Am I Crazy?

During my entire musical journey it seems I have always been swimming in a different direction than most of my contemporaries. Or is the fact that I am composer first and a performer second significant? Ergo by definition I am mad. And why does everyone who I tell I am a composer assume I play the piano.

By the way I do not play the piano, well not quite true, but my skills are quite minimal right now. I do not, and have never composed at the piano. The belief that you need to know how to play piano to understand music theory is one of the great lies of the music education. (But you do need to be able to read at least treble and bass clef. Knowing Alto, Tenor and Soprano Clefs also help.)

Am I the only person who prefers transposed (traditional) scores over “C” scores? Am I the only person who can read and transposed score faster than I can a “C” score. Am I a freak of nature because I can transposed almost instantaneously and really basically subconsciously? Why does it seem everyone else has such a hard time (or at least slow down) with transposing instruments? Is any one reading this?

I prefer John Coltrane's “A Love Supreme” album over his “Giant Steps” album.

Give me Don Ellis any day, any time, any place over Maynard Ferguson (The idol of the rest of the trumpet section in high school).

I prefer Eric Dolphy over Charlie Parker, don't get me wrong I dig Parker too. I prefer Dolphy's “Out There” album over his “Out To Lunch” album, but both are excellent.

Miles Davis' “Bitches Brew” album is probably my favorite Miles album.

I prefer BigBand Jazz over Smaller ensembles, but think Don Ellis was on to something with his idea of smaller units working inside of a larger band.

Am I the only person who's first exposure to Stravinsky was to his Oedipus Rex and not one of the three famous ballets?

Schoenberg does not sound “dissonant” too me, in fact he sounds quite “tonal” for the most part.

Am I the only person who takes 4' 33” seriously and does not consider it some sort of ironic comment or oxymoron to say “I have listen to 4' 33”?

Gregorian chat does NOT sound all the same to me, I can distinguish one chant from another.

I prefer CDs over MP3s and I prefer Records over CDs. I still listen to my larger record collection on a regular basis. CDs sound off to me, too “clean” and sterile.

Coffee is an evil and vile thing. Just the smell of coffee can cause me to convulse and regurgitate my last meal.

Good Tea proves to me that God is in his heaven and all is well. However is it virtually impossible to find a good cup of hot tea in the U.S of A.

So I ask again: Am I crazy?