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Organ Grinding: When the Audience Revolted at Carnegie Hall

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Re: Organ Grinding: When the Audience Revolted at Carnegie Hall

#4
post #3

It’s a long essay, but maybe the YouTube link should appear at the top. Because when you click play and try to listen, you might find yourself feeling quite like they did back in Carnegie Hall. My vote? Noise, not music.

> maybe the YouTube link should appear at the top

No, because half the readers would close the browser or click Back before they finished reading the post.

Re: Organ Grinding: When the Audience Revolted at Carnegie Hall

#5
I had a similar experience a couple of years ago, watching Drumming at Lincoln Center without knowing what I was in for. Through the entire thing I was convinced it was an elaborate prank. A person walked in halfway through, instantly fell asleep, and snored so loudly most of the audience could hear him. Yet at the end the 80 minute piece the audience was ecstatic.

Here's part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9DbqNlUNqc

Re: Organ Grinding: When the Audience Revolted at Carnegie Hall

#6
post #3

It’s a long essay, but maybe the YouTube link should appear at the top. Because when you click play and try to listen, you might find yourself feeling quite like they did back in Carnegie Hall. My vote? Noise, not music.

I don't like the way judging if something is or isn't art, or is or isn't music, carries an implication of judging its quality. You can think it's music if you don't enjoy it, think it's bad at what it sets out to achieve, or think it's trite.

So I disagree with you on it not being music, there are certainly more conventional pop/rock songs with noisy sections like this piece that don't stop being music when those sections begin. But I won't add it to any playlists.

Re: Organ Grinding: When the Audience Revolted at Carnegie Hall

#8
I am not a huge fan of so-called minimalist music, though among its prominent composers, Mr. Reich is the one who appeals to me most, and I think his skills have developed considerably since this early work.

The boorish, self-centered behavior of certain audience members would have made it very difficult to appreciate anything of the work at its premiere. Unfortunately, this is increasingly so even for public performances of works firmly in the classical canon.

Re: Organ Grinding: When the Audience Revolted at Carnegie Hall

#9
post #6
post #3

It’s a long essay, but maybe the YouTube link should appear at the top. Because when you click play and try to listen, you might find yourself feeling quite like they did back in Carnegie Hall. My vote? Noise, not music.

I don't like the way judging if something is or isn't art, or is or isn't music, carries an implication of judging its quality. You can think it's music if you don't enjoy it, think it's bad at what it sets out to achieve, or think it's trite. So I disagree with you on it not being music, there are certainly more conventional pop/rock songs with noisy sections like this piece that don't stop being music when those se…

I have no bone to pick with Reich, but I do think to call something music, the bar is higher than ‘sound made intentionally’.

Re: Organ Grinding: When the Audience Revolted at Carnegie Hall

#10
post #9
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't like the way judging if something is or isn't art, or is or isn't music, carries an implication of judging its quality. You can think it's music if you don't enjoy it, think it's bad at what it sets out to achieve, or think it's trite. So I disagree with you on it not being music, there are certainly more conventional pop/rock songs with noisy sections like this piece that don't stop being music when those se…

I have no bone to pick with Reich, but I do think to call something music, the bar is higher than ‘sound made intentionally’.

I would argue you are woefully wrong. Much great music is made of sounds only fleetingly able to be considered 'intentional'.

A noise that conveys a feeling, no matter that feeling, is music.

Sure, I don't sit around jamming to John Cage, but I similarly feel vaugely ambivilant about much pop music. Is it any different? Much good hiphop is atonal, much jazz does not repeat, and much popular techno has but a faint hint of "humanity". And yet they are not just music, but wildly popular styles. there are few qualifiers you can put on music, art, etc. without drifting dangerously into 'I know it when I see it' territory.

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