Music - Art or Museum
Posted by: Mat Cork on 11 March 2009
MikeS has started some superb threads...and has illuminated my understanding of classical music (a genre which has provided us with some lovely tunes, and one I truly love).
Others have ralroaded discussions in what I consider to be an insecure and blinkered direction. Each genre offers something unique, but does not offer everything - claiming they do, to me smacks of some kind of football club like loyalty. Loyalty to me, is a poor virtue in many things.
So what are your thoughts on where music is going? Classical seems sacrosanct from criticism on here in some quarters - but is it still art? Are all orchestra's not merely covers bands, no different to Bjorn Again, Think Floyd...trotting out other peoples music with variations. Is another take by Clapton on the songs of Robert Johnson art, or just keeping something alive in a synthetic way?
I'm talking about music to inspire as art - not to listen to all the time, I still want some 'safe' stuff, even if I don't think it's 'art'. Surely art, needs to tear the place apart, forget the rules, forget about 'in tune', forget about 'grammar' forget about 'morals, forget about standard progressions'?
For me, some music still does this, rock music very rarely these days, jazz maybe sometimes, Classical not much since John Cage, but the experimental still exists. I want my music to destroy the structures it's supposed to be built on.
As the palestinian kid said on CNN when questioned why he threw petrol bombs - 'the city looks so pretty when it burns' - absolutely my man, absolutely.
Others have ralroaded discussions in what I consider to be an insecure and blinkered direction. Each genre offers something unique, but does not offer everything - claiming they do, to me smacks of some kind of football club like loyalty. Loyalty to me, is a poor virtue in many things.
So what are your thoughts on where music is going? Classical seems sacrosanct from criticism on here in some quarters - but is it still art? Are all orchestra's not merely covers bands, no different to Bjorn Again, Think Floyd...trotting out other peoples music with variations. Is another take by Clapton on the songs of Robert Johnson art, or just keeping something alive in a synthetic way?
I'm talking about music to inspire as art - not to listen to all the time, I still want some 'safe' stuff, even if I don't think it's 'art'. Surely art, needs to tear the place apart, forget the rules, forget about 'in tune', forget about 'grammar' forget about 'morals, forget about standard progressions'?
For me, some music still does this, rock music very rarely these days, jazz maybe sometimes, Classical not much since John Cage, but the experimental still exists. I want my music to destroy the structures it's supposed to be built on.
As the palestinian kid said on CNN when questioned why he threw petrol bombs - 'the city looks so pretty when it burns' - absolutely my man, absolutely.