Klarinet Archive - Posting 000844.txt from 1998/01

From: Shouryu Nohe <jnohe@-----.edu>
Subj: Music: Modern vs. 'Old'
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 14:46:07 -0500

Dr. McClune says:
I firmly believe that we as players must perform "modern" music for the
language to become more acceptable to the audience. We cannot let
ourselves become museums of old music

A good view, sir; I'm not completely compelled to argue. But what do you
do when the audience won't show? The NMSU Symphony charges a steep price
for tickets to their concerts - enough that I usually won't attend due to
cost. But when I do attend, the recital hall is absolutely PACKED. They
do a fine job, and play mostly classical music and some romantic (I guess
around 2/3 classical, 1/2 romantic or so).

The same holds true in our choral department (since I participate, I don't
have to pay...of course, paying to perform would suck...). Our musical
selection consists of baroque, roccoco, classical, romantic, jazz, and
spirituals. And depending on where you want to sit, some novacaine may be
necessary to numb the area around your wallet.

Symphonic Winds, on the other hand, charges absolutely nothing: our
concerts are free. At best, our audience will fill 1/4 to 1/3 of the
recital hall. My take on the sitch is that 90% of the music we play is
Twentieth Century. Except for the one or two Grainger pieces (everyone
loves Grainger ^_^ ), most of it is very atonal, and/or serial, and/or
rhythmically dyslexic, and/or written in registers that really shouldn't
be used (do you think an altissimo G in the bass clarinet can be heard
when the rest of the ensemble is playing four other notes at fortissimo?
Give it to the soprano clarinets for crying out loud...), and/or serve
only the purpose of showing off what these new music writing computer
programs can do.

I hold nothing against my director for choosing these pieces -- they
challenge me (oft times to the point of complete frustration) to really
buckle down practice. The parts are usually ludicrously complex (oft
times leading me to believe that the composers were drummers and knew
virtually nothing of the clarinet/bass mechanics, other than the range...)
and demand the utmost in musicianship. This is all good; however, I think
it to be the primary cause for our lack of audience. Your average joe on
the street thinks that Jackson Pollock art isn't beautiful, they think
it's unpleasing to the eye. They don't want to hang it on their wall.
At the same token, your average joe doesn't care for serialized,
fantastically dissonant, polypolypolypolyrhythmic music that a lot of
composers turn out today. Granted, these pieces are the logical
progession of music following the Second Viennese School, and while
I, along with many other musicians, find serialsm and polywhatnot
fascinating and logical and necessary, I/we still cringe (at least a
little) when listening to something by Anton Webern or Lamont Downs. The
average joe does the same.

Call me a neoclassicist if you will; while I am all for the progression of
musical change, I believe music to be the pinnacle of art (a rather
arrogant position, I suppose). However, I (meaning me, personally) feel
that art needs to express itself to everyone, the average joe to the
musical genius. When someone looks at a modern painting, then says "You
sure it's not sitting on it's side?", I (meaning me, personally) feel that
the artwork hasn't fufilled its purpose. A lot of modern music these days
is the same.

Don't get me totally wrong: I'm not stating that how things are,
goshdarnit. I'm simply expressing my view of the matter. I simply can't
see the average audience growing accustomed to today's music, partially
because they won't come to hear it, and because it doesn't express itself
to them. (Both factors go hand in hand of course...)

The somewhat snobbish opinion of a lowly college student,

Shouryu Nohe
http://web.nmsu.edu/~jnohe
ICQ: 6771552
New Mexico State Univ.
REMEMBER: Four out of five cats blink when hit on the head with a ball
peen hammer.

   
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