A noteable grave

Really bad night's sleep, struggling for focus during the day.

One of my tangents, is that because of knowing Matthew, and writing the words for his piece, I am trying to learn more about music. I can play guitar after a fashion, but would not describe myself as a musician. And classical music (and I am vaguely aware that this is not really the right term for it) is an area in which my knowledge is patchy. Been reading Introducing Music by Otto Karolyi, which has been sitting on my shelf for about ten years. It starts on a rather Biblical note:

In the beginning, we may suppose, there was silence. There was a silence because there was no motion, and therefore no vibration could move the air - a phenomenon of fundamental importance in producing sound. The creation of the world, however it came about, must have been accompanied by motion - and therefore sound.

Later I was listening to the brooding Shostakovich string quartet #8 played by the Kronos Quartet. I rather liked it, and in reading about the piece I learned that he signed his work with a musical motif. I really like the idea of a signature encoded in the music. Apparently Bach did the same thing. You learn something every day.

Below a signature in music on Shostakovich's grave.