehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14248422399226824168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10680113.post-74053888884816388302013-01-16T10:06:51.734-06:002013-01-16T10:06:51.734-06:00Oh how I loved sharpening pencils in elementary sc...Oh how I loved sharpening pencils in elementary school! And the sound WAS part of the experience (sometimes you had to go to the FRONT of the room to sharpen, which made it an even bigger deal).Elaine Finehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14248422399226824168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10680113.post-51064025858903012752013-01-16T10:01:28.126-06:002013-01-16T10:01:28.126-06:00Thanks, Elaine. Often wondered how trained musicia...Thanks, Elaine. Often wondered how trained musicians with their sensitivity to sound hear the "real world." Speaking of pencils, here is John Updike: <br /><br />"You know, this image I mentioned. There’s an image in one of the first Nabokovs I read - the pencil sharpener, which said “Ticonderoga, Ticonderoga.” Ticonderoga being the brand of a pencil. But to listen to what a pencil sharpener is saying was a kind of image you would love to have created yourself."<br /><br />Nabokov was thinking of the sound made on an old-fashioned grade school pencil sharpener that you had to crank: Ti-con-der-o-ga, Ti-con-der-o-ga!Joe Carlsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10925042164233399553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10680113.post-73540167597855321092013-01-16T09:02:20.806-06:002013-01-16T09:02:20.806-06:00Great, great post. It's a struggle to avoid el...Great, great post. It's a struggle to avoid electronics and the internet, but every time I successfully do I inevitably feel disconnected in the best way imaginable. <br /><br />And that Toscanini recording is indeed awesome.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com