Re: Slightly OT: Who cares if you listen?
- From: JPD <googlegroove2@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2009 13:38:50 -0700 (PDT)
On Sep 3, 11:40 am, Mark & Steven Bornfeld
<bornfeldm...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
http://www.palestrant.com/babbitt.html
This is the title of the famous (notorious) essay from Milton Babbitt,
some 50-odd years ago. For those who haven't read it, the point is
pretty much in the title: music is specialized, there is no reason to
believe that it should be any more accessible to the general public than
(say) quantum physics.
I think his argument vis. esoteric science is a bit of a straw
man--people DO question the utility of abstract pure science when the
bill comes due. But that's just a diversion from his primary purpose,
which seems perfectly valid to me. It's natural that composers should
be using tools that are esoteric and meaningless to those of us great
unwashed who haven't been trained in these devices.
But many contest this--that good music will make itself heard, and that
the general audience just needs to listen with an open mind and a fairly
basic set of musical tools to understand and enjoy the most modern music.
I have to say that I flunk on this point. I may need more time, but I
find middle to late Schoenberg bad-tasting medicine. Should it be
medicine at all? I find the apparent (to me) absence of a narrative
line which one can follow, the lack of apparent repeats, the absence of
an organizational structure I can discern (I know the idea of Serialism;
I just don't think it works for me for thematic development) very difficult.
So--will repeated listening make the light bulb go off on top of my
head? It sometimes happens, as recently as two weeks ago, while waiting
in my car for a jump from AAA, but I had enough juice to run my cd
player, and I "got" the Stravinsky violin concerto--a beautiful,
beautiful piece.
Is Babbitt right? Should I just give up, since I'm not headed to the
Conservatory?
Steve
--
Mark & Steven Bornfeld DDShttp://www.dentaltwins.com
Brooklyn, NY
718-258-5001
People are offended when you tell them that their music isn't really
Music. Go figure.
.
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