Klarinet Archive - Posting 000848.txt from 1998/01

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: Music: Modern vs. 'Old'
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 18:35:01 -0500

At 12:46 PM 1/20/98 -0700, Shouryu wrote:
>Symphonic Winds, on the other hand, charges absolutely nothing: our
>concerts are free.

The management obviously has a firm grasp on the value of 20th century
music to the general public!

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.

Although I realize that this will brand me as a reactionary as well as an
"average joe," I simply cannot be impressed by music that pleases ONLY
other musicians. Jackson Pollack's work, as far as I can see, can be
reproduced any time by monkeys with squirt bottles of paint. If other
artists like it, fine. Let THEM buy it! Too much of today's music sounds
like randomized computer-generated soundbites. What is not random is
apparently aggressively created with the purpose of sounding BAD. If a
conventional triad ever actually sounded the composer would come out from
the wings and demand an on-the-spot correction. Don't get me wrong;
dissonance has its place for sure. But without consonance, dissonance is
useless as a device of contrast. Dissonance alone is oppressive. Maybe
that is what they are going for: a political statement about oppressive
governments. But I figure if they want to express political views, they
should write a speech. Music is about beauty. Millions of "average joes"
have figured that out. When will the composers?

Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
Essexville, MI 48732 http://members.wbs.net/homepages/z/o/o/zoot14.html
ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.

   
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