Thanks to everyone who weighed in on my post. I'm glad people appreciated the link. Arlo, I especially liked your MOQ-based definition of art. I think when people complain that the younger generation lacks an appreciation for high art, they're missing the fact that context is part of the reason they find value in whatever they deem high art. It takes exposure to classical music to build an appreciation for classical music. Lacking that exposure, it's much more difficult to have a high-quality experience with the music.
It seems reasonable that overall, the experience of walking through a subway station where Joshua Bell is playing would be a low-quality experience to many. Even with good music, subway stations are lousy, stressful places that many would just as soon spend as little time in as possible. I thought one interesting point of the article was how different people turned the event into a high quality experience, by finding a comfortable spot, by checking to make sure that there was time to stay and listen, etc. There was also an interesting MOQ tie-in with the guitar player who noticed that Bell was a musician who was not just technically skilled, but also had an emotional connection to his music. In my mind, technical skill is static, be it biological, social or intellectual. But artists who dig deeper can get to the point where they can channel dynamic quality. Arlo, in your comment about didgeridoos, I thought you were going to go the opposite direction. I think there's some degree to which, in the Bell experiment, a didgeridoo would have had a larger effect. The fact didgeridoos are so uncommon in subway stations gives it dynamic quality and would get people's attention. Assuming the player was a top-notch musician, listeners might stay to listen. With regard to your definition of art, there still is a static context for the high-quality experience in that it's still music, which is a static institution. _________________________________________________________________ Need a break? Find your escape route with Live Search Maps. http://maps.live.com/?icid=hmtag3 moq_discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
