Dear Mr. Cosmo Politan,
I would gladly drop all concerns practical and necessary just to lie down and listen to Brahms Or Bach. Yet, I do have daily chores about the house that require my attention. I want the best of both worlds, so I listen to recordings of classical music while I bustle about my home-care duties. However, my professor at music school said that it was sacrilegious to do the profane, like scrubbing the toilet, when listening to Bach. I find that music - any music - is motivating and elevates my spirits while doing the perfunctory.
Isn't he being a bit extreme?
Carl Phillip Emmanuel
Dear C.P.E:
Not at all! He wouldn't be where he is today without high standards.
I, on the other hand, allow myself some leniency. I play Handel's "Water Music" when bathing. Stravinsky's "Firebird Suite" accompanies my roasting a chicken. When I can't fix my mind too sharply on a matter of importance, on goes Debussy's "Reverie." Likewise, Claude Achille's "The Afternoon of a Faun" when I dress a deer. And when I'm feeling especially contrary, I clean house to take my mind off the music (which, like the water, is always running).
You, however, should follow your teacher's advice not to mix the sacred with the profane, thereby retaining and nourishing your classical purity.
I'm jaded and can get away with it.
Cosmo
Posts
