In a message dated 11/17/08 1:51:29 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> I think all one needs is constant interested exposure to any thing to > appreciate it. > I had music appreciation in grammar school thru high school from 5th > grade to 9th > grade and have no problem with any type of music. > I think listers could report experiences that corroborate this, and that contradict it. What first begins with a compelled chore can ripen. I have a friend who has an unimaginably (for me) huge amount of poetry and just about all of Shakespeare securely in his memory. He claims the acquisition began when, in grade school, his class was required to memorize four lines of poetry every night, to be recited in class the next day. At first it was just a chore. Now he luxuriates with pleasure in well-turned lines and phrases and single apt words. (In fact he's written two books on Shakespeare.) On the other hand, I'm sure my wife, no matter how long subjected to watching, say, X-fighting (where they are allowed to kick, knee, and punch the guy while he's lying on the canvas) -- she would never come to "appreciate" it. I remember my first sip of beer. I hated it. > I think what you say may apply a bit more to genres and sub-genres than to > specific works. I "appreciate" -- in the sense of "see how/why the techniques > work" -- some genres that left me cold when I first encountered them. But > still there are much-respected specific works that I only grow more irritated > by when forced to see them again -- e.g. Beckett's GODOT. Meantime I still > can't "appreciate" in any sense a Rothko. I don't "appreciate/understand" his > works, nor do I appreciate/like them, and I can't believe I ever will. And > please believe I first went to them with happy anticipation. Same with Pollock -- > for me. > > I gotta say, Mando, if "I have no problem with" any type of music is your > idea of a selling phrase, you'll never make it in advertising. ************** Get the Moviefone Toolbar. Showtimes, theaters, movie news & more!(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1212774565x1200812037/aol?redir =http://toolbar.aol. com/moviefone/download.html?ncid=emlcntusdown00000001)
