whimsy, ods 4

 i'm not infrequently told my music has a sense of humor, and i'm never sure how to take that: there are loads of pieces i find funny simply because they take themselves so seriously (most of lizst, most gospel, the false modesty of most mainstream country, the false immodesty of most mainstream hiphop), there are loads of pieces that have in them something that is supposed to be silly (the braying laughter at the end of bolero) but that to me come off as sloppy and kitschy, there are loads of pieces that include humor or ridiculousness just to pander in the name of entertainment (playing an upright bass using drumsticks, while standing on it). i do not want to suspect myself of any of these, save that i hope people enjoy what i do.there are also giants of musical comedy, best evidenced to me by american musical theatre (kiss me kate, sweeney todd), victor borge, and south park. this is humor built not exclusively on a first level joke. some of it is extremely wry, tongue firmly in cheek, and is funny in an ironic way, best understood if you've heard a lot of other musical conventions. i don't think i can say this of my music either.i can speak to how much laughter means to me, and how important particularly stand-up comedy has become to me. i bought my first victor borge cd and my first george carlin cd in seventh grade. the jokes had substance, had things i didn't understand, had wonderful language, and had great rhythm. there's more to be learned about rhythm from speakers than musicians, it now seems to me. ezra pound wrote a short but nutty treatise on music that makes this same case.i have reached no conclusions, but here's a thing i made that may be of use to you at a party. thank you for coming, share it if you like it.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_csGxblL9RY