At 12:44 PM +0200 5/25/07, shirling & neueweise wrote:
(No attribution given):
I can certainly believe that of Cage, since his music never became
popular and widely performed
!?
in comparison to composers from the 19th c. whose name begins with
schu- perhaps, but cage is featured very regularly on contemporary
music programmes and in festivals and is even often used as buffer
music where new music is included on more traditional programmes,
because of its accessibility (it would seem). cage wrote in a
variety of styles of course, which are appreciated varyingly by the
different factions of new music and non- new music scene, so it is
impossible to speak of "cage" as being "unpopular" in any general
sense.
Then how about in a specific sense? The students in my Survey of
Music class (non-majors, but a good many minors) must attend and
review a minimum of one concert per semester. In the semester just
ended, there were a Senior Percussion Recital and also a Percussion
and Marimba Ensemble concerts, on both of which a student played a
Cage piece for solo snare drum using a randomly generated group of
sticks and beaters. One student found it "interesting." Most had
very negative things to say, and these were their spontaneous
reactions to what they had trouble perceiving as "music." This was,
of course, general student population, and not an educated and
prepared "in-group," but I do think the reaction can be generalized
as "unpopular." (Not to suggest that Cage was especially concerned
with being "popular," of course.)
his impact on the musical world, at least the one I travel in, has
been more to get people to question their preconceptions about what
is and what isn't music.
Oh certainly. No argument there. But when a huge percentage of the
population enjoys music which is tonal, rhythmically coherent, and
non-aeleatoric, the questions don't last very long.
John
--
John & Susie Howell
Virginia Tech Department of Music
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
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