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vanblah · 03-04-2009, 06:32 PM

roachboy:

Don't make yourself out to be a victim here.

I wasn't referring to the context of what you said ... I was referring to your choice of words: "that folk are talking about billy fucking joel is kinda depressing" and "you have to train your hearing to get into it--but you also had to train your hearing to tolerate the continuous monotony of 19th century euro-classical music" are both elitist statements ... the second one being particularly trite.

It's simply not true. What you call 19th century forms (what I would consider the Romantic era; and possibly the later capital "C" Classical era) are just simply EASY to listen to for Westerners. Period. It has nothing to do with training your ear. They don't contain many surprises and they don't contain much in the way of dissonance. We don't attach the same fervor to music in the way that Eastern and African musicians do--despite what you see with the fainting girls at Beatles concerts. Most Westerners don't like surprises or jarring atonal melodies.

With regard to your oblique reference to me being "elitist." Perhaps I am with regard to some things, however, we don't need to get into a pedantic and academic argument over what constitutes "noise." I know what I like ... I have spent many, many years listening to all sorts of music. I even made a reference to it in my previous post. (RE: white noise).

I like dissonance and enharmonic tones. I am astute enough to tell the difference between good "cacophonous" music and when a person is banging out bullshit just to be different. There is a fine line and I've been known to make a mistake or two with regard to those particular judgments--but most of the time I'm right.

I am with you 100% about new music and musical forms and how out-of-touch most Western ears have become. But the way you chose to phrase it was elitist. Despite being with 100% in academic terms most of what I write these days is pop-form--although I sneak a little dissonance in by way of my trusty OB12.

You know what? After 30 years of playing violin and piano I'm fine with that. I enjoy the love I get from the people listening. I also enjoy the CONSTRUCTIVE criticism I get from my more "elitist" friends.

03-04-2009, 06:32 PM	#22 (permalink)
vanblah Junkie	roachboy: Don't make yourself out to be a victim here. I wasn't referring to the context of what you said ... I was referring to your choice of words: "that folk are talking about billy fucking joel is kinda depressing" and "you have to train your hearing to get into it--but you also had to train your hearing to tolerate the continuous monotony of 19th century euro-classical music" are both elitist statements ... the second one being particularly trite. It's simply not true. What you call 19th century forms (what I would consider the Romantic era; and possibly the later capital "C" Classical era) are just simply EASY to listen to for Westerners. Period. It has nothing to do with training your ear. They don't contain many surprises and they don't contain much in the way of dissonance. We don't attach the same fervor to music in the way that Eastern and African musicians do--despite what you see with the fainting girls at Beatles concerts. Most Westerners don't like surprises or jarring atonal melodies. With regard to your oblique reference to me being "elitist." Perhaps I am with regard to some things, however, we don't need to get into a pedantic and academic argument over what constitutes "noise." I know what I like ... I have spent many, many years listening to all sorts of music. I even made a reference to it in my previous post. (RE: white noise). I like dissonance and enharmonic tones. I am astute enough to tell the difference between good "cacophonous" music and when a person is banging out bullshit just to be different. There is a fine line and I've been known to make a mistake or two with regard to those particular judgments--but most of the time I'm right. I am with you 100% about new music and musical forms and how out-of-touch most Western ears have become. But the way you chose to phrase it was elitist. Despite being with 100% in academic terms most of what I write these days is pop-form--although I sneak a little dissonance in by way of my trusty OB12. You know what? After 30 years of playing violin and piano I'm fine with that. I enjoy the love I get from the people listening. I also enjoy the CONSTRUCTIVE criticism I get from my more "elitist" friends.