I just want to find that guy and give him an award for that review. :har: :rock:

Century Classics 3: 1500-1600

Used for $2.75.

And there's the bigger part of the problem. The difference between Medieval and Classical is as big as the difference between The Beatles and Metallica. The difference between Renaissance and Romantic is as big as the difference between Chuck Berry and Green Day. Anywhere you look you'll find things you like and a lot more you don't. It's all in the understanding.

Hope it works the same as any other purchase, just bought season one of Game of Thrones using the link. Should be queued up on my watchlist so I'm off to see what all the fuss is about. :yeah:

Yesterday I had my first bad time ever with Prime. I've been watching season 1 of Justified. An episode was just finishing up and rather than use the Escape button I moved the cursor to click on the Normal Screen tab. Just as I pushed the mouse button the show ended and it went back to the normal screen automatically. Guess what's right under the Normal Screen Tab? The Purchase Season With 1 Click button!

I called them right away and was told that they never refunded money for Prime Instant Video purchases. I said their policy made sense because someone could buy it, watch all the episodes and then ask for a refund, but why would I do that when I was already watching it for free? Also if I was going to purchase it I would buy the discs so I could see all the goodies as well. Of course that's only half true because after watching the first three seasons of Sons Of Anarchy for free I was hooked and bought the new seasons as they came out.

She was very understanding and said she would look into the buttons being in exactly the wrong place so that could happen. She also said that she would refund my money, partly for the reasons I mentioned but mainly because I had called within a couple of minutes after making the purchase, so obviously I couldn't have time to watch anything.

Anyway, once again the folks at Amazon show excellent customer service.

I see. :hmmm:

There's a local radio station that plays operas and classical music at night. I listen to it when I'm out at night sometimes. To a certain extent, I can listen to it. It's good, I'll give it that. :up:

The Renaissance Music is something which I haven't listened to at all. (Save the preview on amazon).

Here's a quick rundown.

Ancient: Anything Before Christ. Usually only fragments are left, written on clay tablets. It's almost impossible to decipher, but recreations of instruments are made based on found artifacts and ancient paintins of musicians. The music is mostly guessed at, based on what scholars think it may have sounded like. At least it's authentic as far as the instruments are concerned.

Medieval: A huge diverse range covering a period from AD 300 to 1400 - more than a thousand years. Sometime in the 200s a Bishop (whose name is known, but I forget) declared that church music should be sung without instruments. This led to a huge variety of chants. In the 300s Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, created the liturgy he wanted, dictating the type of prayer and the type of chant that would be official. Ambrose has an interesting history of his own.

In the 600s Pope Gregory the First ('the Great') did the same for the liturgy of the whole Church. Unfortunately for him, but fortunately for us, the Milanese church rebelled and said they'd keep their own chant, thank you very much. The Church down south at Benevento said they would also keep their own.

Around the year 1025 a monk named Guido d'Arezzo put together several theories people had been playing around with and created modern musical notation. The first things that were written down were the Gregorian Chants. Fortunately they also copied down the rival Ambrosian, Beneventan, Cistercian, Corsican and the Old Roman Chant that predated the Gregorian.

It's fairly certain that minstrels with instruments had been active all this time, but unfortunately none of their work was written down, so almost a thousand years of singer-songwriter material is lost forever. In Moorish Spain, however, a lot of Arabic music was also collected and written down.

As soon as the chants were preserved in writing people began experimenting with them. By 1200 polyphonic chant (chant with harmonies) was being created in Paris. During this period secular musicians learned the new theories and began writing down their stuff, creating the period of the Troubadours. The main instruments were the lute (predecessor of the guitar) and the hurdy-gurdy, on which the left hand turns a crank which spins a big resin wheel while the right hand presses keys which push down strings against the wheel, creating a sound something like a viola. And of course they had drums.

They also had organs. There had been water-powered organs going back to ancient Greece, and in the 1100s the first pipe organs were developed. These were small instruments powered by a bellows. A helper would pump while the musician played.

The Renaissance is considered to have lasted from 1400 to 1600, with a lot of leeway, crossover, and arguments among experts as to what really happened when. This was the period of the Tudors in England - Henry VII, Henry VIII, Mary and Elizabeth I. It was the period of Columbus and the period of Drake. The coming of the printing press made music available for everyone, since many copies could be printed rather than copying each sheet by hand. Of course this was also true for books, but that's another story.

People in this period began experimenting with ever more elaborate harmonies. Large choirs were developed, and church music began to be accompanied by strings and brass horns. The first violas were developed in the late 1400s.

It was also around this time that the first harpsichords were developed, creating a whole new sound.

The Baroque period is conventionally accepted as lasting from 1600 to 1730. This is the period during which the large church organ became popular. It was also during this period that the piano was created. The Baroque saw the first operas. It was the period of names which everybody has heard, even if not familiar with the music: Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, Teleman, Vivaldi.

Music in the Baroque era became more formalized, and rather than being hired players at various courts the composers began to become kings themselves, giving independent concerts and being increasingly famous.

The Classical era (1730-1820) saw the coming of large orchestras. It was the period of the American and French Revolutions, the era of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.

The Romantic era (1815-1910) was the period of the American Civil War and the formation of modern Europe. It was the age of steam power and spans the era from the first trains to the first airplanes. It was the age of continued refinement in music, and includes such legendary names as Paganini and Schubert. It was also the time of growth for 'poplular' music (not music that's popular as we know it, but the music of the populace, or common people). Names such as Stephen Foster and Scott Joplin gave music to the average working person, and 19th-century folk music led the way to 20th-century jazz, blues and finally rock.

'Classical' music is still being written today, but it's not my thing either. Maybe someday.

^^^^

Learned more from that than from any music class I've taken. :yeah:

Cleared it up a bit for me. Thanks!

Treasure trove! Amazon sent me an email advertising boxed sets for cheap. Normally I ignore these offers because I'm not interested in getting "What's new in Classical Music." This time they offered the right stuff for the right price.

MP3 Downloads:

Big Schubert Box Set - 130 songs for $0.99

Big Beethoven Box - 176 songs for $2.99

Big Tchaikovsky Box - 80 songs for $2.99

Big Brahms Box - 94 songs for $2.99

Big Mahler Box - 92 songs for $2.99

Bigger Bach Box - 293 songs for $2.99

Big Vivaldi Box - 138 songs for $2.99

Bach: Complete Organ Works - 284 songs for $0.99

Big Mozart Box - 131 songs for $2.99

That's it for now. There was more to be had, but I wasn't sure if I wanted them or not. I can decide later.

Meanwhile, I have picked up almost 900 pieces of music, more than 60 hours' worth, for a whopping $23.00!

I'm happy. :sunny:

[edit] I'm even happier! It turns out I had a couple of promotional gift items from some of the albums I've purchased. They got applied automagically and my total cost was only $20.00! WOOHOO!

Bigger Bach Box - 293 songs for $2.99

:/\\k:

Techi-Edge #11 Hobby Blades

Need some new X-Acto blades. These are half the price and reviews say there is no diffence in performance. We'll see.

Chansons, by Ensemble Gilles Binchois.

What is it? What is it? Can I see? Huh? Huh?

Oh dang. Made me look.

Oh! My! Giddy! Aunt! Those better be some nice knives!

On the other hand, it's cheap compared to some of the other sets they have listed.

Seriously, they do look nice. :sunny:

I have dreamed of a set of Shun knives for a long time. They sell them at Jungle Jim's and when my sister worked there she could use her employee discount to knock something off the retail price, which is... steep, to say the least. I looked at one of the paring knives once, probably the cheapest one of the line, and it was almost $100. Pretty sure the set I just bought has an MSRP of around $1500 and buying each knife separately might jack the total up even higher.

I have two knives from that particular line already, since my sister was getting them for me as Christmas presents, and I luuuuurve them. You can hold them up to the light and the blades are... whatcha call it... well, they have the markings in them from where the steel was folded over and over again during forging, like the blade of a samurai sword, they are just so beautiful. Striations? Anyway - SO PRETTY! Oh yeah and they're real sharp and cut stuff too. :O:

Anyhoo she no longer works there now so that well's dried up. :wah: I never even asked for them back when she was getting the discount, she just knew I wanted Shun knives and knew what pieces I could use the most. They're too expensive to ask for as a gift, I would just never do it.

So I've been watching this particular set - which has pretty much everything I'd want/use and don't already have, plus a block to hold them and the two I've already got - for a while now. The price has dropped a bit but I was mostly worried about the availability. I was really hoping to rack up more rewards points before buying and maybe pick them up in a month or so as a birthday present to myself but it went from 13 available last week to 5 available today and I don't know if they'll get more in stock, that line could be discontinued for all I know. So I bit the bullet and ordered them. I did have over $140 in rewards which helped some.

Already got the space on my counter marked off and saved for them. :D I suppose two knife blocks full of knives is a but much, but... I really, really like knives. :O: