Re: [Finale] Music Theory/Duke Ellington
On Feb 11, 2005, at 10:23 AM, John Howell wrote: (And the Pink Panther theme remains the single most widely-heard example of parallel 5ths since the 9th century!) More than Smoke on the Water? ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
[Finale] Music Theory/Duke Ellington
In defense of music theory -- it seems to me (as someone who has taught it mostly to performers for 25 years) that a primary function is help people's brains become aware of what their ear already knows. (I know, it all happens in the brain . . . guess I'm talking left-brain, right-brain -- oops that is too simplistic for biologists these days). One can speak and write without having studied grammar. But doesn't understanding grammar give one more power and control over words, especially if ones autodidactic approach isn't bearing fruit (one of my teachers used to say that the problems with autodidacts is that they had bad teachers). To paraphrase Milton Babbitt, one may always choose to keep oneself ignorant of the constraints under which one works. That is OK for some, but not for others. As for the argument that music that sounds good IS good -- well of course. But does that mean that your own tastes are universal? And does that mean that it is impossible to acquire an appreciation and affection over time? Haven't any of you hated something the first time, only to come to love it? Like with food -- the first taste of strong-smelling cheese, or of brandy, or of fine wine, often results in a wonder how anyone could like it. Maybe Duke Ellington should have said: if it sounds good to me right now, it is good to me right now. And anyway, his comment was to argue for inclusiveness. Let's not twist his words to use them to exclude anyone from the good music club. And why are people so quick to wish to condemn a particular composer or stylistic approach, claiming some means of determining -- maybe through science, maybe through esthetic argument -- whether something is universally good or bad? The literature world is large enough for James Joyce and for Danielle Steele. Why can't the music world be large enough for all composers whose music inspires affection in someone other than themselves? I hate it when people tell me I don't need to understand what I'm doing (music theory), or that I can't possibly find anything redeeming in music I love. David Froom ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
Re: [Finale] Music Theory/Duke Ellington
There is a tremendous fear of music theory out there, with many musicians having the sense that music-theoretic discourse kills the magic of music making. However, I find that that such feelings can often be alleviated by identifying the tasks that theorists set as modest ones with results that are, ultimately, provisional, such that ever-deeper and wider-ranging analyses of music have only deepened our sense of music's mysteries. First of all, music theories are simply ways of talking about music, and doing so within communities of musicians who share a tradition and some common vocabulary for talking about music. This discourse has a modest program, largely because it -- as if by definition -- does a good job of describing the mechanics of music making, but a lousy job with the emotions and meanings of music making, but by and large, it stays out of the territories where it is less effective, albeit with the caveat that there are likely to be connections between the results of our more mechanical researches and such big themes, but these connections are presently very vague. Further, a theory of music inevitably suggests real material connections within single works of music, between individual works, and between repertoires of works, and it does so using tools (language, maths) that are basically external to practical music-making, so that a music theory may often be a way of discovering previously unknown aspects of musical works that can be directly exploited by interpreters. Finally, the end-product of a musical theory is seldom just the analysis of familiar musics; it may well point to material and formal possibilities for new musics Daniel Wolf ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
