On Wed, 23 May 2007 13:55:04 EDT, Dominique Perkins <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> whooopppppppssssss????????????? have I strayed into some sort of
psudo-medical site of ill reput???? please advise  me how to get back to 
the HARPSICHORD LIST & thank you kindly
scarlatti <<

I've been pondering for a day how to do this. Let's start with medical
patients (patience, we're getting there). Part of these are truly scared
that they have some undetected serious illness. I dareasy that applies to
darn many more people that enter a doctor's office with some simple ailment
than statistics show - or their faces, for that matter. So there they read
up on funny itches and blotches on the web before going to the doctor - just
as scared as before, but a bit, they believe, smarter.
Others know actually nothing at all but project their unease about this fact
on the doctor, acting as if s/he doesn't know anything either. I guess that
there are also the non-scared busybodies, who just like to chat about itches
and blotches, what do I know. James is the expert. There might also be the
smart patient who is actually genuinely interested, and would, indeed, ask
questions rather than imposing her/his half-knowledge in an irritating
manner on the poor doc. All this assuming that the doc is a real good doc,
not a quack doc, a grump-and-shout doc, or a snide remark doc. Or whatever.

Now music. Difference: nobody - usually - starts talking music because he is
scared about some serious illness. The majority of people who think they
know all and everything about music seem instead largely to be of the kind
of the busibodies who just like to hear their own ranting voices...Just
check out the comments on Youtube about, say, various clips played by
Maurizio Pollini. There's some pretty harsh stuff out there, and it is
indeed often presented with a kind of acuteness as if, you guess it,
someone's appendix is about to burst. Which, evidently, isn't gonna happen.
But hey, we ought to be glad. The same people sometimes buy our CDs or
concert tickets. And even if they end up sitting in the front row with a
sour face, they ain't hurting us and we ain't hurting them. Try a sour face
with a doctor...There's the difference.

Okay okay. Its only Wednesday, three more days to go, so I have to go easy
on the brilliant stuff, or there won't be any left by Friday. But it was
worth a try.

Tilman