Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 (Tek) 9/26/83; site tekecs.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!tektronix!orca!tekecs!jeffw From: jeffw@tekecs.UUCP (Jeff Winslow) Newsgroups: net.music.classical Subject: Re: Why contemporary music is not popular Message-ID: <3978@tekecs.UUCP> Date: Wed, 15-Aug-84 11:50:41 EDT Article-I.D.: tekecs.3978 Posted: Wed Aug 15 11:50:41 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 18-Aug-84 01:20:50 EDT References: <197@olivej.UUCP> Organization: Tektronix, Wilsonville OR Lines: 35 After reading Greg's thoughtful and interesting article, I want to expand on one thing he said and add another observation. I also have heard it said many times that more education or intellect is required to appreciate modern music (especially that which uses serialist structures) than earlier music. I don't believe it, and I agree it would say bad things about that music if it were true. But this music *does* sound *much* different than most of the musical sounds most people hear when they're growing up. In particular, dissonance of the sort found in, say Pierrot Lunaire seems to be an acquired taste for most people. So what? So's whiskey, and it's immensely popular. (Of course, there are no social pressures to listen to Pierrot Lunaire.) Anyway, I believe this dissonance and general strangeness (ie, unfamiliarity with the vocabulary) is mainly what is responsible for the lack of popularity of modern music. The only way for the individual to overcome this is just to listen to all of it he can find, without prejudgement. Even if it sounds awful at first. I guess I'm lucky, in that there was social pressure on me, both in school and at home, to listen to it (you thought I was joking about social pressure, weren't you?). Another thing which might help is to read what Schoenberg wrote about his own and others' music (and he wrote a lot - painted too). I came away convinced that this guy knew what he was talking about (ie, I agreed with what he wrote) - that provided a kind of intellectual pressure for me. And once you can make the transition to appreciating this music, you shouldn't have too much trouble extending that appreciation to more truly modern work. Then again, I have met people who seemed to have an instinctive liking for it. Earle Brown claimed that when he first started improvising on the piano, it came out sounding like "middle Schoenberg". I realize that this is hardly modern, but it is a good example of the kind of dissonance I'm talking about. 12 days in a week, right? Jeff Winslow