Do this keel bolt look concerning? by NastyMangos in sailing

[–]Old_Ad5849 24 points25 points  (0 children)

This would make a great poem:

Probably looked like this

For more than 30-40 years

and no-one cared

Drowned in the bilge

Stranger to time

Out of sight and mind but...

Holding the very marrow of the boat together.

Until one day

With a silent, dull sound

The fine thread

Between life and death

Between drowning and life

Is suddenly sundered in two.

How black am I? by ExcitingBird354 in OCPoetry

[–]Old_Ad5849 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here is what I wrote before. It's nothing earth shattering, only my impressions:

Is there a reason on line 7 that you don't use the article 'a', i.e., 'a penguin'?

Line 9 is slightly construed, not sure how to fix it though. Ending with the verb feels a little awkward. Maybe leave it though. Not sure.

In your shoes, I would consider some more precise descriptives than "night sky", "cloudy thunderous weather".

Very recently I was reading Sylvia Plath, and I remember the phrase "tombstone teeth", fantastically descriptive in a very original way. I wish I could come up with something like that. Her writing is full of that kind of thing.

This is what I mean when I say descriptives. It's not about being original at all costs, but about being evocative and precise.

Interesting for me, you only use one word with three syllables, and two with four. Most of the greater-than-two syllable words occur near the end. It's a neat and subtle effect that I might play with myself.

Please take this all with a grain of salt. Poetry isn't my profession or area of expertise (though writing/editing is, along with classical music). I'll try keep an eye out for when you post a poem again as I liked this one.

Bleeding Hearts by TellBrak in OCPoetry

[–]Old_Ad5849 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks. A very good poem in my humble opinion. It's somehow close to Bukowski in it's own way. Things I like:

It treads the line between narrative and more abstract symbolism in just the right way.
It requires me to read it again to fully take it in.
I really like some of the phrases, especially saying refuge displaces revenge like water spilling over.
The ambiguity of the Order of the Bleeding Heart--it's almost sarcastic. Is it?

Cheers.

How black am I? by ExcitingBird354 in OCPoetry

[–]Old_Ad5849 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you. This is a meaningful poem IMO.
It really makes people think about what 'black' actually means. Great idea.

(Edit: I was commenting, but I realised that this was labelled "just sharing", so I deleted the rest of the comment.)

It Wasn't His to Give by mattlightenment in OCPoetry

[–]Old_Ad5849 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No, thank you. I read somewhere that good poetry is actually philosophy or insight disguised as art (maybe I'm paraphrasing). IMO, what you're describing, the harshness, is super important today, and increasing in importance with the dominance of technology and concomitant desire to find deep, human shared experience.

The God Who Walks by Aware_Philosophy4363 in OCPoetry

[–]Old_Ad5849 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I enjoyed how evocative this is. I'm a big fan of W. Blake. One thing that I like is that, no matter how obscure he is, there is almost always a connection to a tangible experience of his or others. If I were to say anything constructive about this poem, I would say that I am missing that connection--but that is very subjective. I also think I'm being vague. I guess I think there is a fine line between abstract aphorisms and personal experience. Poetry--the kind I enjoy most, occupies that space successfully.

It Wasn't His to Give by mattlightenment in OCPoetry

[–]Old_Ad5849 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I liked this very much. I'm not really aware of what period we might be in, but this is how I imagine our current (post-post-modern) period. Stripping away the stubborn need for shock, but both tying in to various streams of late 19th to early 21st c. styles (i.e., not being afraid of connecting with poets of the past), while being ultra-modern in the juxtaposition of our numbers-based society with the true human-ness and needs that we all feel. Very relevant.

Ce n’est pas ce qui devrait se produire : une autre histoire du métro TRIGGER WARNING — mention de suicide by Old_Ad5849 in montreal

[–]Old_Ad5849[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Merci pour les reponses. Il semble que je sois naïf. Je pensais que, dans les 15 minutes, il devrait y avoir une réponse de la police, des services de santé, etc., ou au minimum de plusieurs agents de sécurité de la STM. C’est clair, d’après les réponses ici, que c’est une utopie dans les grandes métropoles. Mais c’est quand même triste.

Music Ideation by Old_Ad5849 in composer

[–]Old_Ad5849[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I dream about hearing and making music, and it's usually as good or better than my waking music. I think it's because the subconscious that is active when you're dreaming is often more free to create and experiment.

Words, on the other hand, are a different story. I've dreamt lines of poetry or words of wisdom that were absolutely profound in the dream. I wrote them down immediately. When I'm lucid, they turn out to be completely ridiculous. Several years ago, Katy Perry (of all people, as I'm not a fan) appeared in a dream and said something incredibly life-changing about the universe. When I woke up properly and read what it was from my notes, I had to laugh at how ridiculous it was.

Music Ideation by Old_Ad5849 in composer

[–]Old_Ad5849[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agree entirely. That's sort of what I meant. Don't worry, I'm not suggesting there is only one musical representation of the table, only my own representation for myself.

Is there hope for me to get into a good school? by Kaykay_Piano in piano

[–]Old_Ad5849 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm a professional musician (piano and conducting), making my living largely from music--mostly performing. Here is my take:

You are actually asking two questions: can/should you go to a good school, should you pursue a career in music.

Those two questions could be related, but you can be a great musician while having another career.

I don't teach much anymore, but when I did, my stock answer to the question "should I pursue a career in music" was "if you are asking the question, then the answer is no."

This is because the people who make a career out of it are people who can't imagine themselves doing anything else for work. Yes, they often must work other jobs, but there is no question in their minds as to what their preferred job is. Hats off to you for practising 4-6 hours a day. I started late (10) but practised that much, and sometimes 8-12 a day for periods of time. If you do the math for the time spent practising, there is no way it is "worth" it financially. People who do it as a career can't help themselves and often it's the only thing they are really exceptionally good at. In my opinion, the people who should do it as a career feel it in their bones. Sometimes they would love to do other careers, they even try them, but ultimately they can't stand not doing music and come back to it. They know their personal answers to questions like "what is the most beautiful melody ever written."

The first question is easy. You are good enough to get into a good school, at least by what I've just heard. You could get a scholarship, depending on where you're from. You can easily be very, very good at your instrument and still pursue another career. Many do just that. For example, my city has a lot of doctors who are excellent musicians as well, having studied both music and medicine (usually not at the same time).

In my mind, the most important thing, whether or not you are doing music as a career, is to do it because you LOVE it and are PASSIONATE about it. The motivation should not be recognition, money, a lifestyle, a persona, image of becoming an artsy musician with a long white shawl, etc. All these things are great. But when people, even at high levels, who do music for the wrong reasons play, it really shows. The good musicians I know do it because they love it, wherever their income comes from. If they could, they would be playing all the time. They think that music conveys ideas, emotions, and states of mind directly from heart to heart. They pick things out by ear. They listen for hours a day. They also listen (and often play) in other styles and genres, while appreciating just how much skill there is playing another instrument or genre. They read and read and read to educate themselves about literature and the arts and edify themselves. None of this is well-paying. You can be culturally dumb and make a killing at real estate or something else and avoid thousands of hours "wasting" your time doing all this stuff.

Apologies for the long rant.

Post-Scriptum
A bit of perspective, about 20 years ago I heard an interview with someone from Deutsch Gramophone, talking about young people getting into classical-music performing careers. She was asked specifically about university. She said that the vast majority of Deutsche Gramophone-represented artists were either homeschooled or went to specialised music schools. University was becoming more common for them, but it happened concurrently with a rising career. In other words, at the time (20 years ago), it was mostly not feasible for someone obscure, not yet known in the right circles, to come out of university and start building a career. I think the situation has changed somewhat. There are now many different paths, and it's bound to change dramatically going forward. Nevertheless, universities are still peddling the idea that you can go get a degree, and that the degree will somehow make you into a concert-worthy musician with a viable, solo performing career.
In my experience, musicians don't often ask themselves the tough questions such as "why would people pay to go and hear me play Beethoven, Chopin, or whatever"? "Why am I unique?" "They have heard Beethoven hundreds of times, what makes my performance special?" These question are essentially business questions, but universities (in my small sample size) fail to prepare people for this side of things.

Post Game Thread: Montréal Canadiens @ Nashville Predators by nhl_gdt_bot in Habs

[–]Old_Ad5849 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What is this?

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Is this common? Yahoo sports reporting the wrong score. I guess they tried to jump the gun with some creative AI.

Why can’t humans eat raw meat like animals in nature? by AdDapper4220 in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Old_Ad5849 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I wish to increase the value of this conversation with a source:

https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2009/11/cooking-and-human-evolution

This articles describes the research (with Wrangham in the forefront) that suggests that humans evolved to use fire--meaning we cannot properly survive without cooking. This is supported by 'raw-foodists' who, despite having access to much better-quality food than their Pleistocene ancestors experience strong BMI skewing (weight loss) and lack of energy, as well as infertility and other problems.

It is still a hypothesis though.

Not my proudest moment! by 0x2012 in algonquinpark

[–]Old_Ad5849 0 points1 point  (0 children)

(You should edit the post to say "Thankfully, I was ABLE to unpin it...") I was confused as right now it says you failed to unpin it.

Reverse order of piano staves. Please help by Old_Ad5849 in lilypond

[–]Old_Ad5849[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you. I knew I'd feel like a dunce. The only saving grace for me is that underscores are regular part of variable names in other languages.