David W. Fenton wrote:
To those who assert that music is a purely cultural phenomenon, I would point out that this idea has been put to the test, quite rigorously, by John Cage, who insisted that any sounds or combination of sounds could be construed as music if one merely had the will to do so, and spent 40 years of his life composing music on precisely that principle. Was this music as successful (moving, exciting, attractive) as other musics? Could other music, composed on the same principle, be more successful?
No, and no.
You have scientific proof that Cage was wrong?
I think there's been a thorough misunderstanding of Cage, here (and not on David's part) - we are indoctrinated into tonality virtually from birth. We are surrounded by one type of music, to the almost complete exclusion of others. What we go through from our earliest experiences parallels what Cage describes.
_______________________________________________
Finale mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
