Updates and Fiddly Work

I made some slight changes to the Secrets of Piano Playing pages.

You know, it's difficult to get exactly the best way to express something, particularly if it is something no-one has said before. Actually, that's something worth writing down, isn't it? I wonder how many books are like that...something nobody has said or known before?

A good book is like that. I'm sure all books have something new in them, some reason to exist. But some try to copy others that were successful before, and those become boring quite quickly. I'm trying to think of all the "airport novels" I've read. These (if you didn't know) are the thick-ish paperback books you see at the airport. They are often thrillers. "Jake Undercarriage was a tough ex-Marine with a passion for antiquities. When he stepped into the Ankara Museum of Egyptian Art one sweltering afternoon, little did he know that soon both sides of his character would be tested to the limit..." and so on... (Yes, I did make that up. Yes, I should be writing Airport Novels. Unfortunately I am doing music and have obviously missed my calling)

You know, I never read one I didn't like. The bad ones I never read, so I can't really say anything about those.I know that some of the ones I read were more imaginative than others. But sometimes you just want to read a book, you don't want to be "tested to the limit" like Mr. Undercarriage. I will happily read one of these books if:

there is nothing else important to do
there is something unique about it like location, characters, atmosphere
it isn't pathetic and empty and just about killing
the characters are realistic - not made out of cardboard
there is fantasy
there is excitement
part of my brain is thinking about something else and I need to occupy the other part to help the first part work

So it looks like I still make some demands, even when it comes to light reading.

For light listening, I like something like Borodin String Quartets. How can there be light listening? Do I not think music is either full of meaning or empty of it? Well, yes, but there are all kinds of different things to learn. If a piece of music teaches me about music, then it is very interesting. If it teaches me about the situation of being alive, then I am happy. If it takes my soul out of my body and blows new air into it then there are no words to say what I am. But if it teaches me about some other part of being alive, if the author says "I was alive too and this is how I felt about it, let's listen together", then if it is nice it might be easier to listen to, or to read. For a rest. To better understand the other things.

I don't know everything about everything I do though. If you are more normal you may be saying "Don't think so hard! Have a rest!" and I think you are right. Sorry, words are about thoughts so it can get a bit thoughtful when you write. But that's why the words have to be right, which is why I revised the Secrets of Piano Playing, which is why I am speaking to you now.

Was speaking to you!