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J.S. Bach and Aspies.

catman

catman

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G'day all, in some quarters there is a perception/belief that Aspies find the music of J.S. Bach very agreeable and soothing. Well I do like J.S Bach and I'm not very sure if my own Aspergers is the reason, but something odd happened tonight that makes me wonder.

I've had a bit of an 'ordinary' and generally unhappy/negative day for no particular reason day today and feeling like some record playing tonight I grabbed a vinyl copy of J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No.1.

As the music started I rapidly felt more settled than I'd felt all day, indeed happy. :yes: Whatever the reason, it did the job. :yes: Regards, Felix aka catman.
 
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Hello Felix!

thanks for sharing this intimate topic. I am convinced that Bach´s music has an enormous impact on people whose mind, or better whose senses are wide open.

Bach´s music is one of the most important things I encountered in my whole life. Bach´s music is fine when I am happy and everything is okay. But when I am down and sad and depressed his music is much more for me than entertainment - it is therapy, it gives me comforting relief.

Not the big oeuvres, no no no (they are fantastic), when I am down I listen to the "small" things, like the solo sonatas for viola or violin or similar compositions are very very helpful for me to overcome a crisis.

One of my favourites: "Sonaten und Partiten für Violine Solo; BWV 1001-1006" for example with Henryk Szeryng, Dacapo records
 
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Big Bach pipe organ fan here. It's layered, it's mathematical, it just makes sense. There's a particular Toccata in F I think is just wonderful. Decades ago when I got married we came up with an entire Bachfest of music for the event that the organist had a grand time with.
 
ConradH said:
Big Bach pipe organ fan here. It's layered, it's mathematical, it just makes sense. There's a particular Toccata in F I think is just wonderful. Decades ago when I got married we came up with an entire Bachfest of music for the event that the organist had a grand time with.
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YES!! that's it for me! I've devoted much of my life tuning a system so that it could reproduce that chest flutter that only the biggest pipes make and where much of the content is below what is considered human hearing. The Toccatas provide a huge endorphin surge when done well. This is music to listen to standing up and waving the arms around! Now for the problem. I listen to them when I am already charged up. For a curative effect I prefer to wallow in really fine blues until the music replaces my own blues. Then I can work my way up to more inspiring music and so on to sanity.
Only as context for the above I am borderline Autistic seriously depressed but coping well.
 
J.S. Bach vocal works.

G'day all, I recall one evening stumbling across a choral vocal work by J.S. Bach on one of the FM radio stations, and I was utterly transfixed by both the beauty and the complexity of the work.

Voices and vocal sounds just popping up everywhere. I was utterly blown away. :yes: I remember thinking at the time, how can anybody actually 'compose' stuff like this, this is incredible. :yes: Regards, Felix aka catman.
 
Hi Felix,
I also like BACH. When Grandma was alive, and i would vist we would listen to Bach's Tripple Conertos. I have most of Grandmas only vinyl still :D
 
I've wondered if A LOT of the popular classical composers were Aspies or Autistic, or some other thing that made 'em "Half-a-Bubble-Off-Center"...Would certainly explain a lot, when you think about it...
 
Does Coltrane do anything for you? I've heard people say they felt great consolation from his music. It's certainly nothing like Bach. I can only say I find his Blue Train rendition of I'm Old Fashioned incredibly soothing.
 
So THAT's what you meant in your sig line. I thought it was Aussie slang. As a guy diagnosed with adult ADD at age forty,I can relate. Music is the thing that keeps me sane. Bach is a good one;I'm big on the Brandenburg Concerti and the "Switched-On Bach" now and then also. I find the music of Albeniz and Buxtehude to have similar effects.
 
Ths364 said:
I find the music of Albeniz and Buxtehude to have similar effects.
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I recommend checking out the solo harpsichord music Buxtehude wrote. It seems to be less well-known than his famous organ works. Naxos has a great, inexpensive CD of this material - take it from a solo harpsichord music nut. :)

davidro said:
i wanna troll a bit and claim bach is just ok-ish. but a few ppl here know that i listen to JS too regularly.
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One might even suspect he's starting to grow on you.
 
G'day all, well a reasonable day today, mostly spent on the road and right now I'm listening to a Naxos CD of 'The Best of J.S. Bach'. Yes it's a bit of a corny title, but the music is wonderful! :yes: Regards, Felix aka catman.
 
catman said:
J.S. Bach vocal works.

G'day all, I recall one evening stumbling across a choral vocal work by J.S. Bach on one of the FM radio stations, and I was utterly transfixed by both the beauty and the complexity of the work.

Voices and vocal sounds just popping up everywhere. I was utterly blown away. :yes: I remember thinking at the time, how can anybody actually 'compose' stuff like this, this is incredible. :yes: Regards, Felix aka catman.
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To write counterpoint as well as Bach (or Haydn or Mozart or Beethoven or Brahms or Bartok), composers studied Species Counterpoint.

This is an ancient method, developed by the Gregorian monks. Mozart's childish attempts are still considered some of the supreme examples of perfection in this traditional pedagogical method (I now consider Mozart superior to Bach in counterpoint because he can hide it in a seemingly popular song, whereas Bach is always very obvious about his).

Here is my attempt at traditional counterpoint. I hope some of you enjoy it.

http://tindeck.com/listen/rnxi
 
Always wondered WHY I was always "A LITTLE Different" as a kid & teen. Saw "Rainman", LOVED it, then found this WONDERFUL book by Dr Oliver Sacks, "The Man Who Mistook his Wife For A Hat"... SO much of it rang true..NEVER have been diagnosed as an Aspie, but if I'm NOT a bit Aspergic, it would be surprising to me. NEV ER have considered it as a handicap, either, but it just makes me "Interesting"...
 
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