For Jacob, on the microtonal panorama...

[I was drawn to this thread by someone who noted I've been... 'mentioned' in the recent postings. Jeff, I check Crazy every so often even when it hasn't been busy, but I hadn't checked recently. Just a quick reply...]

Jacob,

For anyone finding their muse, and realizing that your muse happens to live down a different road in a different town in a different... you get the picture: it isn't going to be either easy or straight-forward. And from your posts you already impress me as someone who can think for themselves, so I'll make this one post on Jeff's list and then you can get back to me personally if you like.

I happen to revere those who seize motivation and ideas and then go do something. The best you can do is scan the horizon, be it real-world or virtual, gather as much information as you can, and go forward. DO NOT waste time if an avenue seems unproductive, and you have to trust your instincts on this. If a particular list seems to not offer what you want, move on. But...

... *also*! it helps when you frame your queries and explorative thoughts as crystal-clear as possible. I think Jeff would agree that it is easiest to offer help and advice if one knows as much as possible about the situation and person seeking guidance. Certainly that is the case for me.

Finally, as this happens every so often, I'd like to clear up a couple of issues Mr. McLaren has written about in an erroneous fashion:

1. You must take Brian's words very carefully, because he - like all humans - makes mistakes. And it isn't unreasonable for someone being passionate to make more mistakes than usual. For instance:

"William Sethares' two CDs are another resource. Buy 'em. Listen to 'em. Kyle Gann's CD is another resource. Buy it. Listen to it."

...and then later...

"How many of these people have websites? Zero. They're musicians..."

Well, he only mentioned _one_ person before Bill and Kyle, which was Ivor. Yes, Ivor doesn't have a proper website, but that is because he is dead. Both Bill and Kyle _DO_, and they are very good sites, with both written knowledge AND music you can download! I don't have a problem with people writing screenfuls of diatribes, as long as they are remotely correct. Brian isn't even in the ball park.

2. He then says: "Why should you expect to be able to surf the web and grab a whole big bunch of free music? Does it occur to you that it might cost money to host a website and let people download music?"

This is pretty weird, because a lot of people make music NOT to make money off of it but to share, and if you go to the MMM list and look on "Links", one of the list members has a page showing a very large number of pages where you can download music from people who want to share it. Lots and lots of music. And the best part is you can listen to it before you pay any money - I'm willing to bet any and all of these composers (if you will) would be happy to get a 'donation', but don't *expect* one. As for me, every composition I've ever written has taken all it's fees or whatnot and donated it to local charities, with the singular exception of non-microtonal hack music I've written for commercial purposes. THAT money I've used to fund things for other musicians as well...

3. Brian later says: "Or you could always listen to that magnificent CD of microtonal music by Jonathan Szanto available here: Whoops, Jonathan Szanto hasn't released any CDs of microtonal music either. But don't worry, he sprays out tens of thousands of words per week, so all is not lost."

Um, that isn't remotely correct, as I've not been posting much, and have actually apologized to my list (MMM) for being away from the action and not being a catalyst for creating new music. Also, Brian has no idea what might have been going on in my life over the last few months, so I'll just overlook it.

"Szanto has immeasurably contributed to microtonality with posts like his recent comment "It sounds
like a root canal without anesthetic." Yes, you can always count on Jonathan Szanto to contribute to microtonality with invaluable passages like that one."

I have no idea where that attribution goes, but if Brian would like to cite it I'll see if I was babbling incoherently or actually making a spot-on comment.

Final Note To Jacob:

There are all kinds of people involved in music, and one subset of music is microtonal music (in the best of all possible worlds, microtonal *IS* music, and everything else is a subset!). That said, we all work differently and produce differently. It is your choice and path to read through these various posting and try to ascertain the sincerity of the correspondent, and to divine where there is genuine guidance or assistance and where there is polemic and vitriol. If you've gotten as far as posting to the various lists, you have all the tools to make your own judgments.

Everything else is just a bunch of male cats marking territories!

Cheers,
Jon