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Re: Musical snobbery (was Re: Songs for BL)

Cameron Mabon wrote:

> I think it should be 
> possible to enjoy music without knowing anything about it (chord 
> progressions, structure, etc.). I am the first to admit that I don't know 
> very much at all about the musical structure behind Rachmanninov's 2nd piano 
> concerto, but that doesn't stop me enjoying playing or listening to it. 
> 
> I think that many people are so obsessed with following the "workings" of 
> modern music that they forget to actually listen to the music. If they 
> are continually listening out for such and such a chord, or for 
> particular melodic or harmonoic patterns, they lose the benefits of 
> taking the music at face value. 
> 
> The analogy with modern art is appropriate. (Not so long ago, I remember a 
> group of art critics were asked to comment on a set of colourful 
> paintings. The majority agreed that the paintings were of significant 
> merit, and read a lot into the brush strokes on the canvas. What they did 
> not know was that the paintings had been produced by an elephant). 
> Similarly, the effect of a good poem can be marred by looking too closely 
> at every word in every line.

So the less you know the more you enjoy?   Ignorance is bliss?  Would 
you apply the same criteria for car maintainance or brain surgery - I 
suspect/hope not!!!  If everyone was content to accept music at face 
value and dispense with understanding we wouldn't have any composers 
and there would be far fewer conductors around...

Surely art (sorry, Art) works on a number of levels and the more you
listen to a piece of music the more those deeper levels are revealed.  The
reason I enjoy a work such as Paganini Variations, for example, is because 
every time I listen to it I can find something new.  Contemporary
music can be quite complex so it probably takes more listenings - and 
a greater commitment on the part of the listener - before you arrive at a
point where you can appreciate it most fully.

More commercial music (pop, musicals, Edrich Seibert arrangements 
etc.) is intended to be more immediately accessible so generally speaking 
doesn't have so many layers to grasp.  It is less complex and more 
likely to drive you insane after four or five hearings.   (Jazz is 
altogether another matter since it is different every time).

The effect that music has on you is due to the decisions the composer 
took about which notes to write.  You can appreciate the music
without knowing the structure of chords or compositional techniques, 
but a even a little knowledge about how Rach 2 was composed would help 
you to enjoy listening to it even more, and would certainly be 
beneficial to your performance.  

And now you've got me going, why pick on modern music to make this 
point?  If someone really wants to listen out for particular chords or
progressions they can do it equally well/badly with Bach and Mozart!
Oxford is full of them!!!!  And does that make them better or worse musicians
than someone who is content to take it all at 'face value'?  If some 
musicians choose to delve further to try to discover what makes 
music tick, or what binds those layers of meaning together it doesn't
necessarily follow that they are being snobbish or trying to get one 
over on everyone else - perhaps they are just curious.  

Actually, and being fairly honest, I must confess that I didn't enjoy 
Songs for BL very much but not because it was too modern - I just 
didn't find the musical ideas particularly interesting.   I suspect 
it hasn't done the 'campaign for the promotion of contemporary 
band music' any favours because now every time a new piece is proposed 
folks remember their reaction to BL.  There are much better pieces 
out there and better composers waiting for the chance.  (Elgar 
Howarth is a brilliant musician - formerly a great trumpet player and 
now a genius with the baton, but outside the band movement he isn't 
known as a composer...)

I like modern music, not for the clever things that composers do but 
for the sounds it makes.  Grimethorpe Aria is one of the best pieces of
music I know, and sometimes, when I'm in the mood I get out my Harrison
Birtwistle CDs and listen to them purely for pleasure!!!  The last 
piece I chose to conduct at a contest was Thomas Wilson's Sinfonietta - really 
exciting, powerful, expressive music... 

Hang on Cameron - arch anti-intellectual - aren't you studying for a degree
at Oxford?  Then I suppose you take your subject at face value and never
scratch below the surface but feel most comfortable with those superficial
aspects which are apparent to the lowest common denominator...rant, 
rant, rant...

Cheers!

David


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