Re: [rumori] curve of sound innovation


From: nakedrabbit (nakedrabbitATloop.com)
Date: Wed Mar 14 2001 - 13:54:44 PST


>I can't prove a negative. Simply give me a "brand new" sonic element in
>music, or a procedure to make it, and I will tell you where and when it has
>occured in music BEFORE now as a precedent in the history of music. This
>ridiculous argument is all about musical precedent... what music might
>consist of that has not been part of music before. I contend there are NO
>sonic precedents left to be achieved by modern music.

It occurs to me that you are having us all on with this "music is dead"
business. It is exatly the same po-mo argument critics have been making
for the last 20 years about why ART is dead.

Am I blowing your cover? The argument that the addition of new kinds of
sounds integrated into music is the detertmining factor for whether or
not music itself is new presupposes that the goal of music practice has
been the addition of new kinds of sounds. What about the directions the
rest of the post-1964 art world has taken? Works that embody a question
about the role of music, or which consider new forms that can be
considered music, for example, do not require "new" sounds to be
integrtaed. Music went along through centuries of development without
"new" kinds of sounds (toot, whistle, plunk, boom) without anyone
complaining about "new" noises.

I'm teaching this kind of stuff at a University now, so it's all in my
mind at the moment, but for those who might care, I refer to Crowther,
Paul, 1990 "Postmodernism in the Visual Arts: A question of ends" in R.
Boyne and A Rattansi, eds. _Postmodernism and Society_, New York: St.
Martin's, 1990. 237-59

This essay pretty much puts the "Art is Dead" controversy to rest and
probably applies to "Music is Dead" as well.

Anyone wants me to get into ridiculous explicit details, I will; I'm that
kind of guy.

Naked Rabbit P.O. Box 36673 LA CA 90036 ||||| http://www.nakedrabbit.com

----------------------------------------------------
Rumori, the Detritus.net Discussion List
to unsubscribe, send mail to majordomoATdetritus.net
with "unsubscribe rumori" in the message body.
----------------------------------------------------
Rumori list archives & other information are at
http://detritus.net/contact/rumori
----------------------------------------------------



Home | Detrivores | Rhizome | Archive | Projects | Contact | Help | Text Index


[an error occurred while processing this directive] N© Detritus.net. Sharerights extended to all.