Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id OAA15852 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Wed, 11 Jul 2001 14:04:56 +0100 Message-ID: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D3101745F7D@inchna.stir.ac.uk> From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk> To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: Music !! Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 13:49:12 +0100 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" X-Filter-Info: UoS MailScan 0.1 [D 1] Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Hi Kenneth,
I kind agree with your views here, but I also think there is something
quantiative to the different demands of pop and classical music. Consider
for example the number of instruments involved, and the number of different
melodies, harmonies etc. they are playing. OK, today, production values in
pop music are such that much more than just drums, bass and guitar are
involved, but the compelxity of the composition of pop music is generally a
lot lower than that of classical music, isn't it?
It's the same with, say, cubism. To most people, even if they like it, it
looks like a kid could do it, but one needs to understand the intent behind
cubist work to get why it looks the way it does. Perhaps one can then
appreciate it (I say perhaps because even though I have some idea of what
they were up to to, I still think cubism sucks). I think classical music is
a bit like this- so is jazz for my money, at least the kind of jazz that
Coltrane and others like him did. Anyone remember that scene in 'Bird' (I
assume there's some hint of truth in it) when Charlie Parker steps up on the
open stage night, and gets booed off the stage, becasue people didn't
initially get what he was up to.
Complexity doesn't mean better, of course. And some would say the more you
have to work to try and enjoy a piece of music, or painting or whatever the
less enjoyable it inevitably is. I have friends who like the band 'The
Fall' (yes, named after Camus' book), who say they like the band because
they refuse to conform to orthodox notions of what pop music should be. Of
course the problem with this is that the band's music, tends to lack melody,
harmony, rhythm etc. etc. So, a bit like installation art, I think people
who like such things do so at an intellectual level, but are laying if they
claim emotional engagement with with such work. And surely the arts are as
much (more?) about emotional engagement than anything else.
Now, in relation to memes, if we start talking about the emotional versus
the intellectual triggers in music, are we not looking at an area where
perhaps there's a tug of war for dominance between genes (driving the
emotional states in the first place) and memes (culturally shaping what
kinds of music/art etc. is regarded as credible, acceptable at any given
time)? Perhaps the patterns that we see in the popular consumption of these
different forms reflects these different forces at work. In pop music where
emotions are more dominant, we see regular and persistent fluctuations in
what is hot and not, whereas in the classical arena, where intellectual
involvement becomes more important, the relative status of composers remains
pretty solid (doesn't it?). I don't know ... wild, almost certainly
inaccurate speculation....
Vincent
> ----------
> From: Kenneth Van Oost
> Reply To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2001 8:26 pm
> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Subject: Re: Music !!
>
> Bonjour Pascal,
>
> You wrote,
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Pascal Jouxtel
> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Sent: Monday, July 09, 2001 12:25 AM
> To be more serious, I think liking classical music merely requires
> training, and it adresses maybe less emotional, more intellectual
> functions of the brain.
>
>
> << I knew one might say that !!
> In the context of the article leading to this thread, no harm done
> whatsoever.
> But, in any other case, where the power of the brain is involved, in
> the sense
> you mentioned " more intellectual ", a point of view like yours is
> influenced
> by a cultural/ social/ bourgeois prejudice.
> Not that this was your intention, I presume, but it seems odd to me
> that
> most of the time classical music is associated with a more " elitair
> " life,
> something more for the upper classes.
>
> And like Philip Jonkers mentioned rightly, Persaud talked about
> people
> suffering from dementia, bourgeois or upperclass is of no meaning
> here.
> If you are willing to recognize what the consequences are of
> dementia,
> I wonder if we ever can talk of upperclass, intellectual abilities
> again.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Kenneth
>
> ( I am, because we are)
>
>
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