Monday, November 13, 2006

Musical Iconology 圖像音樂學

I've been composing for a local flute ensemble. They have a quite particular instrumentation -- two piccolos, about ten C flutes, two alto flutes, a bass flute, and a cello.  In my composition I have to take the number of each instruments into balancing consideration.  Say, for a rich bassy chord, there might not be enough low-pitched notes to support ten C flutes in the upper register.  One solution is to divide the C flutes into more parts, yielding to a, say, 7-part chordal structure. The other obvious solution is to ask only part of C flutists to play, instead of all.

這陣子我為當地一個長笛樂團作曲。這個團的編制很特別: 兩支短笛,十支左右長笛,兩支中音長笛,一支低音長笛,以及一個大提琴。作曲時,我必須為這個編制考慮平衡問題。比方說,如果我要一個低沈穩重的和弦,很容易發生低音部不夠支撐十多支高音長笛的問題。一個解決方式是把十支長笛再多分幾部,讓整個和聲架構變成七部;或是直接請部份的樂手不要演奏。


Dividing the C flutes into more parts has a problem: the score then will be too specific to adapt on other settings (I guess this nature provides the job market for arrangers). The other extreme is jazz charts -- the most flexible form of composition. I envy Hiromi Uehara that she can only write guidelines in her composition yet her guidelines are more specific than a jazz chart that the produced work still has a controlled overall structure.

Asking only part of the players to play makes me wonder that if a composer doesn't note how many playerss/he wants for a part (quite common in an ensemble score), the balancing is really up to the conductors/performers. I believe an educated conductor/performer will make proper decisions on that. On the other hand, this also reminds me one of the significance of musical iconology.  These scholars dig valuable information out of pictures.  By looking at an early picture with a band in the background, they can decide the partial balance of an ensemble work.  Amazing, isn't it?

把高音長笛再細分多部有個問題: 這會使該譜變得不彈性,不易給不同編制的樂團使用 (我想這也讓編曲者市場得以存在)。另外一種極端是爵士樂譜--那大概是最彈性的記譜吧。我很羨慕 Hiromi Uehara 在作曲時,只需要大概寫出綱要;而且她的綱要又比爵士樂譜更特定些,使得演奏出來的作品仍具有特定的總體結構。

至於只要求部份樂手演奏的方法,讓我想到如果一個作曲家不在作品中標明需要的樂器件數,那指揮或是演奏者就得決定了。我相信經過訓練的指揮或演奏者應該沒有問題。另方面,我想起音樂圖像學的重要性。音樂圖像學家從圖片中發掘出有價值的資訊。看一張早期有樂隊為背景的圖片,這些學者能決定不同樂器的聲部間該如何平衡。了不起吧?

Waiting for Perl 6

I still remember when I first learned Perl in 1999, I appreciated its string manipulation power, but my reaction to its typelessness was not very positive. I thought it would be a trap to invite bug bearing codes. Boy would I imagine that Perl has been indispensable in my daily shell scripting tasks, and none of the bugs I had had anything to do with its typelessness. Perhaps I was wrong on that. (Of course, without typing, memory management won't be as efficient. However, that's not the main concern for shell scripting.)


When PHP was out, many, including me, thought Perl would meet its end. PHP has much better HTML integration when it comes to CGI. PHP's OO support is much satisfying than Perl's (although PHP 4's OO wasn't really good enough but PHP 5's OO is fairly useful). Perl 5 does have some kind of OO support, but it is, in my opinion, way under development. (I found two documents particularly helpful: Writing serious Perl and Perl Object Oriented Programming.) (Also see this interesting "ideological" argument against Perl support OO.) However, Perl is more powerful in dealing with large data -- in PHP, you have the default 8MB memory restriction;Perl is supported by default by most Linux distributions (it means most people agree at its usefulness). What I think the most relevant for its survival (in my work environment) is that it pushes the concept of "quick and dirty" to an extreme that some would say "quick and elegant". Seasoned Perl programmers (so called one-liners) can really accomplish tasks with minimal codes. I haven't seen any other language that finds its nitch as well as Perl. (However, see this interesting article "Ancient Languages: Perl" by an ex-Perl programmer.)


Perl 6 is very much expected --it's been quite a long wait for me (since my first Perl project in 1999; Perl 5 was very improved but not enough for me). Fortunately it won't be as long as C++'s birth after C-- according to Wikipedia, Perl 6 alpha is to be released by the end of 2006. (I read about Pugs but decided to wait for Perl 6 when they didn't project the release date. Recently I got impatient and checked more about Pugs and found this brilliant Taiwanese fellow Audrey Tang behind the project. Quite a figure she is.)

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

SELinux vs. mount

I needed to share a directory which is actually a mounted ISO image via ftp, but SELinux would assign system_u:object_r:iso9660 to the directory as the context, instead of system_u:object_r:public_content_t. The solution is to use the option "-o context=system_u:object_r:public_content_t" in mount.

It's obvious why we need mount to work with SELinux when mounting any external media/drive.  However, when do we need to it to work with ISO image?  Well, a common application is to make available the contentof an ISO image via SAN, FTP, HTTP, etc.  This not only makes themanagement of files easier (one image file instead of millions of smallfiles, for example), it also allows us to have multiple virtualdrives.  That way, we don't really need a physical drive and/or disc.

I needed it to install Fedora 5 by sharing the content of FC5 DVD image via FTP.

Saturday, July 8, 2006

Music as non-focal point 學用音樂當配角

我在為居住地的一個佛教團體整理重編一些儀式用的曲,在找爐香讚的時候找到這個關於台灣早期音樂家張福興的網站

I was organizing and rearranging some ceremonial music for a local Buddhist group and a search led me to this site about one of the earliest Taiwanese musican in modern time.

記得大學時修音樂學時,有位同學就到廟宇裡採譜。當時對宗教音樂沒什麼興趣,總覺得音樂不是主角的時候,有損音樂的地位。後來,開始學「配樂」,跟導演或製作人有幾次觀點極不同的溝通之後,才漸漸學著放下總想當主角的傲心。

主角可以放心表現,但配角要演得好,需要對藝術細節與平衡,有更精細的掌握。

宗教音樂,尤其是以沈靜安定為傳統的宗教,這種音樂對心靈的感染力,是很不可思議的。精彩複雜的音樂,不見得適合用在典禮儀式中。但恰到好處的音樂,卻能幫助人和心靈接觸。

現在對於這些聽似簡單的音樂(民歌,新世紀,宗教音樂),再不敢小覷了。

The site reminds me of my college musicology class. One of ourclassmates went to temples to trascribe the cermonial chanting. I wasnot at all interested in religious music because I had the prejudiceagainst music not being "the leading role" in any "application" (Ialways want to pay full attention to music itself). However, later whenI started to score for films and media, I had to learn to let go ofsuch proud attitude from several arguments with directors and producers.

A leading actor/actress can shine to the fullest degree, but a supporting role needs to know the subtle balance, artistically.

Religious music, especially those with meditational tradition, touches our heart in an amazing way. Clever and complex music doesn't always fit well in a ceremony. Only the music that's just right will do.

Overthe years I've learn that music that sounds so simple, such as folksongs or new age music, may actually be very deep and very hard to write.

Friday, June 23, 2006

Reading xen guest disk image from the outside (FC5)

On Fedora's Xen wiki, there's a tutorial on how to read a xen guest OS's disk from the outside. The instruction works for a physical LVM, but when the disk is actually an image file,
the instruction there does not really work. Here I share my experience, step by step, in the hope of saving somebody else's time. The problem that the original instruction doesn't work is because many people (including myself) simply use Fedora's default
Volume Group name, VolGroup00 in both dom0 and guest systems. Therefore, vgscan will be confused by two volume groups with the same name and gathers only the info of the one currently working, i.e. the one used in dom0. Since LVM basically
provides a unique name for volume accessing, there is no way that we can assign a particular logical volume within a particular volume group, without having a unique name for it. The solution is to change the name of one of them. Since we usually deal
with many guest systems on the same dom0, I choose to change the name for dom0. (It's also possible to change the guest system instead by steps similar to the below, but note that it can only be done from the inside.)
Use Rescue Mode to access the system's root file system
  1. Reboot into the rescue mode (insert FC5 DVD, CD1, or Rescue CD, and at the boot prompt, type linux rescue).
  2. Choose language and keyboard layout.
  3. Choose No when asked about bringing up the network.
  4. When prompted about mounting the original file system, press F2 to bring up a shell.
  5. Wait for a while (for the background lvm process to find necessary info).
Change the volume group's name
  1. At the # prompt, type lvm vgrename VolGroup00 VGHost00
Change original references to the volume group's name
  1. # cd /mnt
  2. # mkdir root boot
  3. # mount /dev/mapper/VGHost00-LogVol00 /mnt/root
  4. # vi root/etc/fstab (replace VolGroup00 with VGHost00, you can use :%s/VolGroup00/VGHost00/g to do so and use ZZ to quit vi)
  5. # umount root; rm -rf root
  6. # mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/boot
  7. # vi boot/grub/grub.config (do the same substitution)
  8. # umount boot; rm -rf boot
Now we need to build a new init ramdisk that knows about the new volume group (reference from this blog)
  1. Press F1 to go back to the rescue menu where it asks about mounting the original system,select Continue (you can also manually mount it -- see the blog reference above)
  2. # chroot /mnt/sysimage
  3. # cp /boot/initrd-2.6.16-1.2133_FC5xen0.img /boot/initrd-2.6.16-1.2133_FC5xen0.old.img
  4. # mkinitrd -v -f /boot/initrd-2.6.16-1.2133_FC5xen0.img 2.6.16-1.2133_FC5xen0
Reboot
  1. # exit
  2. # exit
  3. Remember to remove the Fedora DVD/CD1/RescueCD to boot from your HD
Read the disk image of the guest OS
  1. Use losetup -f to find a free loopback device. Here we assume it's /dev/loop0
  2. # losetup /dev/loop0 your_disk_image_file
  3. # kpartx -av /dev/loop0 (this should give us loop0p1 loop0p2 under /dev/mapper)
  4. # vgscan (this should report both VolGroup00 and VGHost00)
  5. # vgchange -ay VolGroup00
  6. # mkdir /mnt/guest_root
  7. # mount /dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00 /mnt/guest_root
Voila!

To unmount it, basically we just reverse the steps:
  1. umount /mnt/guest_root
  2. rm -rf /mnt/guest_root
  3. vgchange -an VolGroup00
  4. kpartx -d /dev/loop0
  5. losetup -d /dev/loop0

Monday, June 5, 2006

回應「作弊VS.100分的"好"學生」

在網路上看到一篇「作弊VS.100分的"好"學生」的文章,有感而發而作出回應。

也許唯有讀書高的價值觀現已不如從前,唯有分數高才是真的。只求結果不問過程的功利主義在緊密的社會結構下讓孩子們(以及家長們)想跟別人稍稍有點不同都很不容易。更何況,成長中的孩子很需要肯定(那怕是騙來的肯定),在面對驚人的競爭時,希望用最少的努力得到最大成就感的心態,實在也讓人心疼。

另一篇文章提及電玩,也是孩子們為了得到成就感。成就感不一定得來自過關破台;如您所言,失敗了可以reset重來,可以在沒有進展時關機離開,這些都讓孩子們覺得自己至少有掌控的權力。但現實生活中,他們時時刻刻都要被評分鑑級,使得常得低分的人想作弊,常得高分的人受不了挫折。

同篇文章中的小和尚有一個有智慧明事理的老和尚在生活中教導他人生智慧,我們孩子們能親近的善知識卻沒這麼多,家長們在人格教育上也少有能真正作孩子們好榜樣的。不過,雖然面對大環境難免有無力感,但孩子受教育的過程中,有一兩個老師曾經堅持一些原則,曾經用誠懇真心感動他們,對他們的一生就有無形的影響了。


向您這樣的好老師致敬

路人丁

Friday, May 12, 2006

SELinux vs. ftpd

Fedora comes withs SELinux and by default the settings are quite retrictive, an unfortunate necessity in today's hostile environment. This is particular true when SSL family (ssh, scp, etc.) has gradually replaced its plain-text counterpart (telnet, ftp, rsh, rcp, etc.). The setting for these insecure protocols is very protective.

However, in an intranet environment, when efficiency is more prioritized than security, these old tools still serve well. For example, I frequently have to transport huge files from a machine to another but don't want to use scp for it's very CPU and network bandwidth hungry. I would usually setup a temporary ftp server to do the file transport and turn it off afterwards. This is much faster than adding directory and authentication setting to samba or NFS.

Here I summarize how one can quickly setup vsftpd to accept download and upload.

I choose vsftpd due to its efficiency. I think Fedora made a good choice in making it the default ftp server. Since vsftpd comes in the server package by default, I won't go over the procedure of installing it.  Note that these is tested on FC4 only.  FC5+ may have different policies.

  1. su -
  2. Edit /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf, make sure we have the following lines:
    1. anonymous_enable=NO
    2. write_enable=YES
    3. anon_upload_enable=YES
    4. anon_mkdir_write_enable=YES
    5. nopriv_user=ftp (the default is ftpsecure, but since Fedora has ftp account in /etc/passwd already, I simply use ftp instead)
  3. Give the account ftp a password by "passwd ftp"
  4. Change the security context for our anonymous ftp home directory (/var/ftp)
    1. chcon -R system_u:object_r:ftpd_anon_t /var/ftp (you can verify this by ls -Z)
  5. Make one directory for upload, and change its security context.
    1. mkdir /var/ftp/upload
    2. chcon -t ftpd_anon_rw_t /var/ftp/upload
  6. Turn on the SELinux boolean for ftpd_anon_rw_t
    1. setsebool -P allow_ftpd_anon_write 1
    2. add "allow_ftpd_anon_write=1" to /etc/selinux/targeted/booleans.local
  7. That's it.

Reference: Daniel J Walsh's reply to a discussion on this topic.

Monday, April 24, 2006

[QA] 我有沒有對莫札特的私房研究

常有學生來信問我有沒有什麼私房資料提供給他們讓他們寫出一份與眾不同的報告。私房資料我倒是有很多,只是這些私房資料只對自己或是音樂經歷非常相近的人有意義。我給這些年輕學子的建議一直是,與其向我要魚,不如自己去弄根釣竿來。

On 4/24/06, xxx wrote:

你好,我是xx學院xx系的學生xxx,我有一門選修課是「名曲與名家」剛好老師有介紹到莫札特的一些事跡,我上網查了很多資料,可是資料都差不多,剛好看到老師你寫的網站,我很好奇,很想要知道更多更多的莫札特,希望李老師可以幫幫我。

之後,我要做莫札特的作業,我希望李老師你可以介紹我看一些有關莫札特的書嗎?如果,老師也有整理一些書本沒有的資料,可以提供我看、參考,我會很謝謝老師的

請李老師放心,我不會整個copy,我會比照書上的資料,再附加上一些你提供的資料,且我會表明出處的,請老師放心

祝老師你身體健康

XX您好,

我是有一些國內少見的資料, 不過是英文與德文的. 我認為, 對您而言, 要寫一份不一樣的報告, 絕對不是參考別人找不到的資料就夠了. 我建議您去聽場音樂會(或是相關的電影, 歌劇), 在事前先對曲目的背景與曲目本身的結構做預習, 然後聽的時候專心聽, 聽完之後把您個人的心得和所讀到的東西相互結合印證, 這樣一定會讓您的報告與眾不同. 寫報告的目的只是要讓您有個機會去接觸平常容易忽略的事物, 您不妨用這個機會真正親自接觸莫札特的音樂, 希望這個機會能讓您開始培養出深度聆賞的能力與興趣.

祝學業進步.

璨光

Friday, February 17, 2006

[FW] 不後悔的人生

朋友傳來這篇,我覺得寫得很不錯。可惜上網找,仍找不到原作者的名字。

我覺得這幾年的轉信文化,愈來愈速食化:人們愈來愈習慣「一秒鐘感動」──很快讀完一篇文章,很快判斷這篇文章很好,很感人,然後按一個鈕轉寄出去,馬上再讀下一封信。至於文章的來源、內容的真偽,很少人在乎。真正有福氣來好好品味一篇好文章的人,恐怕不多。

(註:後來我找到文章原作者了。)

不後悔的人生
文/彭明輝(大學教授)

托爾斯泰晚年寫了一部很薄、也很感人的小說:【伊凡˙伊列區之死】,探討一個問題:「伊凡˙伊列區是個高等法院檢察長,有一個人人羨慕的漂亮太太,交往的都是彼得堡的上流階級和貴族。他從小聰明伶俐,善於察言觀色,也善於應對逢迎。因為出身貧苦,所以從小就力爭上游,立志要出人頭地。他聰明又用功,很順利地拿到人人稱羨的大學文憑。進入法院以後,他比別人更用心辦案,也擅長交際,所以就比同事更快地獲得各種升遷的機會。

在人生最高峰的中年時,他和美麗的太太搬進了彼得堡寬敞的豪宅裡,開始用心佈置這個家。就在掛窗簾的時候,他從高高的梯子上摔下來,從此臥病不起。

從小到大,他第一次有很多時間去看他身週的人,以及他這一生真正所擁有的。雖然他很用心佈置這個房子,極力想要擺脫中產階級的品味,但是從傢俱到窗簾,沒有一樣東西和他相同社會階級的人有任何的不同。就像他的一生,雖然他一直都不甘心當平凡人,但是卻也從來不曾追求過任何和別人不一樣的東西。因為,他從來都不曾知道自己在追求的是什麼,也從來也不曾認真問過自己到底要的是什麼!整個一生,他只是活在別人的期許和羨慕之中。所有他曾追求過的東西,都只是因為別人認為那些東西很體面,值得稱許或羨慕,而沒有一樣是他自己要的。就像他的婚姻,不是因為兩人相愛,而是因為大家都認為他們兩人條件相當,未來將是非常體面的一對。

臥病以後,他那愛慕虛榮的的太太和女兒從來不曾真正關心過他。其實,他也從來不曾關心過別人。醫生不在乎他的疼痛與憂慮,不把他當作一個有感覺有思想的人,只是機械化地用專業角度在處理他的身體。這就像他在法院一貫的風格,他只想從專業角度把所有的案件冷漠而優雅地處理掉,冷漠到近乎無情與殘酷。即使發現當事人有冤屈或不得已的苦衷,他還是硬著鐵石心腸依法辦事。

他的同事沒有人同情他,反而整天在打聽他的遺缺可以帶給哪些人升遷的機會,就如同他以往在類似場合下會有的一貫作風。把他和家人聯結在一起的力量不是愛情與親情,而是虛榮心和一家人的面子;把他和同事連結在一起的,不是同事的情誼或關懷,而是社交的利益和人脈網絡的經營。沒有人是真心地活著,大家都只是活在別人的期許和羨慕裡!

當他看透了這一切,突然發現他從來不曾有過真心的喜悅和眼淚,不曾為自己的心願而生活、奮鬥,他的一生根本都是虛假的、空洞的、不值得的。他很想從頭來過,嘗試過一種更貼心、更真實的人生。但是,他已經是絕症的末期,沒有第二次的機會了!

人生最可怕的,莫過於在人生已經不可能再重頭開始的時刻裡,卻對自己有過的一生感到後悔、不值得!那麼,人要怎麼活這一生,才會覺得值得呢?我們曾否認真地想過?

我問學生,你願意花多少時間去準備你的婚禮?很多人都願意花整整一個月的時間去籌備。那麼,你是否曾經花一整天的時間去想想:「什麼是你這一生中最想擁有、最珍貴的東西?」不曾有過!太忙了,國中開始忙聯考,聯考後還有聯考,大學畢業後還有研究所,研究所畢業後要進園區。進了園區更忙,忙得有家歸不得,有些人連想生小孩都找不到時間。「那麼,你會不會是第二個伊凡˙伊列區,臨死的時候才對一生後悔?」

「不會吧!想辦法賺錢解決現實的問題比較實際,沒有必要花時間去想『人生觀』這種無意義的問題!」,真的嗎?大部分的人從一懂事開始就活在怕被別人比下去的恐懼當中,所以終其一生,他們只有在現實的恐嚇下拼命地力爭上游,追求財富與權勢,作為武裝自己和踐踏別人的工具,卻從來沒有機會停下腳步來好好地想一想:這樣子做,真的會解決他們的問題嗎?

可是,假如你會怕鬼,你總覺得鬼在你的身後。你愈是跑得快,愈是覺得背後有什麼東西在追你。真的要解決這個恐懼,唯一的辦法是停下腳步來,勇敢地往後面看清楚。只有當你敢往後面去看鬼的真相時,鬼才會消失掉。一味地在它的恐嚇下拼命地往前跑,累死了也解決不了問題。

面對現實的壓力,道理也是一樣的。只有當我們看透了現實能給我們,以及不能給我們的是什麼之後,我們才有可能坦然地面對現實。假如我們所以追求現實,為的是自我的肯定和別人的善意、接納,這一定要用名利權位才能達成嗎?還是說我們可以有更簡潔、更有效的方式來肯定自我,並且獲得別人更真心的善意與接納?

讓我們再來做一個實驗:請你就認識的熟人中,選出五個你認為最值得尊敬的人,和五個你最討厭的人,把他們的名字寫在紙上。然後你仔細分析看看,你認為最值得尊敬的人當中,有幾個剛好是學歷最高、或者最富有、或者最有權勢的?除此之外,你也仔細查查看,最讓你受不了的人中,有幾個剛好是學歷最高、或者最富有、或者最有權勢的?很多人都會發現:在名、利、權、位的追逐上愈成功的人,往往也是最討人嫌的人!那麼,這個社會為什麼普遍鼓勵我們去追逐名利與權位?因為這些東西對陌生人很有效!

譬如,你到戶政事務所去辦文件,承辦人對前面幾位都大小聲,亂發脾氣。輪到你的時候,他看到你光鮮亮麗的衣著和你先生的博士頭銜,態度突然柔和謙卑起來,這時候會讓你覺得衣飾和頭銜很好用。但是,這些表面上的榮耀與光彩,只對陌生人有用。對於那些和我們朝夕相處的人而言,名利與權位很難影響到他們對我們的善意與肯定。譬如說,你最要好的朋友或許會在你獲得博士學位時為你高興一下下,但是沒多久你和他的關係又回復到以往的狀態。

反過來說,假如有人因為你新獲得的名利與權位而急著和你結交,這種虛情假意的朋友還不如不要!絕大部分的人都和伊凡˙伊列區一樣,花費一生的精力去追求表面上的榮耀,雖然這會換來許多陌生人的羨慕與激賞,卻換不來身邊人真心的善意與對待。一輩子只為了一群不相干的路人而活著,值得嗎?很多全球著名的藝人都有酗酒、吸毒的麻煩,就因為舞台上的風光掩飾不住私生活中的空洞與虛幻。

我沒有辦法許諾你一生當中所遭遇到的人都接納你、肯定你、對你懷著善意。但是,如果要做到「你常接觸到的人大多數都接納你、肯定你、對你懷著善意」,這並不會很難,而且它和你所擁有的權勢、名利、地位幾乎毫不相干。其實你要做的,只不過是對別人時時懷著善意。

金錢換不來人的善意,只有善意可以換來善意。假如你希望熟人對你有善意,最重要的是你要有能力對別人懷著善意。終身在印度救濟貧民的泰瑞莎修女,她在全球所獲得的肯定、尊敬與善意,遠遠超過比爾蓋茲和英國女皇。假如你是一個對生命的真諦有深刻體認的人,而且對別人懷著善意,那麼所有認識你的人都會尊敬你、接納你,並且對你懷著善意。當然,大部分的陌生人還是看不到你對生命的體認,因而只能從外表的判斷對你漠視、輕蔑,甚至羞辱你。

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

傲慢與謙虛

多年失聯的朋友經網路找到我,和我聊了起來。除了互相關心近況外,其中一個主題讓我們兩個人深思。我節錄往返信文關於傲慢與謙虛的部份於下。我的信文標[我],友人部份標[友]。


[我]
我一直想找機會把我的網站改一改,把年輕時寫的那些傲慢自大的文字拿掉。不過,卻一直沒找到時間。讓你看到,真覺得汗顏。

[友]
最後, 說真的, 以你所擁有的才華, 我真的一點也不覺得你傲慢或自大在哪裡! (想想傲慢和自大的典範--莫札特吧! 愛他的人還是遠遠多過嫉妒他的人, 不是嗎?^^)

[我]
你說到關於才華和傲慢的問題。我想和你分享我的看法:老實說,大家喜歡的是莫札特的作品,而不是他的人;和他同時代的人,很多人因為他的不厚道而受傷或一輩子音樂生涯不順利。這有點像有些人結婚是為了另一半的錢,而不是那個人;但為了錢,只好容忍人。我今天如果擁有任何能力,是來自很多人的成全、幫助、與鼓勵。能力這東西有點像金錢。人家教我,或我從書學,或向古人學,然後我再用能力去做一些事,或是再傳遞給其他人。其實我又能擁有,抓住什麼呢?如果我因此而覺得自己很了不起,只不過是顯出自己的無知罷了。不知道你覺得如何?

[友]
另外;關於你對謙虛的看法,我覺得你說的非常有道理,很抱歉其實我不是那麼了解莫扎特,我對他的認識也僅僅是從電影阿馬迪斯上得知的,我喜歡莫扎特的作品,也是在看完電影之後的事,那時我都已經xx歲了,在此之前,莫扎特這三個字,對我而言只是音樂神童的代名詞而已,不具任何意義。所以我對莫扎特的認識,其實是非常膚淺的,謝謝你對我在這方面意見的指正。

在我的觀念裡,謙虛其實是為了防範他人嫉妒心的一種盾牌,而人類的忌妒,其實是一種策略,有點類似遠古時代人類合作狩獵的一種行為模式,其目的就是為了要合作拉下自己所打不贏的對手,好讓自己勝利。人類既然演化出了忌妒的行為模式,自然就會更進一步演化出謙虛以因應之。也就是說;如果人類完全不會忌妒,那謙虛就是多餘的。莫扎特一點也不謙虛,招人忌妒,但是仍然能夠在音樂創作上成功,我覺得很大的原因是因為他的工作性質,音樂創作本身靠的完全是個人才華,一點也不需倚賴他人的力量,人際關係再糟,再多人忌妒他,也拿他莫可奈何,因為他的成就完全在他的腦中進行,其它人的阻撓較難產生效果,只要他同時還具備創作時不因他人干擾而分心的人格特質,那他就算傲慢也還是能成功。另外一個例子是理查費曼,這個傢伙也是標準的自我中心,一點也不謙虛,狂妄的很,但是他的工作是理論物理,一樣是全在他腦袋瓜中進行就可以了,別人再忌妒也阻撓不了他。而且他還「你管別人怎麼想」,根本不會因他人的忌妒、反制、或小動作而分心,所以他也成功了。

當然不論是什麼原因,謙虛都是一件很不簡單的事,我很佩服你能這樣,願意把自己的成就都說成是別人的功勞,從你的理由看來,你的謙虛倒比較像是一種憐憫,而不像是怕小人。因為既然大多數人都是會忌妒的,而這又是人類可悲的天性,不容易克服,所以謙虛一點的話,多少可以幫這些人減輕一些痛苦。不過不知道你同不同意,憐憫弱者這種高尚的人格特質,並不是每個人都有的。

[我]
Evoluation Psychology 這個近年的顯學,的確有它的道理,我也相信各種心理機制都有許多成因。在佛法中,我們稱之為 collective karma (共業) ── 人類的歷史、文化、心理、身體等,都是共業所感的結果。另一方面,從佛法的角度來看,所謂的「真相」,是有很多層次的。這有點像是我們國中高中學了物理學,但在現代物理的模型看來,很多都是在某些條件下才成立的特例。比方說,時間是線性的,電子的軌道是固定的...但這並不代表中學物理完全沒道理──它只是部份真實而已。

Freud把生存驅力作為唯一(或主要)的行為動機,至少在今日的心理學發展看來,也只是部份的真實。我們在實際生活經驗中,有很多明顯的反例。很多人為善不欲人知,自己也不把幫助人的快樂放在心上。很多人為不自私的理想吃苦忍辱一輩子,但卻不是為了「苦盡甘來」。我所認識的修行人中,有太多這樣的典範。

當然,你可以說,這也是為了全人類的生存。有人反戰,因為覺得戰爭會滅亡人類;有人環保,因為意識到生態圈息息相關...如果把社會文明當成有機體來看,人類是不是能發展出足夠的智慧來為自己帶來真正的幸福,的確可看成是生存驅力在後面作用。

但是,這樣的講法只是用來「描述」「解釋」現象,這只是個「模型」。模型和被描述現象的本體,永遠不同。佛教的修行方法中,心靈能力的修行很重要。因為一顆清楚的心,是最好的觀察工具;一顆有智慧的心,不會被主客二元的對立所迷惑。一個人的德行是否是真的高貴,騙不過一個澄明的心靈。當然,這個修行過程很漫長。(有看過電影 Matrix 嗎?主角歷經頓誤過程,看穿現象的空性,但絕大多數人仍不願接受真實,還有體會過空性卻又被現象吸引而退轉的。我相信編劇一定受到佛教世界觀影響很深。)

我想我們所講的「謙虛」不大一樣。你講的是「謙虛」的「樣子」,但我講的僅僅是「認識事物真實的面貌」。現實生活中,謙虛的人會受到讚美,所以有人會多多講謙虛的話,來受到更多的讚美;也有人像你說的,怕忌妒,所以不敢專美。但是,如果我們看清楚事物的本質,會發現萬物都是相依相存的 (佛法中叫做因緣法)。

很難想像費曼從小到大無師自通,或是從沒遇到一個好老師給他啟發。他的成功,是很多因緣促成的,缺一不可。我更難想像在他的事業中,如果他得罪了所有人,他還是能夠像成功。極端地講,如果他對人傲慢無禮,他可能連要寫下他偉大理論的筆都買不到。更不用說在他成名之前所要面對的各種人際挑戰了。我相信他說「你管別人怎麼想」主要是在說創意與理想的信心與堅持,而不是指完全地我行我素。
莫札特自己晚年生活的悲慘,和他的個性有絕對的關係。他死時,身心都在很糟糕的狀況。我在學習作曲時,曾在他的遺作安魂曲下了很大的功夫。我深深覺得,以他當時作曲的洗練程度,如果他再多活十年(他活到35歲),所能留給我們的音樂遺產會比他之前的作品豐富很多倍。可惜他的個性限制了他的發展。

套句我一個作曲家朋友蔡淩蕙的話:「所有作曲家都應兼修公關」。我們辛辛苦苦寫出個作品來,沒有人演奏,沒有人聽,是沒有太大意義的。平常我們要找個四重奏團,就要花很多唇舌;更何況是大編制上百人的交響樂團。我很難想像有一個作曲家在成名前都沒有拜託過別人來演奏,來聆聽。

這樣看來,成功難道不是許許多多人的成全嗎?

歷史上,如果沒有費曼,沒有莫札特,會不會整個人類的物理學、音樂史就不再進步,或是慢個五十年一百年?很難說,說不定把當年給費曼的獎學金給另外一個人,會有更高的成就;說不定當年因莫札特專美而放棄音樂或是被史家忽略的其他作曲家,總合起來會有更棒的作品出現。

我覺得眾多因緣在某個人的此身與此生成熟,是件很美好的事,也是需要感恩的事。我們在學禪時,師父要我們喝水時都要感恩這杯水的由來。我覺得這個練習很有意義。我們不感恩,並不會有個神生氣突然把水變不見來懲罰我們。我們自大狂傲,也大概不會馬上失去一切。但是,我們卻給自己種下苦種。每一次我們生起傲慢心,我們就加深我們自大的習性,同時也讓我們的心更不開放、更不寬廣、更不能容忍失敗、更不願欣賞別人、更害怕失去已有的名與利、更不信任別人...

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

[talk] The Art of Listening (to Music, Language, Mind)

I will conduct a 3-day workshop in Ocean Lotus Farm during May 5-7, 2006. This is the introduction to the workshop. If you are interested in participating, please contact Ocean Lotus Farm for further details.


The Art of Listening

Ocean Lotus Farm Workshop

Tsan-Kuang Lee

May 5-7, 2006

Introduction

Music, language, and thoughts come so easily in our daily life that most of us take them for granted and stop interacting with them meaningfully. We hear music without listening to it; we let our spouses talk to us without knowing what they are really saying; we hear our own inner voices but constantly ignore them.

In this workshop, we learn the art of listening. We learn how to listen to and enjoy music; we learn how to listen to and comprehend language; we learn how to listen to and become union with our thoughts.

Music

Few people would say they don't love music. Music empowers an army,preludes the birthday cake serving, announces a friend's call,farewells the use of your computer, and accompanies our showering. It's so close to our daily life, but why are there moments when we wonder,how come some people are so crazy about symphonies in the concert hall,jazz solos in the bar, or loud raps on the street? Why, while an opera and a movie may both take two hours, most people find the lengths of the two psychologically so different?

Of course, it's a matter of preference and taste. Some love operas; some love movies. In fact, most of us can manage to be with music for a while in the concert hall, in the bar, or on the street. We can also learn when to applaud, when to scream, or when to shake and nod our heads. However, how the music itself really interacts with us internally, is probably irrelevant to the social codes that make us good audience.

How do we really enjoy music?

Again,the question is, how "we" "really" "enjoy" "music". First, it's"enjoyable", not boring, nor patience-challenging; neither does it make us feel arrogant or ignorant. Second, the enjoyment is "really"experienced, not imagined or pretended. Third, the satisfaction comes from the "music", not from the well-decorated concert hall, the dressed-up audience, the gossips about a famous conductor, or "the attractive girl/boy who saw me go to Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra". Most importantly, "we" participate in the whole process.

In this workshop, we will (re-)learn to listen to music, and learn to appreciate different types of musical expressions.

Language

Thanks to the best-sellers, everybody today knows that listening plays an essential role in effective communication. However,being proficient in Martian and Venusian does not seem to guarantee better understanding. While we try very hard to listen, we still hear something very different from what's intended or even what's said. How do we fill the gap between theory and practice?
In this workshop,we will re-evaluate our listening ability and investigate the factorsthat hinder it. Then we learn to establish new listening habits tobreak from the bad cycles of poor communication that we were so used to.

Mind

The techniques of taming one's mind have been around for several thousands of years, and have been used by many different traditions, from religions(Buddhist, Catholic , Christian, Taoist, to name a few), to modern training (music performance, business leadership, athletics, military,etc.), and healing (stress reduction, meditational healing, etc.).However, most of us still have little control over our own minds.Running thoughts take over easily and many of us either ignore its effects or totally give up on disciplining our minds.

Why do we need to discipline our minds? Aren't discursive minds more creative? Don't we relax more when we just let our minds go free? Aren't minds more natural without control?

It's no surprise that many of us have such questions. On the other hand, we also wish we had the power to stop thinking in a sleepless night;musicians/speakers/athletes/examinees hope to concentrate on the performance instead of worrying about what would happen to them if they don't do well; in classrooms we hope to focus so we can learn better.

A trained mind does not only benefit us in those achievement-oriented goals. Obviously, if we are worrying about our tax return when we are in the Grand Canyon, we certainly are missing something; if we keep checking the time for the parking meters outside of the concert hall,we certainly won't be able to enjoy the music; if we are nervous about an exam on the table, we certainly won't be able to taste the breakfast fully.

A chaotic mind may actually harm us. We bite ourselves because our minds are not with us when eating; we fall because our minds aren't walking with us; we have car accidents because our minds aren't alert enough.

It actually goes deeper if we take it seriously: we say harmful words to others because our negative thoughts rule us; we ignore important signals/signs of dangers because our minds aren't clear; we fail to hear our own voices among other noises in our minds and regret not listening to ourselves.
Mindful technique swill be instructed and used throughout the workshop. We learn to pay full attention to music, language, and thoughts. Then we hope to apply the same techniques to other things and improve the quality of our daily life.

Workshop Rules

In this workshop of the Art of Listening, we want to emphasize the practice of listening instead of talking and expressing. Therefore, we require the participants to observe the following rules during the whole time of the workshop(including non-class time), for the sake of ourselves and others:


  • No talking except for in-class discussion.
  • No phone calls. (All emergency incoming calls should be taken and redirected by Ocean Lotus Farm administration.)
  • No emailing.
  • No reading, unless asked to.
  • No listening to personal music/speech.


These rules really help protect our minds from going away. According to our experiences, these simple rules turn out to be very powerful and enable one to go into a deeper level of observation and concentration.

Powerful transformation comes from a determined mind willing to change bad habitual patterns. Let's make it our Lesson One: when we come to the workshop, we bring our full mind here. We deal with other things before or after, but not during, the workshop.

About the Speaker

This workshop will be led by composer/linguist/meditator Tsan-Kuang Lee, who will share his insights on how to listen to music/language/mind deeply.

Trained to be a scientist in high school, turning to literature in college, but ending up studying linguistics and computer science in graduate school; with several established musicians' help, Tsan-Kuang is now working as a composer/arranger/performer, as well as a software developer. In recent years, he has been learning to re-exam himself through Zen practices; he has found Zen practices sharpen one's sensibility, deepen one's understanding, break one's prejudice, and free one's concepts,while at the same time, cultivate one's compassion and bring one harmony.

Friday, January 27, 2006

[FW] A Rescued Whale Thanked her Rescuers

I got a short summery of a news report from a friend's email. It's about a whale entagled in traps and the rescuers risked their lives to save her; afterwards, she thanked the rescuers.

I got a short summery of a news report from a friend's email.

If you read the front page story of the SF Chronicle on-- Thu, 15 Dec 2005 -- you would have read about a female humpback whale who had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by 100s of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She had 100s of yards of line (rope) wrapped around her body - her tail, her torso, a line tugging in her mouth.

A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farralone Islands (outside the Golden Gate) and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a few hours the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her - a very dangerous proposition; One slap of the tail could kill a few rescuers. They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her. When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around - she thanked them... some say it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives. The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth says her eye was following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.

By checking TruthOrFiction.com, I found it's a true story and its original source.

This article was written by Peter Fimrite (see his email at the end of the article) and was originally posted on San Francisco Chronicle on December 14, 2005.

Daring rescue of whale off Farallones

Humpback nuzzled her saviors in thanks after they untangled her from crab lines, diver says

- Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff Writer

A humpback whale freed by divers from a tangle of crab trap lines near the Farallon Islands nudged its rescuers and flapped around in what marine experts said was a rare and remarkable encounter.

"It felt to me like it was thanking us, knowing that it was free and that we had helped it," James Moskito, one of the rescue divers, said Tuesday. "It stopped about a foot away from me, pushed me around a little bit and had some fun."

Sunday's daring rescue was the first successful attempt on the West Coast to free an entangled humpback, said Shelbi Stoudt, stranding manager for the Marine Mammal Center in Marin County.

The 45- to 50-foot female humpback, estimated to weigh 50 tons, was on the humpbacks' usual migratory route between the Northern California coast and Baja California when it became entangled in the nylon ropes that link crab pots.

It was spotted by a crab fisherman at 8:30 a.m. Sunday in the open water east of the Farallones, about 18 miles off the coast of San Francisco.

Mick Menigoz of Novato, who organizes whale watching and shark diving expeditions on his boat the New Superfish, got a call for help Sunday morning, alerted the Marine Mammal Center and gathered a team of divers.

By 2:30 p.m., the rescuers had reached the whale and evaluated the situation. Team members realized the only way to save the endangered leviathan was to dive into the water and cut the ropes.

It was a very risky maneuver, Stoudt said, because the mere flip of a humpback's massive tail can kill a man.

"I was the first diver in the water, and my heart sank when I saw all the lines wrapped around it," said Moskito, a 40-year-old Pleasanton resident who works with "Great White Adventures," a cage-diving outfit that contracts with Menigoz. "I really didn't think we were going to be able to save it."

Moskito said about 20 crab-pot ropes, which are 240 feet long with weights every 60 feet, were wrapped around the animal. Rope was wrapped at least four times around the tail, the back and the left front flipper, and there was a line in the whale's mouth.

The crab pot lines were cinched so tight, Moskito said, that the rope was digging into the animal's blubber and leaving visible cuts.

At least 12 crab traps, weighing 90 pounds each, hung off the whale, the divers said. The combined weight was pulling the whale downward, forcing it to struggle mightily to keep its blow- hole out of the water.

Moskito and three other divers spent about an hour cutting the ropes with a special curved knife. The whale floated passively in the water the whole time, he said, giving off a strange kind of vibration.

"When I was cutting the line going through the mouth, its eye was there winking at me, watching me," Moskito said. "It was an epic moment of my life."

When the whale realized it was free, it began swimming around in circles, according to the rescuers. Moskito said it swam to each diver, nuzzled him and then swam to the next one.

"It seemed kind of affectionate, like a dog that's happy to see you,'' Moskito said. "I never felt threatened. It was an amazing, unbelievable experience."

Humpback whales are known for their complex vocalizations that sound like singing and for their acrobatic breaching, an apparently playful activity in which they lift almost their entire bodies out of the water and splash down.

Before 1900, an estimated 15,000 humpbacks lived in the North Pacific, but the population was severely reduced by commercial whaling. In the 20th century, their numbers dwindled to fewer than 1,000. An international ban on commercial whaling was instituted in 1964, but humpbacks are still endangered. Between 5,000 and 7,500 humpbacks are left in the world's oceans, and many of those survivors migrate through the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.

Whale experts say it's nice to think that the whale was thanking its rescuers, but nobody really knows what was on its mind.

"You hate to anthropomorphize too much, but the whale was doing little dives and the guys were rubbing shoulders with it," Menigoz said. "I don't know for sure what it was thinking, but it's something that I will always remember. It was just too cool."

Humpback whales hold a special place in the hearts of Bay Area residents ever since one that came to be known as Humphrey journeyed up the Sacramento River in 1985. The wayward creature swam into a slough in Rio Vista, attracting 10,000 people a day as whale experts tried desperately to turn it around. Humphrey went back to sea after 25 days of near-pandemonium and worldwide media attention.

In the fall of 1990, Humphrey turned up again inside the bay in shallow water near the Bayshore Freeway, finally beaching on mud flats near Double Rock, just off the Candlestick parking lot. He remained stuck for 25 hours, until volunteers, helped by a 41-foot Coast Guard boat, pulled him free and sent him back to the ocean. He has not been seen since.

Humpbacks like Humphrey do seem to relate to people more than other whales, according to Stoudt.

"You do hear reports of friendly humpbacks, whales approaching boaters, especially in Baja California," Stoudt said, "but, for the most part, they don't like to be interacted with."

E-mail Peter Fimrite at pfimrite@sfchronicle.com

Page A - 1
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/12/14/MNGNKG7Q0V1.DTL
©2006 San Francisco Chronicle

[FW] 偶爾離開象牙塔

我有個做文化研究的朋友對吳淡如女士(的文章)有很深的成見,但我卻常從吳淡如女士的文章中,看到她令人激賞的關懷,也看到自己不夠慈悲,不夠謙虛。我覺得我們的社會能讓這樣的作家/觀察家的聲音出來,是我們社會的福報。

偶爾離開象牙塔

◎吳淡如

我常自稱,主持節目的我,好像是百貨公司的站櫃小姐。

因為我的每個節目都得站著主持,而錄影時間又比實際播出時間長了許多,所以我常站到兩腿痠麻,青筋浮腫,但臉上也得和百貨公司小姐一樣笑臉迎人,腦袋也得每分每秒隨機應變,更要控制氣氛,雖然「貨物」不是我發明製造的,但消費者買不買帳,全仗我的態度和我的說服力。

所不同的是,拜節目多樣化之賜,會來上電視的人,比會到百貨公司某一個專櫃買東西的人的「族群」廣泛一些。相對於寫作,它不是我最愛的工作,但卻是一個我捨不得放下、也還能樂在其中的工作。因為,主持電視節目是我觀察人的一個管道,讓我不至於把自己關在自己的「象牙塔」內。

別以為只有高知識分子才有象牙塔,每個人其實都有自己的象牙塔。儘管這個世界上存在著形形色色的人,物以類聚,因為地緣關係,年齡層的關係,教育程度的關係,工作的關係,收入的關係,或生活動線的關係……每個人都有自己的「生活圈」,在自己的生活圈中,我們常常誤以為:世界就是我所看到的這個樣子,大家都是這麼想的,久而久之,有些人的生活,和我的生活範圍隔得很遠,他們的想法和語言就會變成和外星人的密碼一樣。

因為電視節目的製作單位常會邀請來自各個階層的人,使我有許多機會、很豐富的題材,可以觀察到每個人不一樣的生活圈。

我聽過一個十五歲的少女很驕傲地告訴我,她有三個「老公」,她覺得自己很有魅力。

我遇過一個還算年輕的丈母娘,用女兒設下仙人跳,結果女兒弄假成真,執意要跟那男人在一起,後來在附帶條件之下(男方要出聘金一百多萬元),同意了未成年的女兒嫁給她的男友,在婚後因為女兒和女婿沒法把錢籌出來而苦苦相逼。女兒希望媽媽放自己老公一馬,這母親卻還是氣勢凌人地上電視指責女兒不孝,雖然她否認自己是為錢反目,但旁人都聽出了「死要錢」的口氣。

我訪問過一位退休的娼妓,她對以皮肉錢賺了一幢房子而自豪,但我委婉地問她從事這工作是否有些掙扎呢?她很輕鬆地說:「我昨天的事,今天就忘記。」

也訪問過理直氣壯地說「我只是打她幾拳,她又不會死」或「我找女人是我的事,她在跟我結婚以後,還跟別的男人在一起就不應該」的男人。

我所見過的人,形形色色,老實說,我和他們還真的有無數「代溝」呢,但我總會提醒自己兩個原則:

1.先觀察,別急著做判斷。急著做判斷,就沒法做全盤客觀的了解。

2.先傾聽,不急著否定。就算我不能夠將心比心,接受他們的說法,我也不該扮演著「傳教士」的角色。

所謂傳教士的角色,就是:我覺得信仰神很快樂,所以你為什麼不信仰神呢?趕快說服你。這樣的人,久而久之只會聽見「選擇性的聲音」,沒有人願意跟我說話,而我所了解的人性也只能偏於一隅。

如果我聽了之後真的很生氣,我會告訴自己:了解不等於認同,包容絕不是贊成。看見這個世界的多重樣貌,不只對一個作者來說是很重要,對任何人都很重要。我不想在精神上做任何的「居家隔離」,因為世界本來就不是一個無菌室,有抗體才有免疫力,而能夠接受挑戰的人才懂得堅持。

如果願意跨出自己的生活圈,我們一定會看到很多「代溝」,我這裡所謂的代溝問題,其實發生在各個不同的生活圈裡,不只是在兩代之間而已。

說個例子好了:

最近有個設計師朋友告訴我,有一位企業家第二代的女兒要出嫁了,希望他為她的新家做設計裝潢,但他不只在當設計師,還在當這一對準新人的心理輔導師,因為富家女嫁的雖然也是個富家男,但兩家的財富畢竟還是有小巫與大巫的分別,富家女家中光廚師和佣人就有近二十人之多,富家男的父親只是地方上的財主。

兩人在美國念書時相戀成婚,結婚前不能溝通的問題就頻頻出現。富家男的父親為小倆口準備的新房「只有」一百多坪,富家女一直嫌小,扣除她自己要用的面積,可能根本容不下傭人和未來的小孩活動,因此常對準夫婿發脾氣,也不斷地改設計師的設計圖,一談妥,不多久她又覺不妥,都是因為空間「左支右絀都不夠」的關係。

她對停車位也很有意見。理由是那幢豪宅的「停車位離電梯口太遠了」,如果她得自己開車的話,那麼她下車後可能要走「長達一分鐘」才能到達電梯口,

「萬一有歹徒要來綁架我怎麼辦?為什麼你買這間房子時沒考慮進去呢?」

後來,這位設計師覺得這個案子實在太難搞了,寧可犧牲他之前已經付出的時間和心血,很客氣地懇辭了這份工作。

你聽了這個例子,可能跟我一樣覺得很驚奇,因為這種生活離一般人太遠了。但對富家女而言,這樣的考慮似乎是理所當然的。

不過,我一點也不羨慕這個富家女,縱然天生好命,活得這麼褊狹其實是很可憐。生活圈太褊狹,我們難保不會變成看到路上有人餓死,還問大臣說:「何不食肉糜?」的晉惠帝。

我也常碰見一上節目就長篇大論像在教課,滿口洋文和自認為每個人都應該懂一口「某某主義」專有名詞的學者,看起來很「高尚」,但據我了解,他們對「學術圈怎麼看我」,其實都有一般人不能了解的耿耿於懷。你覺得沒那麼嚴重的事,他們卻憂心忡忡。

每個人都住在一座象牙塔裡。走出自己的象牙塔,才能看到這個世界的真實風景,才能真正遠離紛擾與混亂,才能學會真正的「淡然處之」與「無入而不自得」。因為,在經過各種辯證之後,我才能擁有自己的人生堅持。

Thursday, January 26, 2006

版權與著作權、半慷慨半自私

[摘要]

...之前在另一篇「Change of My Copyright Policy 版權更動」裡提到我想在Creative Common(創用 CC)和PublicDomain(公共智財中擇一為我在網上出版作品的條款。基本上,PublidDomain就是把作品捐給大眾,有人要拿去營利也可以,但CreativeCommon能讓我保留一些基本權利,限制作品被拿去商用。我原來比較傾向捐出來,這樣我也沒有什麼多餘的負擔。但我還有一些擔心:...

之前在另一篇「Change of My Copyright Policy 版權更動」裡提到我想在Creative Common(創用 CC)和Public Domain(公共智財中擇一為我在網上出版作品的條款。基本上,Publid Domain就是把作品捐給大眾,有人要拿去營利也可以,但Creative Common能讓我保留一些基本權利,限制作品被拿去商用。我原來比較傾向捐出來,這樣我也沒有什麼多餘的負擔。但我還有一些擔心:

首先,如果我捐出來,有人拿去說是他的作品,申請了版權,我是否就沒辦法再出版自己的作品?即使法律保護,我是否要負擔舉證的成本?

自己不學無術,請教專家去:

-----Original Message-----
From: Tsan-Kuang Lee
Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 4:44 PM
To: Li Shu Hsien 李書賢
Subject: Public Domain

書賢,

我想把我一些文字與音樂作品捐給 public domain, 也就是 no right reserved. 如果未來有個人拿了我的曲子,說是他的作品,我是不是完全不受保護?

我的理解是著作權和版權是不同的。只要作品是我寫的,他用他的名字再發表,應該就不行。但法律可有保護這點?也就是說,我如果發表「命運交響曲」,因為貝多芬已死去多時,作品已是公共財,我是不是就不會受到任何法律的約束?謝謝你的回答。我在考慮用 creative common 但有很多想不通的問題。

璨光

以下是回答:

著作權分成「著作人格權」和「著作財產權」

「著作人格權」,可以簡單的想像成是著作人的姓名表示權,這個權利只有著作人有、不能讓與他人。死亡仍保有。

「著作財產權」,則可簡單地想成是,著作的使用權,此種權利可以讓與及授權他人使用。死後五十年後即消失。

既然是你的作品,雖然你捐給他人使用的權利(著作財產權),但姓名表示權還是你的(著作人格權),他人還是無法侵犯。

姓名表示權(著作人格權)不會因著作人死亡而消失,所以原則上你不能說貝多芬的作品是你作的,但實際的賠償問題(賠償給誰??)就比較不知道了。有問過其他相關的事務所,他們的回答是,這種情形下,沒有被害人(著作人掛了)提出被侵害權利的情況,所以雖然是違法,但可能不會有人求償。

就先這樣啦
希望有回答到你的問題

書賢

ps. 附上一些你回答你問題的法條,及這些法條的出處
http://www.rdo.fcu.edu.tw/otl/laws/writings.htm
第十條
著作人於著作完成時享有著作權。但本法另有規定者,從其規定。

第十六條
著作人於著作之原件或其重製物上或於著作公開發表時,有表示其本名、別名或不具名之權利。...

第十八條
著作人死亡或消滅者,關於其著作人格權之保護,視同生存或存續,任何人不得侵害。...

第二十一條
著作人格權專屬於著作人本身,不得讓與或繼承。

第三十條
著作財產權,除本法另有規定外,存續於著作人之生存期間及其死亡後五十年。
著作於著作人死亡後四十年至五十年間首次公開發表者,著作財產權之期間,自公開發表時起存續十年。

第四十二條
著作財產權因存續期間屆滿而消滅。於存續期間內,有下列情形之一者,亦同︰
一 著作財產權人死亡,其著作財產權依法應歸屬國庫者。
二 著作財產權人為法人,於其消滅後,其著作財產權依法應歸屬於地方自治團體者。

第四十三條
著作財產權消滅之著作,除本法另有規定外,任何人均得自由利用。

第八十五條
侵害著作人格權者,負損害賠償責任。雖非財產上之損害,被害人亦得請求賠償相當之金額。
前項侵害,被害人並得請求表示著作人之姓名或名稱、更正內容或為其他回復名譽之適當處分。

再來的問題是,我把把作品捐出來,但作品的流通程度不平均,也就是說,某些人能掌握,另外一些人不能,會不會造成不誠實或是不公平的現象?舉例而言,學生寫報告時,如果抄襲網上找來的資料,但老師們卻由於資訊不夠流通而不知道學生並沒有自己寫作業。當然,不管是抄李白或是李璨光,都不應該;但以李白的情況來說,學生並不用擔心被李白告侵權,但如果我在法律上仍保留追訴學生侵(兩種)權行為的權利,也許可以減少抄襲的情形。

另外一點,則和我個人的修行程度有關。我和一個禪修很久(而且不願具名)的朋友討論智慧財產權的事,他認為人類智慧木來就應該朝共享的方向走。有人發明鑽木取火的方法,卻去申請專利,讓所有用火的人都得付費使用,對人類來說絕對不是好事。同樣的,有好的思想好的作品,應該要能讓公眾享用。理想來說,創作者應該是自發創作,而不是為利益而創作。這讓我想到一個典故:

荊人有遺弓者而不肯索,曰:「荊人遺之,荊人得之,又何索焉?」孔子聞之曰:「去其荊而可矣。」老聘聞之曰:「去其人而可矣!」故老聘則至公矣。(《呂氏春秋.貴公》)

想到這裡,我突然發現,原來自己離「無私無我」還太遠。對自己的作品還是有很大的執著。在法律事務所工作的朋友來信中引的法條裡,第十八條是「著作人死亡或消滅者,關於其著作人格權之保護,視同生存或存續,任何人不得侵害。...」從這個觀點看,就是「我執」的延伸了。

「我執」是佛家用語。意思就是對自我的執著與不捨。佛家講去我執,因為發現我執帶來的問題很大。我們貪心,因為我們覺得身外之物應該變成我們的一部份;我們生氣,因為我們把我們自己希望被對待的期待,延伸到他人身上。上面兩點,就是「貪、嗔」了。「痴」的意思,就是執著,執迷。

原來我選擇Creative Common來當做版權條款,背後還有我很多本來看不到的自私原因,並不是自己以為得那麼慷慨哩!

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

About Category Jazz 關於爵士樂區

開始作曲以來,我一直為爵士樂的即興本質著迷。可以說,即興演奏,就是在當下作曲,而且在音樂發生時,能帶給演奏/作曲者自己許多驚奇。(雖然我這麼說,我仍覺得傳統作曲很重要。這大概是因為人心智的極限吧 ── 我們能想像一個交響樂團以即興的方式而能夠奏出像春之祭一樣結構複雜的作品嗎?)對我個人而言,即興精神和禪的本質很接近 ── 抓住當下。

我自己演奏爵士鋼琴,也為爵士樂團編作曲。對我來說,這很好玩,很有成就感,同時也是我這個禪修者很好的練習。每次我聽到大師的即興演奏,總是能提醒自己要學習更謙虛,更學著來活在當下。

這個類別裡,我會放一些我過去演講介紹爵士樂的講綱,一些我向網友推薦爵士樂曲的信文,也可能會分享這幾年我個人的思考與心得。

I've been fascinated by the improvisational nature of jazz since I started composing. In a sense, it's like composing in real-time, full of surprises even for the composer/performer himself/herself. (That said, I still value planned composition a lot due to the limitation of human mind -- imagine an orchestra improvises and produces a symphony that's as neat and tight as Rite of Spring.) And for me personally this is very close to Zen -- moment to moment awareness.

I play jazz piano and compose/arrange for jazz bands. For me, it's fun, satisfying, and a great practice for me as a Zen pratictioner. The excitement of listening to great jazz musicians' improvisation has always taught me to be humble and be more in the moment.

In this category, I will put some handouts of my early talks introducing jazz, some email I wrote to recommend standard tunes, and perhaps some reflections I got over the years.

Monday, January 23, 2006

追求音響效果

我有一個很年輕但很有才情與想法的朋友,常常和我分享她生命中的觀察與感想。這一次,她去參觀一個長輩的音響室,覺得很羨慕人家追求品質的生活態度。我則提供另外一個角度的想法。

[友]
他無論在購買音響、選擇唱片、放置消磁機&離子排列器,都很清楚自己的要求和目標,著眼點在性能功用和器材間的相互兼容,追求極高的音質&技巧。

老哥,如果你有機會享受那些音響器材,肯定會愛不釋手、開心到不得了。

[我]
以前一定會,現在大概不會了。這種追求沒有止盡。不管在品質上或是在成本上都是。

玩家們間常形容音響這東西是「錢坑」。就是形容這些音響迷們,基本上是拿一張張的鈔票去填一個大坑。更新更棒的器材會一直出來,升了一級又一級,永無止盡。我知道有些人,每年都會換車,不管是什麼新款式的車一出來,他們以能馬上買到這樣的車,馬上開上路為傲。有些人是追求今年流行的衣服或鞋子;有些人的電腦設備總是要最新;有些人要在每一家新餐廳或咖啡廳開出來就要馬上去光顧;有些人是搜集最新出版的專輯...

回到音響。想想看,如果妳聽過這樣的設備,然後很執著只有這樣才能完全高度享受音樂,那萬一妳沒有能力/時間負擔得起這樣的設備時,是不是一輩子大部份的時候聽音樂都有很大的遺憾?好,就算妳真的在家裡裝了這樣的設備,但那是不是表示出門了就不能好好享受音樂了?

同樣的邏輯也適用於有些人對音樂廳音響效果的挑剔。音響不好的音樂廳就不去。想想看這樣的態度會讓他錯過多少好的音樂會。

當然,有好的音響設備在眼前,沒有理由不好好在當下把握這樣的機會。把握當下的機會,但事情過去了就不執著了。

追求「音樂本身」或「音響效果」?這個問題一直被吵著,兩方各說各話;也有說兩者皆重要的。但我的觀點比較是跳開來看「追求」本身。

記得我自己也有好長一段時間因為耳朵的敏感度增加,而開始對所有的音響都不滿。聽到音樂,就希望聲部的平衡能再好一點;聽到一個小錯音,就覺得整首都不對;聽到混音不佳的成品,就沒辦法再去好好地地聽音樂本身。

現在往回看,可一點也不覺得那是什麼值得驕傲的事。

妳知道為什麼"allergy"翻成「過敏」嗎?過敏就是過分敏感。當這樣的事發生在我們身體上,它帶來的問題,我們看得很清楚。但我們在生活上,卻不自知地讓自己對愈來愈多的事過敏。

我認為,追求品質、培養好的品味,還是要建築在一個健康的態度上。雖然我們常常會用「痴」、「狂」來形容某些人對事物的極度投入,這種執著雖然帶來一時的成就,但長遠來看,對當事人人生的其他面向可不見得是好事。

Friday, January 20, 2006

Sound and Music copyright for this blog 本網誌聲音音樂版權

Audio/Music 聲音/音樂

Effective 生效日期: 2006/01/20

Creative Commons License

The audio/music works on this blog, unless otherwise noted, are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.

除另外註明,本網誌的聲音與音樂著作係採用創用 CC 姓名標示-非商業性-禁止改作 2.5 授權條款授權。

Text copyright for this blog 本網誌文字版權

Text 文字

Effective 生效日期: 2006/01/20

Creative Commons License

The text works on this blog, unless otherwise noted, are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

除非另外註明,本網誌上所有文字使用創用 CC 姓名標示-非商業性-相同方式分享 2.5 授權條款

Copyright for this blog 本網誌版權

By default, text works on this blog use this license. Music works use this license.

You can find a note I wrote about the change of the copyright and my thoughts on the copyright of my website over the years. And here's the copyright history from 1998/05/19 to 2006/01/10.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

About Category Studio 關於錄音室與錄音工程

關於錄音室與錄音工程

About Category Studio

原本我打算有系統地把我一些錄音室相關的經驗整理出來,但幾年來一直未來成願。反倒是回答一些網友的來信詢問,久而久之竟也累積了一些可供參考的資料。

I'vebeen hoping to share my own experience in the music studio, but as timegoes by, very little was done. However, my answers to friends'questions over the years seem to be useful for some people out there;thus I put them here.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Change of My Copyright Policy 版權更動

1998年起架了第一版個人網頁時,就開始寫版權文件。... 大概在2004年夏天左右,我開始有把這些文字作品版權釋出的想法。原因大抵有二: ....

I wrote my first Copyright Statement in 1998 when I created my first version of personal website. ... In 2004 summer, I started considering releasing the copyright of my articles, for two main reasons: ....

(English translation followed)

1998年起架了第一版個人網頁時,就開始寫版權文件。

最開始(1998年)的版本是不希望自己作品在未經許可、未標明作者的情況下被拿去販售

第二版的網站於2002年4月6日架設起來後,我就收到大量讀者來信要求引用或使用我的作品。大部份的讀者都是學生,而且來信的時間不外乎寒暑假快結束、學期中或學期末。很顯然大部份的讀者都是要交作業而要求我的授權。

那時候抱著一個推廣尊重智慧財產權的想法,所以很正式地要求年輕的學子們按照一定的程序取得使用許可。為了回應這些請求,我也花了很多時間和精神。從來信學生的年齡、世代、性別、地區等,我觀察到非常不同的態度:從學習慾強烈,和我認真討論起來的音樂新鮮人,到丟一句「你寫的不錯。我要拿來交作業。拜拜!」的讀者,甚至還有「我需要你那篇莫札特文章的英文翻譯,因為我很急,所以請在下週前翻譯好寄給我。3Q!」的情形。老實說,有一度我覺得我和時代嚴重脫節。

大概在2004年夏天左右,我開始有把這些文字作品版權釋出的想法。原因大抵有二:

一方面是覺得,在推廣尊重他人創作的目的上,我已經用文字盡力說明了。本來就懂得尊重他人的讀者,這些說明是多寫的;願意學習尊重的學生,看到這些文字也夠了;而做不到尊重他人的人,既然那些文字沒有效,我再多寫封信似乎也改變不了什麼。

另一方面,2003年我開始學習禪修。禪修讓我清楚地看到自己對名(希望強調原作)、對利(不願他人圖利)、對現象(硬想改變頑石)、對成就(希望知道有多少人用我的作品)的過度執著,也看到自己這些執著事實上是損己不利人的。觀察到自己煩惱心的根源之後,漸漸地,我發現自己愈來愈能放下。

可惜自己一直很忙,無暇更新網頁,所以一直拖到2006年初還沒有機會寫新的版權說明。

目前考慮在public domain與creative common之間擇一,來當做網站大部份作品的預設版權。

(以下是英文翻譯)

I wrote my first Copyright Statement in 1998 when I created my firstversion of personal website.

The first statement (1998) was written because I hope my works wouldn't be used commercially without attribution and my permission again.

Since my second version website was created, I started to receive tons of email requesting my permission to use my articles, mostly from from students, and mostly around the end of summer/winter breaks or semesters. Obviously my articles were used for their homework.

I was very eager to help educate Taiwan society to respect the property of wisdom, so I setup a protocol for students to follow, to get the permission of using my works. Responding to those requests was really time and energy consuming. I actually learned a great deal from the requests from students of different age, gender, region, and generation. Their attitudes vary a lot: from enthusiastic music newbies constantly exchanging ideas with me, to some one leaving a terse note, "Well written. I'll use that for my homework. Bye.", to somebody asking "I need English translation of your Mozart article. Because I have a short deadline, could you please finish the translation and send it to me by Monday? Thank you!".

I have to admit that I once felt so out-dated.

In 2004 summer, I started consideringreleasing the copyright of my articles, for two main reasons:

1. I believe I have written clear enough to explain what copyright is and why it's relevant. For those who alreaady know to respect others, my words don't add anything; those who are willing to learn can learn from what I wrote; as for those who simply can't learn to respect others (yet, hopefully), if my copyright statement couldn't convince them, how would my additional email?

2. I started to meditate in 2003. Meditation enabled me to clearly see my clinging to fame (I made sure my credit is mentioned), to profits (I felt angry when others used my works for their commercial purpose), to phenoma (I couldn't let go whenever I failed to change a student's attitude), and to achievement (I wanted to know how many people used my works). I also realized that these clingings benefited nobody but simply brought me unhappiness. With these observations, my practice gradually equipted me with the power to let go.

Then for a while I got busy in my life so I haven't got any chance to update my copyright statement, until early 2006.

Now I'm choosing between Public Domain and Creative Common. One of them will be the default copyright policy of my blog.

2006-01-10之前的版權歷史

這是2006-01-10之前的版權聲明歷史。2006-01-10之後的版權,請見這篇

使用李璨光文字作品的注意事項

引用辦法

  • 所有的引用與參考,必須在所引用(或參考)的段落旁,附上「參考(或引用)資料出處:李璨光個人網頁tklee.com」或同義字樣。
  • 成品具商業或營利用途者(書報雜誌或各種平面、立體、電子媒體),須經作者本人(李璨光)正式書面授權。

基本上就這樣。如果您願意的話,可以寫封信與我分享您閱讀我作品的心得。

始末

1997年我架設個人網頁時,是希望能將過去PC BBS討論音樂的風氣換另一種網路媒體繼續下去。可是,這麼多年來,我所收到的一兩百封信裡,絕大部份都是學生來信要求「借用」我的文章,來應付音樂課作業、暑假作業、壁報展等。當初與樂會友的目的沒有達到,反倒讓許多學生有一個方便應付音樂報告的方法。除了一位國中音樂老師來信討論學生抄襲問題外,我在實際的教書經驗裡,也為學子們習慣抄襲的問題頭疼不已。因此,我也花了不少時間和口舌來試著傳播一個尊重他人創作的習慣,與正確參考、引用的方法。原本我要求需要我授權引用我作品的人提供姓名、用途(校名課名等)及授權期限。我接到來信後,會回寄一封具法律效用的電子簽章授權書。

對於來信要求授權的朋友,我鄭重表達我的稱許與感謝。這些朋友願意在搜尋到資料後,試著讓原作者知道他的作品將被使用。

有許多朋友並沒能真正明瞭尊重原作的意義,以匿名、別名、無效電子郵件住址來信,或是提供假的資訊。這點令我不解 ── 一份寫給就讀「某國中某年級的大牛」的授權書,要如何有法律效用?如果不願意以真面目與我接觸,寫一封「你寫得不錯,我要拿來交報告,謝啦!」的信,到底意義何在?

當初要求使用真實姓名,無非是要建立一個彼此尊重、彼此信任的友善關係。我希望藉此培養在學學子一個正確引用參考的好習慣。這樣的習慣,在一個成熟的社會裡,應該是很基本的修養。

經過了這幾年的經驗,我發現,我原來的辦法只會讓原本就願意尊重他人創作的人更麻煩而已;對於不在乎的人完全沒有影響。所以,我決定改變引用我作品的辦法。

過去的版權說明

2004/08/21

辦法更新:本網站所有內容之版權由本人李璨光保留。欲轉載、引用,請見使用李璨光文字作品的注意事項


2003/02/05

我收到許多匿名網友的來信要求引用我的文章。有的雖不是完全匿名,但使用暱稱或是難以解讀的代號。在此說明,我的授權書,無法授權給沒有法律效用的稱號。因此,我要求來信者附上以下資料 :

  1. 真實姓名(若使用筆名出版,請加附筆名)
  2. 用途 (出版品請附刊物名及出版處,學校報告請附上校名、班系級、課名及授課者姓名)。
  3. 需要授權的時間期限

我將給您一份經電子簽名的授權書。您的資料,未經您授權,我保證不流出。

在您拿到我的電子簽名授權書後,您始有權在標注原出處的情形下引用或轉載。出處請標明「李璨光個人網頁 http://tklee.com」。

以下這封來信算是讓我大開眼界了:

我跟幾個同學要交報告...

so..會用到你一些資料

我會再下方著名來源的

.....就這樣.....

你做的很好......8

您好,

在取得本人授權書授權您引用之前,您引用本人資料是違法的。若您仍需使用本人文章,請提供真實資料。請參考 http://www.tklee.com/Big5/copyright.html 謝謝。

李璨光


不夠詳細??

好=.=

我某某高中的學生

要做名人傳記

我們決定做莫札特

我要找些參考material

看到使用您的marterial

需要您授權

特來信一封

僅此


2002/04/28

本網站所有內容之版權由本人李璨光保留。欲轉載、引用,請告知本人並在獲本人電子簽名授權書後,以標注出處的方式為之。


2002/04/28

我收到許多匿名網友的來信要求引用我的文章。有的雖不是完全匿名,但使用暱稱或是難以解讀的代號。在此說明,我的授權書,無法授權給沒有法律效用的稱號。因此,我要求來信者附上以下資料:

  • 真實姓名(若使用筆名出版,請加附筆名)
  • 用途(出版品請附刊物名及出版處,學校報告請附上校名、班系級、課名及授課者姓名)。
  • 需要授權的時間期限

我將給您一份經電子簽名的授權書。您的資料,未經您授權,我保證不流出。

在您拿到我的電子簽名授權書後,您始有權在標注原出處的情形下引用或轉載。出處請標明「李璨光個人網頁http://tklee.com」。


2002/04/28

如果您要引用本網站資料,請標注出處,並請來信告知。

如果您是寫學校音樂報告,您不妨參考本站答客問裡,一位國中音樂老師的來信


1998/5/19

李璨光的版權宣言

關於版權宣言

寫這個「宣言」看來有點可笑。好像我自己覺得自己有多麼了不起,深怕別人偷了自己的心血似的。其實,「分享」,本來就是網路的精神,沒什不對的。之所以我會刻意地加上這一篇,實在是幾年前的經驗所致。

那時候,台灣的PC BBS站還只有十幾個的時候,我也架了個GT站台,當做一些同好交流的中心。後來,BBS人口愈來愈多,功能需求也愈來愈大,於是先後改用PC Board,Power Board,Maximus架站,同時廣收站友。

有一次(1990年),我在站上的音樂區介紹莫札特,並把高中時為了愛樂社紀念莫札特199逝世週年寫的曲子(是用AdlibCard的Composer寫的ROL檔)放到站上和大家分享。沒想到,有一次竟在光華商場聽到這首作品,趨前一看,竟是「美女拳」遊戲的全場配樂。天啊!%$@︿@#$︿%$!%!$!諷刺的是,開頭畫面竟也是大喇喇地寫著版權所有,盜拷必究等語云云。

直接盜用作品毫無聲明則已,最令我無法忍受的是這樣的音樂竟被放到這樣的遊戲裡。想想在和「美女」划拳時,聽著莫札特的奏鳴曲的不協調感吧!

唉,除了自嘲該曲大概讓人覺得適合該遊戲外,那時的我,也沒想到要再怎樣了。就當做是一個教訓好了。這裡的這篇宣言,對真君子徒有礙眼之慮,對小人則全無警示之效,那為什麼還要放這裡呢?

人啊,總是天真地依著信念做事嘛。

本文寫於1998/5/19

過去網友來信

我收到的信有數百封,而且都是集中在學校要交作業的時候。下面我隨手挑幾封不同的來信。從不同的語氣中可以看出背後不同的想法。

Date2002-06-17 07:36
Subject急需複製你的作品
去過你的網站 裡頭有我想要的資料
喔 我先自我介紹 我姓x 可以叫我xx 我是一個高中生
因為我的音樂老師要一份有關 w.a.mozart 的資料
而我急需複製你的作品 可能等不到你的回應
在此 我深感抱歉 望請諒解

劉同學您好,

謝謝您的來信。我問了一些攻讀著作權的律師朋友們,他們說我放在網路上的東西雖然大家能輕易取得,但我身為作者仍有完全的著作權。我在網頁上的聲明是有效用的,也就是說,除非我公開聲明放棄權利,所有的引用在我同意之前都是剽竊。

參考可以,但沒有標注出處的「參考」也是剽竊。我不知您指的複製是什麼。但只要您使用我的文字沒有標注出處,我是不同意的,而且那是偷竊行為。

在物主同意之前將東西取走使用,不管是著作或是有形財,都是偷竊行為。您如果在街上看到一台沒有鎖的車子,因為您急著趕到某處,於是在原地留個條子,告訴車主您因急用,可能等不到車主的同意,所以先把車子開走,而您深感抱歉,望請車主諒解。我想大部份的車主,都很難諒解您的行為。而且我想您也很難免去您的法律責任吧。

當然,您車子開走了,警察和車主不一定找得到您。但我想您只是沒有意識到事情的嚴重性,而且並沒有打算一開始就和警察與車主玩見不得人的躲迷藏,否則您的來信一點意義都沒有了。

如果您資料已經交給老師,而您用我的文字沒有標注網址出處,請您將出處補交給老師。出處請標明「李璨光的莫札特網站http://tklee.com 」。如果還沒交,請您務必將出處補上。不管您如何處理,請您來信告知您的處理方式。如果您沒有這樣做,很抱歉,我無法同意您使用任何我放在網路上的資料。如果您仍有未經授權使用我資料的情事,表示您選擇玩見不得人的躲迷藏了。

最後,容我指出,您的來信沒有稱呼,沒有真實姓名,使用免費信箱,行文中也完全看不出真正要徵得原作同意的誠意,在我看來,是非常沒有禮貌的。我好幾個在高中教音樂的朋友們都要我直接拒絕您,而且她/他們都說如果您是她/他們學生,一定會被當。但我認為您並不了解您行為的嚴重性,所以我花一些時間向您解釋這一切。希望對您 (以及其他已遭殃或未遭殃的車主) 有幫助。

末祝

學安

李璨光

PS: 我會將我的回答公佈到網上。但您的 email 住址與稱呼不會被公佈。如果您覺得不妥,請讓我知道。順便也請您看一看過去關於使用我網站資料的著作權相關問答。其中包括一位音樂老師的來信。http://tklee.com/Big5/Music/Mozart/FAQ#Copyright


李先生

我很抱歉讓你有這麼不好的感受 我在我的報告上有附上你的站名

我沒說出我的真實姓名是因為我怕有人會盜用

畢竟這是網路世界 沒什麼不能發生

我姓x 名xx 為了表示我的誠意及我歉意

我願意公開有關我的事務

會使用免費信箱是因為家中電腦尚未架設完整

有任何的疑問可以和我聯絡

我被你信中的內容嚇到 的確 我不知道這樣做的嚴重性

非常謝謝你告訴我

另外我誠心向你道歉 希望你能夠原諒我不當的行為

若你能不記前嫌的話 我很希望和你成為朋友

還有什麼是你對我存有疑問的 我希望你能明確的告訴我

好讓我回答你

BEST WISHSE. xx上

xx,

我沒有要嚇你的意思,只是想提醒你,在一切資訊都更易取得的環境下,要能有所為有所不為,需要更高的修為。我的朋友們寫很多很寶貴的文章、整理很多很有價值的資料,但都不願意公開放在網路上。因為網路的便利性讓抄襲太方便了。最近所聽到朋友身上的一個離譜例子是,網路小說被任意轉載,最後連作者姓名都變了。原作寫信去抗議,冒名者竟說憑什麼證明文章是誰寫的。

很遺憾,我們的教育裡,缺乏尊重他人智慧素養的培育。我們用的課本大部份也不標注資訊來源,好像整個人類文明史都是幾位編者的智慧結晶一樣。有一些以前讀過的教科書,原來以為是原著,還很佩服作者,現在發現原來是從外文整篇照翻,而且沒有標明出處,那種感覺真的很糟糕。堂堂學者的形象馬上變成小偷了。這種文偷,擺明看不起讀者,認為只有偷者自己閱讀夠廣,不會被發現這樣的勾當。

我想起以前有個朋友追女孩子,抄鄭愁予的情詩,說是自己的文釆。結果對方說不願意和騙子交往。那時候我們都是小男生,覺得對方也太不給我們台階下了。當然鄭大詩人絕對不會在乎這種小事,何況詩集是出版流通的,是不是抄襲明眼人一看便知。但如果是從詩人書桌上把草稿偷出來用自己的名字搶先出版,恐怕作者反應就不一樣了。現在我年紀大些了,再想以前這件事,覺得那位女孩子果然成熟。她如果沒有抓到這樣的事,也許她後來會發現她愛上的是包著鄭愁予外衣的騙子,而這個錯誤一點都不美麗。

關於網路禮節,不同人有不同看法;不同族群也有不同期待。我只能說,寫給不認識的人的第一封信保守一點,禮貌一點總是安全些。更何況,你是有求於人,用字要特別小心,別給人覺得你在說:「喂,你的東西我看得上眼就很給你面子了。你答應也好,不答應也罷,老子我反正就已經拿來用了。」

這樣酷嗎?我不覺得。從你的來信看來,你應該也不這麼覺得。很遺憾地,有不少人把禮貌與尊重,和「遜」畫上等號,為了語出驚人,不用創意服人,而以粗語自喜。這樣的人,只是故意叛逆挑戰人家明定出來的常規,而不是聰明地翻過大家想都沒想過的思考界線,在我看來,實在很不酷。

我欣賞你敢做敢當敢改的個性,也接受你的道歉,當然也同意你在尊重我著作權的前提下自由使用我的創作。關於公布你資料,我建議保留你的姓名 (也就是匿名)。現在的搜尋引擎容量都很大,一旦你的名字被存入 cache 後,恐怕要很久很久才會改變。你年紀還輕,大概還沒有什麼出版記錄。總不希望人家上網用「xxx(來信者姓名)」搜尋,就只看到這件烏龍事吧。

最後,是不「計」前嫌 (至少我小時候還是「計」);還有,best wish"es".

學安

璨光

From 中學生
Subject 做音樂報告
你好

我是中學生

因為我們要做音樂報告

要交報告

我選定了莫札特

所以能不能以你網站的資料作介紹?
From 李璨光

XX,

沒問題。你是第六十位有發信給我徵得同意的朋友。容我提醒你,許多音樂老師們跟我分享她/他們發現學生們大量引用我網站內容但不標出處的惡習,希望我以後能趁機讓願意寫信給我的年輕朋友知道:寫報告標資料出處是很正式的研究方法;而未標出處直接引用在法律上和道德上都視為剽竊。

我很感謝你願意寫信徵得我同意。我也相信你只是需要參考或引用部份資料,而且會標上出處,以表明您嚴謹認真、尊重他人的學習態度。寫這些話給你,一方面是受許多音樂老師之託,另一方面是表達我對你不同於這一代年輕朋友們的欣賞。

加油。願你和我一樣真正從莫札特的音樂裡得到對生命的感動和熱愛。

璨光

From 學生
Subject Copy文章

對不起唷~

因為作業的需要所以copy你的"莫札特作品介紹"那一頁

請問可以讓我copy嗎?

Sincerely XXXX

From 李璨光

Dear XXXX,

有幾點意見和您分享:

1. 非常感謝您知會我。這代表您願意尊重我。

2. 不知道您說的 copy 指全篇抄用還是指部份參考?不管是那一個,都歡迎您轉錄使用。但我希望您標注參考資料出處。這也會讓您作業顯得正式而嚴謹。

我很好奇,什麼樣的課要求這樣的作業呢?音樂老師要求寫作品介紹嗎?

璨光

From X同學
Subject 引用文章

DEAR SIR:

我因為考試需要參考資料想截錄您大作中有關莫札特的文章,希望您允許!

截錄處:Oh! Mozart!

1...我們常常可以聽到人用「清澈透明、純真自然」來形容他的音樂。Mozart的音樂在表面上的確相當地「簡單」,讓人聽起來細毫沒有什麼困難,沒有Bach(巴哈)複音音樂那種複雜性,也沒有Beethoven般老愛給人「和平、奮鬥、救世界」的那種使命壓力,更不是像Haydn那種簡單到我忍不住用「拙」來形容

2. A great poet uses but the twenty-six letters ofthe alphabet, and without devising a single new word gives voice tooughts undreamed-of. (Mozart 正如一偉大詩人,毋須創造任何新字,僅僅用二十六個字母,道出了我們幻夢未及的情感。)Mozart, His Character, His Work by Alfred Einstein

謝謝

XXX

From 李璨光
X同學,

謝謝您的來信。沒問題,只要您標注資料出處,您可在您參考資料中引用本人文章。您的仔細與對原作的尊重,令人激賞。

以下是關於我以前寫這些文字的一些標注。

信末附上電子簽名的授權書。您只需標注資料出處 (李璨光的莫札特網站 tklee.com),不需在您的大作中附上授權書。
1...我們常常可以聽到人用「清澈透明、純真自然」來形容他的音樂。Mozart的音樂在表面上的確相當地「簡單」,讓人聽起來細毫沒有什麼困難,沒有Bach(巴哈)複音音樂那種複雜性,也沒有Beethoven般老愛給人「和平、奮鬥、救世界」的那種使命壓力,更不是像Haydn那種簡單到 我忍不住用「拙」來形容

今日看到十年前自己少年聽雨所寫的文字,有點汗顏。我希望把對Haydn的偏見收回來。Haydn有其特有的親和力與幽默感。隨著我年紀的增長,再聽Haydn的音樂,所感受到的溫暖已經很不同了。如果您要引用,請您加上原作的日期,好嗎?:)
2. A great poet uses but the twenty-six letters of the alphabet,andwithout devising a single new word gives voice to oughtsundreamed-of. (Mozart 正如一偉大詩人,毋須創造任何新字,僅僅用二十六個字母,道出了 我們幻夢未及的情感。)Mozart, His Character, His Work by Alfred Einstein


這段話我只是翻譯。原文是Alfred Einstein寫的。也請您別忘了標上真正的原作。

再次謝謝您的來信。

祝考試順利。

璨光

電子簽名授權書如下(刪)

Tuesday, January 3, 2006

[QA] 美語補習班課程錄音帶

一個美語補習班需要將上課內容錄起來,讓學生回去複習。目前他們是以雙卡座的音響對拷成一卷卷的錄音帶,但效率有限,希望以最少預算改進現況。

An English language after-school consulted me for a low-cost solution to record their classes for students to review at home. They are using a dual-deck cassette recorder but it's too time-consuming.

(English translation below)

您要考慮:

1. 錄音設備/媒體
2. 複製方式
3. 傳播方式

我認為最好的方式還是用數位的方式,長期下來能節省大量成本。您購買幾台 mp3 錄音設備(或是一間教室裝一台PC來錄音),上課完將錄好的檔案燒錄至光碟(由於mp3檔案小,燒錄速度遠比音樂CD快),或是用USB隨身碟(這就更快了;一個學生買一支應該不為過;一兩個小時的課內容64MB就很夠了),或是放到網站上供學生下載(最方便的方法)。學生應該都有電腦或mp3 player來播放mp3檔案。

一卷卷的錄音帶成本,再加上對錄系統(以及對錄的時間與人力成本),經過幾堂課就會遠遠超過上述設備了。數位的方式能讓你們很容易保存與複製。

如果一定要輸出成錄音帶,又不用錄音室的品質的話(那樣您也需使用較昂貴的帶子),可以用有監聽輸出的錄音設備(一般現代電腦用的可錄音的音效卡就可以了),一邊錄入電腦成數位音檔,一邊錄入錄音帶。然後再用 high speed cassette duplicator 大量複製。購買的時候可以選擇速度,基座數(一次可以拷貝幾卷),以及軌數(單音或立體)。

(以下是英文翻譯)

You need to consider:

1. the recording equiment and media

2. how you duplicate the media

3. how to distribute the media

I would recommend digital means throughout. That would save your cost over time.

You may equipt your classrooms with mp3 recorders or PCs to record the class. Then you can burn the mp3 files, the size of which enables faster burning than audio CDs. You can even use USB thumb drives for even faster file transfer (64MB should be enough for a 2-hour class recording). The easiest way is to provide the files online for students to download themselves. Most students in Taiwan should alreay have an mp3 player or a PC to play the files.

If you go with the cassette solution, you may want to consider the cost in the long run (I think the cost will outrun digital solution after several classes). The cost would include the cassettes themselves, the duplication system, and the time and efforts involved in duplication. Digital means also allows easier archiving and duplication.

If cassette is a must, and you don't go after studio quality, you can use recording devices with monitor out (if you use a PC, most likely its sound card would work). This way, you can record into digital files and analog tapes at the same time. Then, you can use something like "high speed cassette duplicator" to make duplications. When you buy a high speed cassette duplicator, you can opt its copying speed, the number of decks (how many tapes you can copy at one run), and the number of channels (mono or stereo).

Monday, January 2, 2006

Idx/Sub Subtitle File Time Adjust (ISFiTA) v0.01

This is a quick and dirty (even the acronym) perl script I use to time-shift/stretch idx/sub subtitle files.



#!/usr/bin/perl


###########################################################################################
#
# Idx/Sub Subtitle File Time Adjust (ISFiTA) v0.01
#
# Author: Tsan-Kuang Lee
# Date: Jan 2, 2006
#
# What does it do?
#
# A video file may have different subtitle files, which not only differ in format
# but also differ in their timestamps. Usually this is because the creators of
# the subtitle files are syncing their subtitles to different video files (of the
# same content, but some with, say, trailors, and others without).
#
# For example, there are two video files: v1 and v2. Let's say v1 has 2 minutes more
# trailors from the beginning before the main content. Subtitle creators make s1 for
# v1 and s2 for v2.
#
# However, we only have v1 and s2 at hand. We want s2 to sync with v1.
#
# If s2 is in plain text subtitle format, e.g. SRT, TXT, SSA, etc. Many excellent
# utilities have been written, such as: SubCreator, http://www.radioactivepages.com/
# ISFiTA deals with idx/sub format.
#
#
# How to use it?
#
# ISFiTA simply reads the idx file (it's a plain text file) and recalculate the
# timestamps, according to the parameters we provide. We'll need to provide the
# several parameters. Here's what you would usually input at the command prompt:
#
# % perl ISFiTA-v0.01.pl 3 film0.idx 00:03:55:735 01:32:53:067 film.idx 00:03:34:535 01:32:32:067
#
# Here's what they mean:
#
# "%" is the command prompt;
#
# "perl ISFiTA-v0.01.pl" launches this script;
#
# "3" is the index code of the language you want to deal with. If you open the idx file
# with a text editor, you would see something like "id: zh, index: 3". zh is the language
# code for Chinese (Zhong-wen), and "3" is what we want here.
#
# "film0.idx" is the original idx file we want to read from.
#
# "00:03:55:735" is the timestamp (the last three digits are in milliseconds) of one
# specific subtitle line in "filem0.idx". Let's say it maps to the line "Let the show begin!".
# Many tools let you see which line "00:03:55:735" maps to, e.g. VobSub. (Of course, you need
# to have film0.sub for VobSub to display the image.)
#
# "01:32:53:067" maps to another line in "film0.idx", say "See you next time!".
#
# "film.idx" is the target file we want to write to.
#
# "00:03:34:535" is the target timestamp for "Let the show begin!". You can get this target
# timestamp from watching the video file, or from a correctly synced subtitle file.
#
# "01:32:32:067" is the target timestamp for "See you next time!".
#
# "Let the show begin!" doesn't have to be the first line in the whole subtitle; likewise,
# "See you next time!" doesn't have to be the last. However, the more apart they are from
# each other, the more accuracy of caculation we get, since the minor time-offs will be
# divided into ignorably small differences.
#
# Don't forget to provide film.sub to complete the idx/sub pair. Just use the original sub and
# correctly rename it.
#
# About
#
# This is a quick and dirty perl script (even its acronym sucks) I use to time-shift/stretch
# idx/sub subtitle files. Do whatever you want with it, at your own risk. If you do improve
# it or rewrite it, I encourage you to share it with the public. Authors of free utilities have
# my highest respects.
#
# Todos for you
#
# Here are some suggestions if you want to contribute something to the Open Source world, or the
# freeware world:
#
# SubCreator has much more sophisticated transformations. For example, you can decide the time
# range in which you want to adjust the time code.
#
# Obviously Perl is not user-friendly for most people. You may want to re-write it in another
# language and compile it into an excuteable.
#
# GUI makes it more approachable.
#
# Bug the authors of VobSub, SubCreator, etc. to include idx/sub time adjust/stretch functions
# into their utilities.
#
#
###########################################################################################


# Command line arguments
unless (@ARGV == 7) { die "Usage: $0 lang_index in_file in_start in_end out_file out_start out_end\n(timestamp format: hh:mm:ss:mis)\n" }
($lang_index, $in_file, $in_start_timestamp, $in_end_timestamp, $out_file, $out_start_timestamp, $out_end_timestamp) = @ARGV;

# Open files
unless (open INFILE, "<", $in_file) {
die "Couldn't open input file $in_file: $!; aborting";
}
unless (open OUTFILE, ">", $out_file) {
die "Couldn't open output file $out_file: $!; aborting";
}


# calculate necessaary transformation (shift, slope)
# simple linear transformation formula :
#
# new_bx = (ax - a1) * (b2-b1)/(a2-a1) + b1 , where
# a1 = in_start ; a2 = in_end
# b1 = out_start; b2 = out_en
# ax = old_time_point

$shift_milliseconds = &convert_to_milliseconds($out_start_timestamp);
$slope = (&convert_to_milliseconds($out_end_timestamp) - $shift_milliseconds) / (&convert_to_milliseconds($in_end_timestamp) - &convert_to_milliseconds($in_start_timestamp));
$in_start_milliseconds = &convert_to_milliseconds($in_start_timestamp);


# start processing

$section = "header";
while ()
{
if ($section eq "header" || $section eq "other_lang")
{
# check language id
# id: zh, index: 2
if ($_ =~ m/^id: *.+, index: *(.+)$/)
{
if ($1 eq $lang_index)
{
$section = "processing";
print "Processing $_";
}
else
{
$section = "other_lang";
}
}
}
elsif ($section eq "processing")
{
# stop when another language id tag appears
if ($_ =~ m/^id: *.+, index: *(.+)$/)
{
$section = "other_lang";
}
elsif ($_ =~ m/^(timestamp: )(\d\d:\d\d:\d\d:\d\d\d)(,.+)$/s)
# only process lines with timestamps, e.g.
# timestamp: 01:22:20:634, filepos: 00011a000
{
$_ = $1 . &calculate_new_timestamp($2) . $3;
}
}
print OUTFILE $_;
}

sub calculate_new_timestamp
{
my ($old_timestamp) = @_;
$new_milliseconds = (&convert_to_milliseconds($old_timestamp) - $in_start_milliseconds) * $slope + $shift_milliseconds;
return &convert_to_timestamp($new_milliseconds);
}

sub convert_to_milliseconds
{
my ($string) = @_;
$string =~ m/(\d+):(\d+):(\d+):(\d+)/;
$milliseconds = $4 + $3*1000 + $2*1000*60 + $1*1000*60*60;
return $milliseconds;
}

sub convert_to_timestamp
{
my ($milliseconds) = @_;

# Although perl supports integer division, the scope of "use integer"
# is global and that would cause slope calculation become integer.
# Therefore, we use redundant division as below. floor() is possible but
# we don't use it here for cross-distribution compatibility
# (some perl distributions don't have that package installed)

my $res_h = $milliseconds % (60*60*1000);
my $hour = ($milliseconds - $res_h) / (1000*60*60);
my $res_m = $res_h % (1000*60);
my $min = ($res_h - $res_m) / (1000*60);
my $res_s = $res_m % 1000;
my $sec = ($res_m - $res_s) / 1000;
my $ms = $res_s;

return sprintf("%02d:%02d:%02d:%03d", $hour, $min, $sec, $ms);
}