Klarinet Archive - Posting 001296.txt from 1998/07

From: "Mark Charette" <charette@-----.org>
Subj: Re: [kl] Classical Music and Young People
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1998 16:29:08 -0400

From: Craig Earl Countryman <cegc@-----.net>

>Mark Charette wrote:
>
>> Yet many very famous (and considered very good) comedians use that work
>> every other line in their comedy routines.
>
>Does that make it right though? Does that make it something we should
endorse?

I enjoy the comedy. The language doesn't bother me.

>> Why should rap "music" be held to a higher standard than popular comedy?
>
>What does one have to do with another? Comedy is becoming an art form, but
I
>don't think we can compare it to music without stretching a bit.

>> I tend to think of rap "music" more as street poetry - most very bad,
some
>> mediocre, and one or two real poets out there. But I don't put it in the
>> same category as music.
>
>I disagree that it is street poetry, but I do agree with your comments
about its
>quality. Still, I think that it is definitely music and we should accept
it as
>such.

Why would rhyming words in a monotone be considered music? It doesn't meet
my (or Webster's) standard of music.

>We may not like it; we may not agree with its content; it does, however,
>express the feelings of quite a few people in my generation though and it
is
>their music. Just because we don't like it can we really make the
statement
>that it is not music at all? It seems to me we need a little more support
>before we can come out with a statement such as that!

I never even said I didn't like rap! And who's _we_?

Webster's is my standard on the meaning of the word "music" -
"1) the art and science of combining vocal or instrumental sounds or tones
in varying melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre, esp. so as to form
structurally complete and emotionally expressive compositions." Meanings 2
and 3 follow from 1. I hear no melody, never mind a varying melody and no
harmony. Therefore I feel it doesn't qualify as music. You may interpret
Webster's differently. Your choice.

----
Mark Charette@-----.org
Webmaster, http://www.sneezy.org/clarinet
All-around good guy and devil-may-care flying fool.
"There can be no freedom without discipline." - Nadia Boulanger

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