Music Lists

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What is a discussion list?
A "discussion list" is a loose organization of people who like to discuss topics on a particular subject.  It was one of the oldest recreational uses of the Internet, powered by e-mail.

A piece of software called a Listserv resides on a central computer somewhere, and when you join the list, it adds your e-mail address to its internal list.  You make a post to the list (by simply sending email to a special address), and the e-mail is copied by the software to everyone on the list.  You reply to a post, if you wish, and the reply is sent out to everyone on the list.  The nice feature is that you do not have to go out on a browser to a website; the stuff arrives in your mailbox.  You can make a complete fool of yourself on the list, knowing that only your discussion-list friends can see it!

I belong to several mailing lists, and here they are:

• The Bach List.  This one is hardly active at all, especially since the lady who was in charge of it seems to have fallen ill.  To join, go to this website and follow instructions: The Bach List.  Once you join, you post to the list by simply sending mail to bach-list.
• The Classical Music List, classm-l.
  This list was my earliest education on the Internet, and e-mail, generally speaking.  It has been around since the late 80's, and though it takes as its domain all of classical music, the members have been a close-knit group of friends that enjoy talking about matters that are very much on the periphery of the subject.  A great list to start with.  Go to CLASSM-L
• The Bach Recordings List, BachRecordings.
  This list is the most active of the lists mentioned above (though that could change at any moment, depending on response to a particular post).  It is one of three sister groups, and can be joined at this location.  Though, on the face of it, their subject is recordings of Bach works, it is in effect a list on which you can discuss most topics related to Bach, except for the Cantatas, which have their own list.

The proliferation of mailing lists is, on one hand, regrettable, especially in times when the discussion in all of them is inactive.  When the posts are flying fast and furious, we are thankful that everyone is not posting to the same list, since we can choose which particular flavor of topic and discussion we would like to join.