I've found a new meaning for my life

[rbarata]

Well...not really what the title says but....
I've decided to go back to study music theory.
A few years ago I was deep into it and enjoying it really, really, very much, but everything fall apart because I lost my job and stopped. My mind was driffting, constructing new life scenarios as I was facing a strong possibility to relocate to another city, even to another country, so my state of mind was not the best.

A few days ago I had a flash and suddenly noticed how much I was missing studying it, the scales, intervals, progressions, harmonies, etc...In a second I felt as if a specific void in my life was filled.

I don't need to learn it again but recall it instead. It's just like ridding a bicycle, once you learn it you don't forget it. It's just a matter of getting to the practice level where I was before and then start from there.

[estación seca]

Since you have time.... My two favorite music theory books were CPE Bach's Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments, and Heinrich Schenker's Harmony.

The Bach you can probably find online for free, perhaps even in your own language. Despite (or because of) its title, it is primarily an explication of Baroque music theory, written by an extremely diligent musicologist, son of JS Bach, the best Baroque musical theorist. In that era a keyboardist played with every ensemble, and was expected to fill in the harmony missing from the other instrumental parts, from a very sparsely notated music score.

My English translation of Schenker, by Elisabeth Mann Borgese, was originally published by the University of Chicago Press in 1954, but mine is a 1973 reprint by the MIT Press, MIT 243 Music. That was before the days of ISBN numbers. (I paid $3.95 for it in 1974.) My music theory professor told me not to read it. My friends here can imagine how well I listened to him.

[Dollythehun]

Bravo!!! Using your talents is always fulfilling. I am SO, SO proud of you! Does engineering remind you if music in any way?

I have reinvented my life three times and am finally where I should be.

[rbarata]

ES, I have the exact same Schenker's book but I don't heve Bach's. I don't know why but it's still not in public domain.

I don't have formal music classes. I am an autodidact and I own several theory books because they tend to be simplistic or extremely complicated. So, when I'm studying a particular chapter I take a look at several books to find the one that explains it the way I like to.
I also frequent several forums to find help for my doubts.

About the available time...well, my free time is occupied with this and orchids. I'm sure I can find some between waterings and occasional repotings.

Bravo!!! Using your talents is always fulfilling. I am SO, SO proud of you! Does engineering remind you if music in any way?

I have reinvented my life three times and am finally where I should be

Engineering and music overlap at a certain point. When I begun the studies I started by this question: "What is sound?"
This opened the door to a world of physics...frequencies, overtones, frequency ratios, etc, etc.
But after that point, which is complex enough to have it's own chapter in the science world, music is more related with psychoacoustics.

[rbarata]

ES, one question...I think you've never mentioned that you studied music once.
Did you study it in school? Here, in the first two years of high school kids learn the basics in two years. After that, those who want to learn it deeply, their only chance is to go to the Uni of Arts.
They can pursuit a career as a music teacher, play in orchestras or go even further and become maestros. None of those careers, in this country, are good choices.

[Mountaineer370]

Rbarata, that's great to hear! Sometimes, it's difficult for us to follow our passions. Life circumstances get in the way, we have other obligations, there is no time, no money, or maybe we're not in a receptive frame of mind. But I think it's important to keep striving to find a way to bring the things that make us happy into our lives, and you are certainly doing that. As someone who is still striving, you are an inspiration to me, and you, too, Dolly!

[rbarata]

As someone who is still striving, you are an inspiration to me, and you, too, Dolly!

That's good to know! Thank you!

About Carol (Dolly)... You said you have reinvented your life three times... I didn't ask 'cause I felt this was not the most appropriate place to ask... but I'm happy that you're now where and how you want.

[Dollythehun]

Originally Posted by rbarata

That's good to know! Thank you!

About Carol (Dolly)... You said you have reinvented your life three times... I didn't ask 'cause I felt this was not the most appropriate place to ask... but I'm happy that you're now where and how you want.

Thanks both of you. Rbarata, I think I did pm you awhile back about this topic. I think the interesting thing is that God has allowed me to live long enough to figure that out.

We are all given certain talents and gifts, which are irrevocable. And, we'll all have a longing in our hearts until we follow up on them. In regard to Uni, what good is prestige and money if your soul is longing for fulfillment?

And all the gifts should work together: the engineer designs the equipment that allows the world to hear the music. The janitor cleans and tidies so the engineer can do his work...etc,etc. We all need each other, but seldom realize it. So, end of sermon, blessings on your new endeavor! We'll look forward to hearing about it in the New Year!

[rbarata]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

Rbarata, I think I did pm you awhile back about this topic. I think the interesting thing is that God has allowed me to live long enough to figure that out.

I checked my pm's from you and haven't found it. Anyway, what really matters is that you're feeling good and healthy and I whish it stays that way.

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

We are all given certain talents and gifts, which are irrevocable. And, we'll all have a longing in our hearts until we follow up on them. In regard to Uni, what good is prestige and money if your soul is longing for fulfillment?

Unfortunately the amount of people working in what they really love is minimal. Some work for pleasure while the vast majority work to get some money so that their life can have, at least, some dignity.
That's why our hobbies are precious, they provide a temporary scape door from our problems and stresses and an entry door for our dreams.
Otherwise we would go crazy!

Happy New Year to you and all our friends here and in real life!

[estación seca]

In US there are public (taxpayer-funded, government-run) and private schools at all levels. Parents putting children in private schools pay the private school, and also pay the property taxes that fund the government schools. Private schools may be secular or religious.

Primary shools are called elementary schools in the US. In elementary and intermediate schools there is essentially no music education. Some private schools offer music at these levels, but even there it is optional. Parents seek out private music instruction for their children outside the school day. Some private elementary schools offer music education.

In secondary school, called high school in the US, there is likewise no music in the standard curriculum. The most important thing in US high schools is boy's sports, especially football. Because football games require a band, students may opt to take a band class and learn to play an instrument. There are not enough instructors, so kids are encouraged to get private lessons outside school. A few schools have other ensembles, such as orchestra or jazz band. In larger areas there are youth ensembles where kids from all over the region practice and perform together. And many churches have vocal and instrumental ensembles composed of members of the congregation.

There is less music available in US schools now, compared to years past, partly because Federal legislation ties school funding to kids' performance on multiple-choice tests. The schools have dropped a lot of classes not directly related to these tests. In the 1970s most high schools offered classes in carpentry, metalworking, maintaining a household and personal finance, animal husbandry and driving education. These are almost all gone.

Most universities offer music degrees, and have various musical ensembles. Non-music majors are usually welcome to participate.

When I was in the 3rd grade, I found my grandfather's violin in the attic, and asked to take lessons. I was in a Catholic elementary school, which offered music classes. I kept taking violin lessons. All students had group singing lessons as part of the curriculum, and I was soon singing in the choir at 6:30 am Mass every morning before school, and at two Masses every Sunday.

We moved to California and I attended a public high school. I took orchestra as a class each semester, and continued private violin lessons. My parents bought a piano. I taught myself to read the bass clef and play the piano. I begged for piano lessons, too, and my father gave in. (He was opposed to me wasting time on music.)

My high school put on orchestra concerts, in which we performed. Also musicals, in conjunction with the drama classes (which are also now gone from almost all government schools.) I accompanied vocalists at the choir concerts. Many local churches put on religious concerts at holidays; my classmates in school, members of these congregations, would ask other band and orchestra students to perform in these. We did so happily for the musical experience. The local LDS church (Mormons) also put on musicals, and I played in the orchestras for some of these.

I had advanced enough in piano that my teacher, becoming busier with more advanced students, referred rank beginners to me. I began making a little more money teaching than my piano and violin lessons cost. I kept teaching piano until I graduated with my bachelor's degree.

I joined the Orange County Youth Symphony Orchestra. This was my first exposure to a lot of players far better than I. Much of the music we performed was simplified versions of standard orchestra classics, but we also performed real music.

In my senior (last) year of high school I was allowed to take classes at the nearby community college. I took music theory and composition, and conducting classes. I graduated and went to the nearby University of California at Irvine. There is a student orchestra there, and playing in the orchestra is mandatory for instrumental music majors. The orchestra welcomed non-music majors as well. I joined. Unfortunately for Portugal, there was severe political trouble at the time. The conductor of the Portuguese Radio Symphony fled to the US as a political refugee and took a post in our music department. I was playing under a world-class conductor, Alvaro Cassuto. It was an amazing experience. We played a lot of great music, and put on 3 concerts a year. Often these featured music students performing concerti, and we often performed with the choir. We played symphonies and concerti by Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Wagner, Dvorak. Piano virtuosa Hilde Sommer was a friend of our Maestro Cassuto; she had commissioned the 2nd piano concerto of Alberto Ginastera. We recorded it for the first time, though it is no longer available.

I was frequently asked to play in pick-up orchestras at Christmas and Easter when nearby churches wanted to put on Handel's Messiah. I made quite a bit of money doing this, and paid for a good part of my university education in this manner.

When I finished my bachelor's degree and went on in my education, there was no longer time for music. I have my violin and a nice piano. I have played a little since finishing my training and going to work, but there just isn't any time. I will probably resume piano seriously when I retire.