Eddy, you don't even live in Kansas

This discussion is now ongoing in three places: here, Piano World and Piano Street, with somewhat different results.

Here it quickly got out of hand with extremely personal attacks, and the thread was soon locked and someone got banned. It was reopened in a calmer mood, but so many posts are edited out that it will be difficult for a newcomer to understand what is going on.

At PW the thing also got out of hand. That crowd is much less emphatically against midi-edited submissions, but also much less mature - flame wars are not uncommon there. Unfortunately the moderator was away. When he got back he locked the thread. Then someone started another thread on the same subject and it got nasty again. Just as an example, someone declared the intent to find Guys employer and complain about his derogatory behaviour. PW is quite liberal in interpreting the civility requirements - I wonder what it will take to get banned from there.

At PS the discussion is comparatively calm, though not without outbursts.

There are three separate concerns here and they tend to get confused, arguments from one spilling over to another though they are really not connected.

The first is whether midi edited recordings constitute a valid art form. Some say no, they are soulless, cheating (analogous to athletes on steroids), draw attention from the all important gymnastics of playing, and insulting to hard working real pianists. Other say yes, the object of interest is the final product, and it is no less cheating than using photoshop when publishing photographs, and anyway lots of editing is routinely done in the music industry. This we could potentially discuss here. Although the moderators have made their point extremely clear there can be room for discussion. But perhaps not in a forum titled "audition room"?

The second is the value of Guy's particular submission, the Chopin etudes. This should probably not be discussed here since the moderators don't want it. I wouldn't mind, but I think we should respect the wishes of those who work hard to maintain the site. It is their house and they can make the rules.

The third is if Guy's particular behaviour in this place is admissible. He posted without saying these are midi edited in order to see what would be our unbiased reaction, many people then felt deliberately mislead. I can understand the frustration and anger felt here but to keep bringing this up strikes me as vindictive and non productive since Guy himself has admitted he went about this wrongly and showed understanding of how he should have done it and assured us how he will do it next time.

Here is the update:

Yes, on PW, it started off bad, it is to be expected from all purists, it seems, anywhere. However, if you look now, the mood is very calm, and we have come to a mutual understanding. As we are speaking things are going great on PW.

As for PS, the only outburst came from a couple of frustrated people who came directly from PW, at the time things got out of hand, but they quickly got their asses kicked by others. Just go and see for yourself.



My FB wall: why don't you take a visit and see for yourself.

Piano Society: Very bad relations, especially with the mods.

I also think it's very unprofessional from the mods to bad mouth like this, including lies, a respected composer.

Oh brother, Guy... this has gone on way too long.
We figured out within minutes that you didn't play all these etudes. Also, you said a couple pages ago that you don't like us or our forum, so why are you still here? It's obvious that you simply crave attention, whether it's positive or negative. Poor Guy....
So one more time, since you seem to love putting us admins and the forum in general down so much, then just stay away, okay? I'll be happy to delete your account if you wish.

I'm sorry PianoLady, this IS a public forum, if people say things concerning me or my work I have the right to reply. Hope you don't have a problem with that! As for your remarks about me, you could keep them for yourself!

You are totally out of line and you better stop with the bullying. Yes, this is a public forum, but you can be deleted and deactivated in a split second. Shall I?

Why do you want my blessing on deleting me? It is your forum, you're the boss here, you can do what you want.

Wops, sorry... I'd forgotten all about you being a Very Respected Composer (as per the 2nd edit of your message ). All this talk about you being a Good Pianist must have confused me. IMO you should have stuck with being a composer/arranger/democreator maybe, and not pretend you are a pianist. If there's one thing we cannot stand here it is pretending.

Now let's end this childish and futile thread, it is going absolutely nowhere despite all the good points being made. We would like to discuss music
once more, and I'm sure you also have better things to do, like starting on the definitive VSL version of the Bach 48 or Beethoven 32. Make sure
you perform them in concert first.

So.... all good things come to an end. It was fun while it lasted. Goodbye.

[curtain down]

... The Spectre disappears, plucking chords on his guitar ...