Eric Dantan Rzewnicki wrote: >Not that the OT needs to go on any longer, but monk is one of my all >time favorite composers and performers. :-D If I were to start studying >music again I think I would start with monk. > > To push this thread a little towards on-topic: In the late 1980s I transcribed hundreds of compositions by various composers to MIDI sequences. It was great training for me, I worked from the written music, so the work improved my reading skills tremendously, and it also gave me much more intimate knowledge of what was going on inside the music's composition. I urge all students to follow this way, it's quite similar to Bach's practice of transcribing works by previous composers in order to learn how it's done. Linux audio software such as MusE and Rosegarden offer all the capability needed to carry out such a task, anyone can do it. And yes, I transcribed some pieces by Monk. IMO he was one of the titans. Favorite Monk piece of the moment: Ruby My Dear. Favorite Monk experience: Watching Buell Neidlinger's "buellgrass" group play an evening of nothing but lesser-known Monk titles at McCabe's in LA, all tunes played by a quartet that included fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and string bass. And who can forget the Kronos Quartet's rendition of Round Midnight ? But the best is still Monk with Rollins, or with Coltrane, or just Monk by himself... Off-topically, dp
