mgresham@artsnet.UUCP (Mark Gresham) (07/03/90)
In article <526@quad.sialis.mn.org> dts@quad.sialis.mn.org (David T. Sandberg) writes: >[...] As a result, I am now at the point >where I semi-consciously tear apart and arrange every song as I hear >it. I still get very excited when I hear an inspired piece of music >(and my tastes range from Wagner to Rundgren to Thomas Dolby, so don't >label me as restricted to one musical style, please), but I find it >difficult if not impossible to shut off my "auto-arranging feature" >anymore, and this is what might be said to interfere with my enjoyment >at times. > >Surely I cannot be the only one who experiences this sort of thing. You're not, and it take a bit of effort to get away from 'intellect' being the primary response (I suggest some Cage or such where you can't use your "auto-arranging feature" so easily). What happens is that the experience of music become so analytical that the musical model becomes a substitute for the experience of the music itself. It happens a lot with musicians who compose, but mostly with musicians who do a lot of repetitious kinds of arranging. With the repetitousness, the process becomes habit, and habits are hard to break. (Speaking of comparing music with drug use, the intellectual response can also be a 'drug use' like behavior. Sorry folks, that was a response to a different posting. :-)) It likewise becomes a habit in the act of 'appreciating' music, as too often 'appreciating' means a kind of strutting around trying to demonstrate how well one 'understands' musical structure or historical 'facts' about the music and the composer. The advantage the novice has is one of not falling into that trap yet; most 'appreciators' of music never get beyond it. They wind up thinking 'intellect is all' and are grossly mistaken. (Otherwise, the works of Boulez and Elliot Carter would be at the top of the listening charts.) Cheers, --Mark ======================================== Mark Gresham ARTSNET Norcross, GA, USA E-mail: ...gatech!artsnet!mgresham or: artsnet!mgresham@gatech.edu ========================================