Skip to content
View in the app

A better way to browse. Learn more.

Young Composers Music Forum

A full-screen app on your home screen with push notifications, badges and more.

To install this app on iOS and iPadOS
  1. Tap the Share icon in Safari
  2. Scroll the menu and tap Add to Home Screen.
  3. Tap Add in the top-right corner.
To install this app on Android
  1. Tap the 3-dot menu (⋮) in the top-right corner of the browser.
  2. Tap Add to Home screen or Install app.
  3. Confirm by tapping Install.

"Squishy" and other strange musical adjectives?

Featured Replies

So the other day I was describing a piece of mine... and I called it "squishy." How strange is that? Does anyone have the slightest idea what that means? (Honestly, I'm barely sure.) What are some of your favorite out-of-the-ordinary musical adjectives?

squishy I assume means like, spongy. Like, you can press it. You can squash it. Squishy.

Scornful, spiky, tasty, horny, kinky, destructively ironic, desperately colourful and harmless, fantastically imaginative, imaginary, madly nude and squared are just some of my favourites.

>_>

<_<

destructively ironic

How postmodern!

I'd describe many of Ferkungamabooboo's pieces as "crunchy", and I would understandably describe Conlon Nancarrow's Studies for Player Piano as "whooshy", as if that were a word. I haven't used many particularly weird ones, though.

How can you possibly describe all 50 of them with one word? :(

Ok, some of them are rather "plunky", and others are just plain bizarre. In fact, I would consider most of the tempo canons to be one of these two.

"Whoosiness" is very sophisticated, though, and Nancarrow certainly mastered it.

(Be aware that I've at most about 10 of them.)

I personally enjoy the following passage from Satie.

"Besides, I enjoy measuring a sound much more than hearing it. With my phonometer in my hand, I work happily and with confidence. What haven't I weighed or measured? I've done all Beethoven, all Verdi, etc. It's fascinating. The first time I used a phonoscope, I examined a B flat of medium size. I can assure you that I have never seen anything so revolting. I called in my man to show it to him. On my phono-scales a common (or garden) F-sharp registered 93 kilos. It came out of a fat tenor whom I also weighed. "

:D

i believe in a robert w. smith band piece he uses a tempo marking, "bombastic"

i like that.

  • Author
150301671_ca7d422981_o.gif

I've seen that before.

Someone described my music to me once. "extravagantly dissonant."

Also, I would describe Ravel as flowery but that's nothing new.

Yeah, I learned the Faerie's Aire, too. It was a little too hard for me, at the time, but I can play it fairly well now.

I personally consider Summer Music by Samuel Barber, recommended to me by QcC, to be something like..."lazily sinister".

I'd just call it "sleepy."

I like the term "raucous" (only because my college orchestra used that whenever anyone other than his beloved strings played louder than mezzopiano).

150301671_ca7d422981_o.gif

Old meme is old.

Let's not forget Percy Grainger's absolutely ridiculous expression markings...apparently anything can be turned into an adverb.

^I really hate it when nouns get used as tempo markings too. Especially with added punctuation. I'm doing a band piece that has "Intensity!" as a tempo marking....

  • Author

It's PUNCTUATED??? Wow, that's kind of ridiculous...

When our orchestra played Spiderpig, it was marked "As serious as a heart attack".

But then again, that was Spiderpig.

When our orchestra played Spiderpig, it was marked "As serious as a heart attack".

But then again, that was Spiderpig.

I love that :D

^I really hate it when nouns get used as tempo markings too. Especially with added punctuation. I'm doing a band piece that has "Intensity!" as a tempo marking....

Let me guess...there's kind of a quick, epic fanfare opening that takes itself way too seriously and then a ritardando into a slow, blah section followed by a recap of the A section to the end?

That sounds like the kind of band piece that would have that tempo marking...:whistling:

i was offended when one of my friends called my music "fat". :angry:

I have heard my music described as painful... it was probably warranted though.

Well some of my music has been described originally enough by M_is_D as "a cacophony of insanity and strange sadistic childish delusion".

Miguel, that's actually pretty accurate. :P

Some of La Monte Young's music is painful...:ermm:

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

Account

Navigation

Search

Search

Configure browser push notifications

Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.