On Tue, 10 Jun 1997, Mark Bowen wrote:
quoted 5 lines Face it. electronic music as a whole is fairly formulaic. Start with a beat> Face it. electronic music as a whole is fairly formulaic. Start with a beat
> and start layering over the top. Maybe some breakdowns or synthwashs or
> whatever. Its an empirical music made largely by trial and error without much
> need for specialized training or knowledge. It doesn't have the compositional
> quality of classical or even jazz IMO.
I basically agree with what you're saying, with a few adjustments:
- "quality" means different things in different subcultures. Also, some
empirically produced music, driven by "trial and error," is of higher
quality than other music produced by the same process. And quality means
different things to different people--all of which leads me to the
conclusion that quality is a loaded word that should be handled carefully.
- "Composition" isn't necessarily superior to trial and error. At the
same time, composition isn't necessarily incompatible with dance idioms.
It's just that very few people are interested in doing both, but that
doesn't mean it can't, or shouldn't, be done. (Pace Simon Reynolds, the
poor fool.)
Just some random neural activity-- J
________
\ / | Bee women: "What kind of corn soldiers are you?"
H. James Harkins | Arthur: "Umm, oh, er, we're, uh, we're colonels."
jharkins@acpub.duke.edu |
\/ | - from "The Tick," now on Comedy Central, 6PM M-F
"If we keep our attention focused on the present, we can be sure of one
thing, namely that whatever we are attending to in this moment will change..."
-- Jon Kabat-Zinn