If I may add my humble thoughts, one of the wonderful things 
about computer music is that it opens another dimension of creative
possibilities. While that is a great thing, it is also a curse because 
you then not only have to worry about the notes you write
but also how to utilize some computer process in some aesthetically  
pleasing. I often times think of it as composing a piano piece then 
building your own piano and then playing your piece on that piano.
It can be a lot of extra work. Perhaps he is tired of having to worry 
about such things. I can totally understand the way he feels.



Anthony

---- Christopher Watts  wrote: 
> It's interesting to see what Lansky had to say about this almost 20  
> years ago:
> http://silvertone.princeton.edu/~paul/view.html
> 
> The 7th paragraph speaks more or less to this specific point.
> 
> Best,
> Chris
> 
> On Aug 5, 2008, at 1:26 PM, Michael Gogins wrote:
> 
> > And, anybody can take a pencil and staff paper and put marks on it,  
> > and pay a fiddler to play them. Anybody can write, anybody can  
> > paint, anybody can compose, and anybody can think.
> >
> > I agree that education, training, and professional experience are  
> > helpful in becoming good, if that's what you mean. But I don't see  
> > what this has to do with the question of computer music.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Mike
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Michael Bechard 
> >> Sent: Aug 5, 2008 12:55 PM
> >> To: csound@lists.bath.ac.uk
> >> Subject: [Csnd] Re: Re: Paul Lansky throws in the towel
> >>
> >> Well, any Mac user CAN compose, and has a wide range of tools with  
> >> which to do so in the electronic realm. Whether or not those  
> >> compositions will be good, however, is another matter entirely. I  
> >> think the author was simply trying to allude to the democratization  
> >> of the music making process to the masses.
> >>
> >> Michael Bechard
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> ----- Original Message ----
> >> From: luis jure 
> >> To: csound list 
> >> Sent: Tuesday, August 5, 2008 8:45:56 AM
> >> Subject: [Csnd] Re: Paul Lansky throws in the towel
> >>
> >>
> >> on 2008-08-05 at 15:58 DavidW wrote:
> >>
> >>> it is referencing this article:
> >>> http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/06/arts/emusic.php
> >>
> >> the article is worth reading for this gem:
> >>
> >> "Any Mac user can compose,"
> >>
> >> this is the art of journalism at its highest: the most complete  
> >> idiocy
> >> summed up in five words. and fairly short words at that.
> >>
> >> BTW, paul lanksy composed one of my favorite computer pieces of all
> >> time, the six fantasies. i can't honestly say i like much some of his
> >> other pieces, though. but i admire and respect him very much. for the
> >> rest, i think a big fuzz is being made out of this, any composer  
> >> should
> >> be free to follow their [*] artistic inclinations at any particular
> >> moment. and free also from idiotic journalists.
> >>
> >>
> >> best,
> >>
> >> lj
> >>
> >> [*] please note the politically correct use of the possessive
> >> determiner.
> >>
> >>
> >> Send bugs reports to this list.
> >> To unsubscribe, send email sympa@lists.bath.ac.uk with body  
> >> "unsubscribe csound"
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Send bugs reports to this list.
> >> To unsubscribe, send email sympa@lists.bath.ac.uk with body  
> >> "unsubscribe csound"
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Send bugs reports to this list.
> > To unsubscribe, send email sympa@lists.bath.ac.uk with body  
> > "unsubscribe csound"
> 
> 
> 
> Send bugs reports to this list.
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If I may add a few rusty old coppers to the discussion hat.

One's attitude to music dictates one's attitude to sound, which in  
turn dictates the tools needed to create the music. I don't see the  
point of talking about the tools or technology per se, away from the  
compositional thought processes that guide the technological usage in  
the first place. What does computer music even mean? Music made with  
computers? It could be a bad Mozart arrangement that uses the most  
sophisticated physical modeling program...
	
If one is concerned with the conventional musical syntax ONLY, then  
using a computer seems pointless to me as it is not born out of  
musical necessity (there may be economic justifications). So it seems  
more relevant to me to ask what is it that Paul Lansky is looking to  
create, what is his attitude to music as it where? If he is happy  
with dots on a page, that's probably because his attitude to music  
dictates dots on a page, in fact his computer music is so concerned  
with the conventional note-based approach that I never felt his use  
of computer had any more than novelty value or that it was  
compositionally justified - masterful as it may be though. Again one  
goes back to the old-age argument that the computer is not an  
instrument but a tool (although an instrument is a tool!!). Computer  
can be made into an instrument but I don't see the point unless this  
instrument somehow expands and enriches (from a blind listener's  
point of view) the sound-world of conventional instruments. Or why  
not get away from the concept of instruments and work directly with  
sounds now that we can? Either way, there needs to be a reason for  
using computers as opposed to an orchestra that is perceptually and  
directly relevant to the listening experience.

Another issue raised in the article was about the social  
interactivity aspect of instrumental performance. What about CDs? I  
think of Glen Gould, for what we know his recordings could all have  
been synthesized (later dubbed for maximum effect, with him humming  
the bass-line!). If that was the case would it be any less of a  
performance? In fact we know that Gould's final masters were the  
result of endless edits of many different takes, so in a way NOT  
'real' performances.

Best
P


On 5 Aug 2008, at 19:33,   
 wrote:

> If I may add my humble thoughts, one of the wonderful things
> about computer music is that it opens another dimension of creative
> possibilities. While that is a great thing, it is also a curse because
> you then not only have to worry about the notes you write
> but also how to utilize some computer process in some aesthetically
> pleasing. I often times think of it as composing a piano piece then
> building your own piano and then playing your piece on that piano.
> It can be a lot of extra work. Perhaps he is tired of having to worry
> about such things. I can totally understand the way he feels.
>
>
>
> Anthony
>
> ---- Christopher Watts  wrote:
>> It's interesting to see what Lansky had to say about this almost 20
>> years ago:
>> http://silvertone.princeton.edu/~paul/view.html
>>
>> The 7th paragraph speaks more or less to this specific point.
>>
>> Best,
>> Chris
>>
>> On Aug 5, 2008, at 1:26 PM, Michael Gogins wrote:
>>
>>> And, anybody can take a pencil and staff paper and put marks on it,
>>> and pay a fiddler to play them. Anybody can write, anybody can
>>> paint, anybody can compose, and anybody can think.
>>>
>>> I agree that education, training, and professional experience are
>>> helpful in becoming good, if that's what you mean. But I don't see
>>> what this has to do with the question of computer music.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> Mike
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: Michael Bechard 
>>>> Sent: Aug 5, 2008 12:55 PM
>>>> To: csound@lists.bath.ac.uk
>>>> Subject: [Csnd] Re: Re: Paul Lansky throws in the towel
>>>>
>>>> Well, any Mac user CAN compose, and has a wide range of tools with
>>>> which to do so in the electronic realm. Whether or not those
>>>> compositions will be good, however, is another matter entirely. I
>>>> think the author was simply trying to allude to the democratization
>>>> of the music making process to the masses.
>>>>
>>>> Michael Bechard
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message ----
>>>> From: luis jure 
>>>> To: csound list 
>>>> Sent: Tuesday, August 5, 2008 8:45:56 AM
>>>> Subject: [Csnd] Re: Paul Lansky throws in the towel
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> on 2008-08-05 at 15:58 DavidW wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> it is referencing this article:
>>>>> http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/06/arts/emusic.php
>>>>
>>>> the article is worth reading for this gem:
>>>>
>>>> "Any Mac user can compose,"
>>>>
>>>> this is the art of journalism at its highest: the most complete
>>>> idiocy
>>>> summed up in five words. and fairly short words at that.
>>>>
>>>> BTW, paul lanksy composed one of my favorite computer pieces of all
>>>> time, the six fantasies. i can't honestly say i like much some  
>>>> of his
>>>> other pieces, though. but i admire and respect him very much.  
>>>> for the
>>>> rest, i think a big fuzz is being made out of this, any composer
>>>> should
>>>> be free to follow their [*] artistic inclinations at any particular
>>>> moment. and free also from idiotic journalists.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> best,
>>>>
>>>> lj
>>>>
>>>> [*] please note the politically correct use of the possessive
>>>> determiner.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Send bugs reports to this list.
>>>> To unsubscribe, send email sympa@lists.bath.ac.uk with body
>>>> "unsubscribe csound"
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Send bugs reports to this list.
>>>> To unsubscribe, send email sympa@lists.bath.ac.uk with body
>>>> "unsubscribe csound"
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Send bugs reports to this list.
>>> To unsubscribe, send email sympa@lists.bath.ac.uk with body
>>> "unsubscribe csound"
>>
>>
>>
>> Send bugs reports to this list.
>> To unsubscribe, send email sympa@lists.bath.ac.uk with body  
>> "unsubscribe csound"
>
>
> Send bugs reports to this list.
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> "unsubscribe csound"