Re: MD Nihilism (Punk)

From: hampday@earthlink.net
Date: Wed Mar 23 2005 - 17:21:13 GMT

  • Next message: Arlo Bensinger: "Re: MD Nihilism (Punk)"

    Hi Arlo and Ian:

    Arlo said:
    > If you enjoy "the beat of sexual intercourse", you are obviously not a
    Victorian
    > but a hippie, trippie flower child. :-)
    >
    > Honestly, though, why do you rage against "rock" but
    > then purport to enjoy Morissette? I don't understand.

    Simple answer. I enjoy the MUSIC!

    MUSIC -- a creative art form involving a succession of tones in succession
    or in combination, produced by instruments or the human voice, whose
    composition in performance has the unity and continuity to please the
    sensibilities; i.e., "poetry for the ear". [My definition.]

    Based on my 70 years of music listening and study, Alanis has the creative
    originality, musicianship, and vocal expression of a fine artist in her
    particular musical genre. The fact that her lyrics are anecdotal to her
    personal life and include some four-letter words is incidental to my
    appreciation of her musical talent.

    There is a discipline or "science" to music, of course, which encompasses
    the exposition and development of a theme in accordance with established
    acoustic principles, rhythms, counterpoint, harmonies and instrumental/vocal
    styles of the art to which we each respond subjectively. The "quality" of
    all these elements, taken individually and in total, determines the artistic
    value of what we hear. While lyrics, dancing, gestures, animated
    spotlighting, and on-stage maneuvers may be part of the performance, they
    are secondary and of minor importance to the music itself.

    What I'm saying is that if our sensibilities are not developed sufficiently
    to respond emotionally to music as defined above, we lack the ability to
    appreciate it for what it is. Sending a sexually provocative message to
    fans by drum-beating, yelling, amplified dissonance, lyrical obscenities, or
    stage gyrations may be considered a "communicative artform" by some; but it
    is not the art of music.

    > Platt is bringing this back to the MOQ saying "rock is biological", and
    should
    > be condemned as such.

    Frank Sinatra was "biological", I am "biological", music is not
    "biological". I don't even know what that is supposed to mean.

    Ian says:
    > I went to see Joe Satriani last night. (Greatest living rock
    > guitarist, anybody ?)

    Ian, I don't particularly care for guitar music, even classical guitar.
    Maybe Santoya. But you must be the judge of whether Joe Satriani (with whom
    I'm unfamiliar) or any other rock instrumentalist is a "musician" by the
    standards I've cited. Each to his own tastes. You've asked for my answer.
    I can only speak for myself.

    Regards to all,
    Ham

    MOQ.ORG - http://www.moq.org
    Mail Archives:
    Aug '98 - Oct '02 - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/
    Nov '02 Onward - http://www.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/summary.html
    MD Queries -

    To unsubscribe from moq_discuss follow the instructions at:
    http://www.moq.org/md/subscribe.html



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Mar 23 2005 - 17:27:22 GMT