Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!sdd.hp.com!ucsd!ucbvax!pasteur!fir.berkeley.edu!maverick From: maverick@fir.berkeley.edu (Vance Maverick) Newsgroups: comp.music Subject: Re: ICMC reaction Message-ID: <27988@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> Date: 19 Sep 90 21:01:59 GMT References: <27974@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> <2614@idunno.Princeton.EDU> Sender: news@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU Reply-To: maverick@fir.berkeley.edu (Vance Maverick) Distribution: comp Lines: 16 In article <2614@idunno.Princeton.EDU>, eliot@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Eliot Handelman) writes: > Who says that these are "classic music riddles"? These aren't even > questions, let alone "riddles," let alone "classic." Oh, come on, Eliot, show a sense of humor. I hoped my use of the word "riddle" would hint that I too was aware of the silliness of these (noun of your choice)s. The one about music vs. sound effects is certainly a question in the sense that people disagree about the answer; the one about phrasing is a transformation of the (equally pointless) conundrum "Are the first two chords of the /Eroica/ the same?", asked in my composition class by no less earnest a theoretician than David Lewin. I must admit there's a certain satisfaction in setting off our group's resident rhetorical loose cannon! Too bad it was only my digression that did it and not my point.