Re: [Leica] Good Pitchurs

[Michael Bell <MBell@mail.utexas.edu>]

Jeff Moore <jbm@instinet.com> writes:

>It's just important not to be too absolute in this insistence that
>the capacity for this appreciation is somehow intrinsic, not learned.
>Perhaps, in the example above, one needn't know Bach's musical
>forebears for a first-level appreciation of the music, but I betcha
>someone who hadn't been exposed to any notion of the usual intervals
>to be found in a major or a minor key just wouldn't `get' the music
>too well.  I bet a monolingual (American?) person just wouldn't `get'
>a simple poem written in Mandarin.  And I bet that even with a
>dictionary, but without cultural referents, he still wouldn't get it
>too deeply.

This reminds me of a story I read in one of Leonard Bernstein's books.  A
musician from India was visiting the U.S. and Bernstein took him to a
symphony orchestra concert. After the concert Lenny was gushing about how
wonderful the Mozart Symphony on the program was.  To Bernstein's surprise
the Indian musician said he was horribly bored and could barely stay awake.
"But what about the subtle harmonies, the form, etc?" Bernstein asked.  The
Indian musician replied that was all well and good, but the rhythms were
much too simple and thus the music was of little interest to him.

The Indian musician did not enjoy the Mozart because he did not have the
same cultural background as someone brought up on Western classical music.
Indian music is very heavily based on rhythms.  They have organizational
structures for their rhythms that are as sophisticated (or perhaps more so)
as the tonal forms of Western classical music.  You don't neccessarily have
to have a great understanding of these forms to appreciate the music, but
the culture you are surrounded by is certainly going to affect what moves
you regarding music.

I can't speak to photography, painting, sculpture, etc, but it is definitly
possible to learn to like certain types of music.  I've encountered
countless people that hated most modern concert music and wrote off
anything written after the turn of the century.  Many of them, once they
took the effort to understand the music, began to appreciate and even enjoy
some of it.

At any given time there is tons of mediocre to bad art being made and just
a very little bit of good to great art.  After the years it eventually gets
sorted out.

Michael Bell
MBell@mail.utexas.edu