Sunday, January 02, 2005
What We Talk About When We Talk About Music
This is a blog where contemporary composers can talk about music, the musical life or anything else that strikes their fancy. My limited role, as blogmeister, is to try to ask occasional questions that stimulate thought or further discussion. I come to this role from the perspective of a layman who is a passionate listener but whose musical talent is limited to fairly unconvincing four-chord blues rifts on the guitar. In short, I am--more or less--the kind of enthusiastic, but musicially semi-literate, listener who buys CDs and attends new music concerts.
What kind of questions interest me? Well, what is it that makes modern music "modern?" And since music is intrinsically abstract, how do composers go about providing a written or verbal context for listeners. Creators of music, like everyone else, are generally obliged to do a little marketing of their wares. What is the proper vocabulary or style for conveying thoughts about music? Some composers focus on form and shape and structure; others take a more literary approach. Listeners often turn to titles for clues about what they are supposed to be hearing but, of course, we all know--as Wallace Stevens put it--that "the pears are not seen as the observor wills."
For composers, it seems to me, talking or writing about music must be like translating ideas from one language to another. That translation, I suspect, will make for some informative and entertaining reading. And, of course, readers are invited to participate, too, by leaving comments, suggestions and questions in the comment boxes.
posted by Jerry Bowles
7:46 AM
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