User talk:Wspencer11

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I see you've been here several days and no-one's welcomed you yet. Allow me… Welcome!

Hello, Wspencer11, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

• The five pillars of Wikipedia
• How to edit a page
• Help pages
• Tutorial
• How to write a great article
• Manual of Style

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome! 

I'm always glad to see new Wikipedians editing in the classical music sections. I particularly agree with your comment about the content of the article about Vaughan Williams' 6th. Best wishes, RobertG ♬ talk 09:39, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

Greetings Wspencer! Let me add my own welcome, since I see you've already met Robert: I'm also quite happy to see another person editing in the "classical" music area. If you enjoy English music, there's plenty more that needs to be written in that area! Happy editing, Antandrus (talk) 15:54, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Oh, and another greeting... great to see another classical musician and another bassoonist as well! (I have, alas, done precious little classical music writing lately... one of these days I will give bassoon another push, really.) Nice work so far, and looking forward to your further contributions! Mindspillage (spill yours?) 02:58, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Contents 1 Userboxes 2 Greetings again 3 Bassoonists 4 Kindness campaign 5 re SI Hi 6 Anniversary 7 E. Power Biggs 8 Gary Graffman 9 Barnstar 10 Enigmas 11 Strange sentence 12 Nymphes des bois 13 Lute composers 14 Visiting UK 15 Royal Doulton 16 Cleanup help 17 Brian Ganz 18 William Byrd bio 19 Pittsburgh Symphony 20 Christmas wishes 21 VT and Cows 22 Muti(s) 23 Rollback 24 Sice 25 Categorizing 26 Synchronicity 27 Userboxes 28 A Sea Symphony 29 George

[edit] Userboxes

I am fooling with creating a new userbox. I have a basic idea of how I want it to look, and I have a generic photo for the ID but am not certain how to proceed. Thanks in advance!

Have you read Wikipedia:Userboxes, particularly designing a userbox? — FireFox ^(talk) _{14:41, 15 August 2006}

Yes I have. I don't know how to define the colors, for example...is there a list of the codes used and their equivalent colors? And how do I upload the picture I have?

I find there is a useful list of colours and their codes here. Your image can be uploaded using Special:Upload. — FireFox ^(talk) _{15:07, 15 August 2006}

Thanks! Here's what I have come up with so far.

How do I get the picture to fit the space (i.e. not have any white margin the way it shows now), and how do I get the link in the info space to show up as white also? Thanks again!
How's this? — FireFox ^(talk) _{16:17, 15 August 2006}

Yes! I don't know how you did it but that's exactly right. (Now I just have to figure out how to submit this for others to use, but that's not a pressing problem right now.) Thank you so much!

No problem! — FireFox ^(talk) _{16:28, 15 August 2006}

[edit] Greetings again

Hi Wspencer: I realize I never answered you about your career-changing question back in July. (Your note on the Hindemith talk page reminded me.) That's not an easy thing to pull off, either way, but if you have comfortable employment in IT, hey, it pays the bills (and probably better than much in our doctoral fields!) I find I rarely regret my decision to make a living in the high-tech sector, and Wikipedia is a great outlet for my need to ramble on and on about musical things. You just have to make an extra effort to keep your musical chops, be they conducting, performing, score-reading, or others. Oh, and while I'm thinking of it, hello from a fellow M.  :-) Antandrus (talk) 17:31, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

I've been a member since I was in grad school, but haven't gone for a few years: now mainly I read the bulletin, but I keep my eye out for interesting events. The most fun for me was the games nights where we played Scrabble and other things, but also the weekly happy hours, and monthly gatherings where there were speakers, were quite a lot of fun: I always had a good time, talked to a lot of people, and got home late. The one negative is that there are a lot of big, bloated egos in the organization (duh ... and for all I know, maybe other people thought I was one), and therefore a lot of loud hot-air dispensers. But overall I enjoy the events, and keep paying my annual dues. Cheers! Antandrus (talk) 15:41, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

Ah, yes, I too love Whitman. The authentic American voice, and so inspiring. I think my favorite is still Lilacs, maybe the finest elegy in the English language ... and that Hindemith setting is pretty good. Antandrus (talk) 15:43, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

I've only heard it once, but it was one of those car-radio experiences where I was driving, heard this extremely moving piece, (in German, and my German is not good enough to decipher choral singing), and had to know who wrote it and what the heck it was, because it grabbed me; so I just sat in a parking area until it was over. When I found out what it was, I was amazed that someone had translated Lilacs into German, and that Hindemith had set it: and being right after the war, it seemed right that his feelings of loss must have paralleled Whitman's, approximately (no correlate to Lincoln, but to the devastation of the war generally, rather like Strauss's magnificent Metamorphosen of the year before). I need to hear it again to see if it would strike me the same way. Antandrus (talk) 15:55, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

I never responded to your career-change question either, did I? While music is a consuming hobby, I think my decision not to pursue music as a career was purely economic (helped by the fact that I realised I'm no second Brendel). I find that I have enough outlets for my musical talents to avoid feeling I've "wasted" my musical training, and am quite content that I am still able to hold my own in musical discussions with the really notable musicians I know. I am also often struck by the similarity in outlook required to write or perform music and to solve difficult software problems! It's something to do with collaboration, alertness, holding tenaciously to principles acquired through experience, and trying "during performance" immediately and imaginatively to grasp every tiny opportunity. Anyway, enough of my twaddle… Best wishes, RobertG ♬ talk 13:24, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

It was an act of kindness to leave one! I dropped by his/her page to say thanks, but didn't go overboard! I have received a couple of them that I was so pleased with I have polished them up and put them on my user page! And s/he was right: you do deserve one! --RobertG ♬ talk 17:17, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bassoonists

Indeed I am! I did some minor formatting edits to them; nice to see. There aren't enough articles on classical performers in Wikipedia... seems like the pop stars get all the attention! (But then, they get all the controversy and edit-warring, too...) Mindspillage (spill yours?) 19:28, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Kindness campaign

Ah, yes, that's something that is much needed around here, and I'm almost tempted to post an invitation on the Administrator's Noticeboard for everyone not signed up to go and join, considering the diminishing civility I see around Wikipedia ... but to join, simply add your name to the list at Wikipedia:Kindness_Campaign, and put the userbox on your page if you like. I think it's an excellent idea and I'm glad you reminded me I'm a member; I'd forgotten. :-) Cheers! Antandrus (talk) 21:42, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] re SI Hi

Hello there in NH. Either there's a missing word, or for some other reason your post left me bewildered, but it's still good to communicate via this thing. I stumbled upon WP doing some random googling last year, and find it the funnest and easiest way to get info fast ... as long as the positioning of a major weight-bearing beam doesn't depend upon its accuracy. I can't recall if it was me or Ezra or who started the SI page, but it's fairly accurate, and only occasionally irreverent and non-encyclopedia-like. Sfahey 21:18, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Anniversary

Many happy returns to you too! It's the Sea Symphony's 96th birthday today, too! Best wishes, RobertG ♬ talk 13:41, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] E. Power Biggs

Oh, yes, there are POV issues with that article. It reminds me of the way many "classical music" articles were when I first joined the project. This appears to be where the POV came in [1]. That part should probably be toned down or excised, though an appropriately cited section of a quoted POV by a published writer might be all right (it certainly is true, as far as I remember, that he helped popularize pipe organ music here in the U.S.). Cheers, Antandrus (talk) 15:34, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Gary Graffman

I don't think you did anything wrong; the revert appears to have been an error. I changed it back. It might be good to cite sources (e.g. his book; I have it at home, and can add it to a references section if you don't get to it first). Cheers, Antandrus (talk) 15:47, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Antandrus was the name of an ancient city on the coast of Asia Minor, populated by Greeks. It's mentioned by Xenophon, Thucydides, and a few other ancient writers. Has a personal significance ... :) Antandrus (talk) 16:26, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Barnstar

		The Original Barnstar
		For many contributions with limited reward, I present you with this Original Barnstar. Sharkface217 01:14, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Enigmas

That's a strange one indeed. It makes no sense at all; it appears to be a vandal/troublemaker. If he/she/it does it again I'll do what's necessary ... it's on my watchlist now. Cheers! Antandrus (talk) 21:09, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Strange sentence

Greetings again; that's an odd one indeed. My first guess is that it is a machine translation, perhaps from French.

"One can also borrow a narrow and difficult track leading to the road of Beni Mellal while descending the gorges from the "wadi el-Abid" by a canyon sometimes which one does not distinguish the bottom with nearly 600 meters."

Perhaps means:

One can also follow a narrow and difficult path leading to the road of Beni Mellal while descending into the gorges from the "wadi el-Abid" by a canyon route, from which you can sometimes see the bottom of the canyon up to 600 meters below.

But I'm not sure. Maybe put it on the talk page?

Cheers! Antandrus (talk) 16:00, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Nymphes des bois

Hey, I just saw this light up as a new article; thanks!! (This piece has my vote as the most hauntingly beautiful and eloquent composition of the late 15th century ... it's incredible.) I look forward to the day when Wikipedia has as many articles on Renaissance compositions as on top-40 songs. Cheers ... :) Antandrus (talk) 17:53, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Lute composers

Thanks for the link! It was a good writeup, and I love Paul O'Dette's playing. Not all of those composer articles are well-developed yet; for the most part I haven't written much about the instrumental composers (well, I did write the Vincenzo Capirola article ... and Claudin de Sermisy was mainly a chanson composer). Sure is a lot of work to be done here still. Oh, and for the edit counter, you can use [2], which is the only one I know that currently works (though I get an error on my own edit count--"too many page fetches" -- so it won't go past about 45,000). Have a great Thanksgiving! Antandrus (talk) 17:52, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Visiting UK

Just realised I never replied to your message on my talk: you have email. --RobertG ♬ talk 11:46, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Royal Doulton

Sorry, I was not trying to put more advertising sludge in the article but to put something in the lead that shows how this company relates to other companies in the field and to the industry of pottery/porcelain in England. I think it is a great article and does not sound like advertising at all. I would say to remove the advertising tag. --Tinned Elk 19:24, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cleanup help

{{helpme}}

Hello. You have used the {{helpme}} tag, how can we assist you? — Nearly Headless Nick 14:57, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

I have found an article that I think needs cleanup/rewriting, but although I know I have seen articles tagged for that I can't find where to get the tag to add to "my" article. A bad sentence but you know what I mean. Where can I find the tag? Thanks! --Wspencer11 (talk to me...) 14:59, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

Sure, here is the list of all cleanup templates: Wikipedia:Template messages/Cleanup. Hope that helps! Happy editing, I remove the helpme tag. If you have further inquiries, don't hesitate to put it back! -- lucasbfr ^talk 21:02, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Brian Ganz

Greetings!

It was a copyright violation from here so I speedy deleted it. He can rewrite it in his own words if he wants. We can't tolerate copyvios even for a minute: too risky.

Have fun with the singing! Wish I could be there (I'm no singer, alas ...) Antandrus (talk) 17:22, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] William Byrd bio

Suggestions welcome on how to improve the William Byrd bio page. It began life as little more than program notes but does seem to deserve better. Who wants to buy expensive and bloated scholarly monographs just to get the basic up-to-date facts about a composer's life?

I'm happier in any case singing/conducting Byrd than churning out prose about him!

Kerry

[edit] Pittsburgh Symphony

Hello, just wanted to let you know that I had made some changes to the Pittsburgh Symphony article. Let me know what you think. Thanks, ~~ 2:56, 3 January 2007 (UTC), DJRafe

[edit] Christmas wishes

And merry Christmas to you too! Were you perhaps thinking of the Chantilly manuscript, e.g. the piece by Baude Cordier? I'm not at home right now so I don't have my library within arm's reach, but Belle, bonne, sage is in the shape of a heart. Happy new year as well! Antandrus (talk) 19:25, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Couldn't help seeing your question when I was writing to Antandrus. You may also be thinking of the Chansonnier Cordiforme [3], a collection of late XV century songs from Savoy (just next door to me!). Cheers Nick Michael 21:43, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] VT and Cows

Howdy. Hope you saw the discussion re: your suggestion of adding a bit of trivia to the Vermont article. As I mention there, if placed in the proper context, and including citation, it could be a good add. Check out the chatter and see what you think.

Cheers--Jonashart 21:10, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Muti(s)

Greetings! I fixed it this way [4] -- if there is yet another use for the word "Muti", then we would need to make a redirect page, using a notice like this {{redirect|Muti}} at the top of the Muti article. Cheers! Antandrus (talk) 17:08, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Rollback

Hi again! It's the magic of the admin "rollback" button. Here you go: Help:Reverting#Rollback There are some non-admin ways to do it that involve customizing your .js files, as well as some other automated methods: a lot of people are using these things. (I used to use "rv" before becoming an admin.) Basically any time I pull up a diff, a history, or a contributions list, there is a rollback button available on any topmost edit so I can hit it pronto if it is vandalism. Cheers! Antandrus (talk) 02:31, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Sice

Greetings again; it looks like a semi-respectable stub, now that the promotional copyvio has been deleted. I removed a peacocky line from the opening (it would be ok if there was a cite). That Peabody web site will not open for me--their server may be momentarily down--else I'd add a couple more details. Cheers! Antandrus (talk) 04:23, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

Regarding linking all the faculty: I think there are differing opinions about this. Some are certainly notable enough for Wikipedia articles (and likely the "inclusionist" club may consider them all to be). I like redlinks in general because they tempt new people to become Wikipedians, by giving them a little carrot ("hey, I can write an article about this person!") Some people remove redlinks to people that are unlikely to pass the notability standard; you could do that if you want. Regarding links to an external site--I'm not crazy about this, but as a substitute for a redlink it seems justifiable. I never use external linking that way myself though. Hope this helps! Antandrus (talk) 16:01, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

LOL! I love that comment! Speaking of which, see the thread that just started at the bottom of my talk page a few minutes ago ... argh ... what do we do about these kinds of contributors ... Antandrus (talk) 18:18, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Hey, he was a nice enough guy and a great composer, but ... wasn't he a Protestant? LOL... [5] Antandrus (talk) 19:15, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Oh, I should have started a new thread. My comment on Schütz has nothing to do with the above; I just thought it was funny that someone or something considers him a "saint". All of those topics are unrelated: the "unwarranted deletions" is about a conflict of interest (a composer's husband has been over-promoting her throughout Wikipedia, and I'm exasperated); the Peabody stuff you had asked me about; and I mentioned Schütz to you because you had edited the article previously. Cheers, Antandrus (talk) 16:01, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

Yes ... thanks ... I'm starting to lose my cool. You can post at the conflict of interest noticeboard and no one notices or cares. Sometimes it feels so lonely doing this administrative crud. I should go hike in the mountains instead of hanging around Wikipedia today; it's a lovely day. "What, art thou upset with other men's badness? is it your badness? Teach them then, or bear with them." --Marcus Aurelius. Oh well. Antandrus (talk) 18:53, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Categorizing

Greetings! The easiest way I know is to find another person in roughly the same category (I grabbed Gustav Mahler at random), and click on the national cat (Category:Austrian conductors). Then you see the supercategory it is in (Category:Conductors by nationality) and can click on it. Since I don't see options for German-American or German-born-American, probably the best choice is American conductors. I put it in. You can see if he fits in more cats by looking at other similar people and seeing what categories they are in--you can get lots of ideas that way. Cheers! Antandrus (talk) 03:10, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Synchronicity

How curious that we should both be attempting to correct "Sinfonia Antartica" at the same moment! Myopic Bookworm 15:13, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

I don't rate "Antartica" among the best, but I'm not wholly convinced by Nos. 8 and 9. Myopic Bookworm 15:20, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Userboxes

Hi. Please state your question, then replace the {{helpme}} tag on your user talk page. Thanks. Xiner (talk, email) 15:51, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

Thanks. I am trying to get three columns of userboxes on my user page but the right-hand one is not aligned with the others. Is there a cure for that? Thanks!

At 800x600, the screen can only fit two columns. A horizontal scroll bar would be kind of ugly. Xiner (talk, email) 16:12, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm at 1440 x 900 and it's still a problem, unfortunately. --Wspencer11 (talk to me...) 16:47, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

Might I suggest using a Table, 3 boxes wide and placing the userboxes in each box exit2dos2000 18:16, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

This is still chaos, I'm afraid. I tried following the directions there and got...well, it was a mess. Here's more or less what I would like: [example]. I know I'm in over my head and am hoping someone can get me through this without too too much trouble. Thanks! --Wspencer11 (talk to me...) 16:23, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

Hi Wspencer! Can't help much with userbox code, I'm afraid; it's an area I pretty much avoid. I'd suggest looking around at some of the user pages that are rich with boxen and seeing how they do it. Good luck! Antandrus (talk) 21:55, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm not that experienced either but have you read through Help:Table? There's a table about a third of the way down with the letters of the alphabet in three columns. That looks like it might be what you're looking for. Good luck! MarkBuckles (talk) 05:55, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] A Sea Symphony

I hadn't noticed your message on the article's talk page - thanks for pointing that out! I posted the scan of the first page of the score as the main image. What do you think? MarkBuckles (talk) 23:00, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] George

Definitely George Szell, not György Széll, though you can list that in parens. Typically in these cases I have a look at the New Grove article, which gives the usage; in his case they do not even give alternate versions of the name. Possibly Gyorgy was his birth name and on becoming a U.S. citizen he changed it formally to George. He's George Szell in every reference book and recording. Btw, "gyorgy szell" is at least one other person on Google, so the results on that name are misleading. Cheers, Antandrus (talk) 15:08, 25 March 2007 (UTC)