Second-greatest invention of all time? The Symphony Orchestra!

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Tangled Metal
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Joined: 13 Feb 2015, 8:32pm

Re: Second-greatest invention of all time? The Symphony Orchestra!

Post by Tangled Metal »

I hate to rain on your parade but antibiotics are probably a greater invention. How many lives have they saved over the years. Music is great for the soul (if you believe in that) but saving lives is a greater achievement than rubbing a few strings or blowing down a few pipes could ever be imho.

Having said that on a more musical theme a greater invention is that of music or musical appreciation. Orchestra is just a numbers game, with different instruments, without invention of music it wouldn't exist. Arguably the culmination of development isn't the peak but the start of that journey. You can't make an omelette without eggs. You can't have orchestras without the concept of music or musical appreciation.
pwa
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Joined: 2 Oct 2011, 8:55pm

Re: Second-greatest invention of all time? The Symphony Orchestra!

Post by pwa »

There are times when I find silence more comforting than music. Silence or the sounds of nature. Even with nature, I have enjoyed the reduction in noise as I walked away from a waterfall. Finding noise is easy but finding silence can be difficult.
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661-Pete
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Re: Second-greatest invention of all time? The Symphony Orchestra!

Post by 661-Pete »

pwa wrote:There are times when I find silence more comforting than music. Silence or the sounds of nature. Even with nature, I have enjoyed the reduction in noise as I walked away from a waterfall. Finding noise is easy but finding silence can be difficult.
I agree. Especially when I have one of my frequent bouts of tinnitus! I have always felt more at ease in total silence, and I used to hate noisy parties when I was young. In fact I still do.

When I was in my teens, and playing at soldiers at school (CCF - in fact I was playing at sailors rather than soldiers), we were taken on a field trip to Portsmouth to visit the RN dockyard. While we were there they chose to fire off some large shore-based artillery for our 'entertainment', with us standing close by. I remember the officer who was showing us around, saying "I don't want to see any of you kids with fingers in your ears! Be grown-up now!". All I can remember, I was almost prostrated by the noise. And I was deafened for several days. I don't think it was that which permanently impaired my hearing - my tinnitus first came about much later in life. But sometimes I wonder...

This happened in about 1964. I would have been 13 or 14. If that officer had behaved like that today, he'd have been facing a court-martial, so I hope...
Suppose that this room is a lift. The support breaks and down we go with ever-increasing velocity.
Let us pass the time by performing physical experiments...
--- Arthur Eddington (creator of the Eddington Number).
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