Is BACH The Most DANGEROUS Composer? | Q&A

In this video I answer questions from viewers relating to music and composing include why Bach chorales and voice-leading, why Bach is a dangerous role-model for us composers, thoughts on the nature of classical music, mental health and reasons for composing, and much more! Questions :

0:37 How do works become included into the "classical" canon?
3:18 What is Classical Music?
8:38 How many of the instruments on your wall can you play?
9:05 Bach chorale harmony and why Bach can be DANGEROUS
14:35 How many people involved in 'The Lick Quartet' were in 'group meme'
15:56 Do you ever think about how the musicians and performers will look when playing your compositions? Do their physical movements factor into your work?
17:05 What continues to drive your love of music and composing?
19:55 Mental Health and being a musician
22:56 Wintergatan David Bruce collab when ?

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[Luboman]

J.S. Bach also taught teenagers for a living and had 7+ children in his household for an unbroken stretch of roughly three decades. If you have children and have ever taught teenagers, you know what I am talking about--IT IS EXHAUSTING! Every single day is exhausting! How Bach then had enough energy and mental capacity to become the "Mt. Everest of Classical Music" on top of just trying to make a living like a normal Joe Schmoe with a family in some provincial backwater is astoundingly impressive to me. He is not of this world. He is truly the first and only alien to live among us.

[DavidBennettPiano]

Thanks for the brilliant insights once again! 🙂

[iambic-kilometer]

Did Bach wield a well-tempered cleaver?

[Bati_]

I can't even express my gratitude towards all these invaluable insights and resources your provided David! As always thank you so much for everything!

[jojojorisjhjosef]

took me 7 minutes of not paying attention that you got meme t-shirt.

[clavichord]

I didn't realise how dangerous Bach was until I got my fingers permanetly in a twist while playing one of his keyboard fugues at too high a speed!

[TotalDESSSS]

What a beautiful and heart-warming argument for disposing of the evil that is glamour. True passion comes from within, not without. Thank you for the great Q&A, and all hail BACH!

[jeroenl]

4:46 In Dutch we hve two different names for 'classical'. The word for classical music as a genre is 'klassieke muziek'. The name for the classical period within classical music is 'het classicisme'.

[MNolanMillar]

Making music (composing, improvising, or playing) is discovery. It's an exploration, a game, an adventure.
But you can end up in dark places. My composition professor locked himself away to finish a commissioned piece, and the isolation and pressure ended in suicide. I still haven't finished the duet I was working on for my class, but also with the hope for us to play it together. That was 20 years ago. I played a little of my part, the other day. Still makes me sad. A duet for guitar and viola. "Melancholy Palindrome" was the title.

[seustia]

A question for your next Q&A:
How do you “practice” composing? I’m a music college students myself and I constantly felt “stuck” and can’t improve my composing. I’ve never experienced the feeling of being improved and such. It’s very depressing and caused me unable to compose anything for quite some time now. Hope you see this!

[mariacopley]

My dad got me to start playing through 371 Bach chorales to get more familiar with the language of harmony, and the most annoying thing is that he constantly breaks all of the rules! It's really interesting though :) also I appreciate the use of Jacob in this discussion

[colbysavary]

Insight from a percussionist/composer about planned movement:

It is VERY important to think about set-up and how far a percussionist might need to run across a stage for an instrument change; we really appreciate it when it seems like the composer thought of us. ❤

[DirkRadloff]

And thought Bach's technique seems strict he manages it to create so much emotion in his music

[kvnjng]

One could almost say that Wintergatan will be marblelous

[dabeamer]

Thanks so much for the river analogy. I am a sometime classical music appreciation teacher, and I think that idea will really help get some of the grand scheme across.

[danielrmusic]

I love how you had Vltava playing while showing the image of the river

[JaySuryavanshiMusic]

That licc shirt is so cool! So "Meme-y"

[dutchpropaganda]

1:06

Tchaikovski: Ooh, my mistake.

[JaySuryavanshiMusic]

David Bruce is Bach! Nice Q+A!
Bach can't like this video so he will give a 🎼CONTRAPUNTAL PUNCH📯smacking us all

Amazing! Loved it!
Regards from India🇮🇳

[Kitties_are_pretty]

7:58 I just want you to know that I got the visual/musical pun here. Your videos are a sea of detail with infinite depth.