Unfortunately your entire argument is based on personal and subjective
prejudice, not on any kind of logic.
It is reasonable to say that if someone creates a musical composition
they are trying to accomplish "something". However, it is up to the
artist's personal vision what that "something" is - it might have
something to do with emotion, and it might not. If it doesn't have
anything to do with emotion, it's still music - you don't have to LIKE
it, but that doesn't change its status as music. If a musicologist can
study it as music, and a reasonable number of people can agree that it
is music, then it is music. This is a much more objective approach than
judging all musical activity based on your personal prejudices.
The idea that the goal of music is to create some kind of intense
feelings in the listener is musical romanticism, which comes primarily
from 19th century Europe. It is not the ONLY approach to music. In terms
of all the music in the world, it is not necessarily the predominant
approach. I personally thought that romanticism died in like, 1915.
Unfortunately I guess that isn't the case...
However, if nothing else, this discussion does show that there is
probably a very pronounced split in the techno world, between the
"romantics" and those who are more "anti-romantic" in outlook. The first
would glorify "feeling" as the highest criterion of music, while the
latter group would look to other aesthetic qualities as that which makes
music interesting. I'm in the second group and I'm more interested in
hearing interesting combinations of timbre and rhythm. I still can feel
emotion, I just don't believe it is "in" the music, or what makes the
music interesting. I look at it as a natural by product when I
experience something sonically interesting. Anyway, my anti-romanticism
is part of why "Strings of Life" sounds cheesy to me, and I usually
dislike vocals in techno.
~David
Thomas D. Cox, Jr. wrote:
now thats the base point of my argument, pretty well spelled out. and the
idea is that the artist is trying to accomplish something here, trying to
evoke some feeling by either letting things remain random or not remain
random. its that purpose that is the emotion that is unquestionably
intrinsic in music as opposed to just sound. sound is cool, undoubtedly.
but its not music!
tom
