I agree with philip. If I did not, why would I be in this (or any other
music related) discussion list? As someone mentioned earlier regarding Hip
Hop, music is not only sound, but sound given meaning by its belongign to
a broader community, whose links are held together by dialogue, by
communication. We do not hear only with our ears, but with out minds and
imaginationd and an essential element of this imaginative
conceptualization of music is analysis, which requires, in turn,
classification and the use of categories. In this sense, categories are
essential ingredients in making communities and in making music itself.
Categories like 'good' and 'bad', as limiting cases, have less content
that stylistic classifications and hence say less about the music. In
other words, I can make little sense of someone saying some piece of music
is bad, if this is not accompanied by an explanation of what is good or
bad in such piece.
Dr. Axel Arturo Barcelo Aspeitia
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www.mp3.com/drxl
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On Mon, 9 Jul 2001, Philip Sherburne wrote:
>
> > let the academics and the media try to define, the music
> > producers, true
> > listeners, and DJs should simply say that about all music
> >
> > there is only good and bad
>
> i'm sorry, but i've heard this comment, or comments like it, too many times
> in the past week, and i have to respond. to be blunt, i think it's fucking
> idiotic. why do people seem so afraid of analyzing, categorizing, and
> differentiating music? "defining" music, eg genres, formal criteria, etc.,
> does NOT have to be a negative thing. indeed, there's a reason this is the
> "acid-jazz" list, not the "good music" (or "bad music," depending on your
> perspective) list.
>
> if there were only good and bad music, there wouldn't be much use talking
> about it, would there?
>
> not trying to be a dick here... i just think this anxiety is a bit off the
> mark. "definition" (which i would include as a part of any broader analysis)
> something we all do, not just "academics and the media."
>
> cheers
> philip
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Jul 10 2001 - 02:59:41 CEST