We completed the Middle Ages discussion with a flare today, amidst further discussion on organum, the Italian Ars Nova, French Ars Nova and development of polyphony. We tossed around trouveres, troubadours, minnesingers, meistersingers, and minstrels along with a brief mention of the amazing invention known as the printing press. Quite a bit of time was spent talking about the merits of www.lcsproductions.net, an excellent and concise website that provides links, explanations, and definitions of terms.
We reminded each other of the different kinds of Masses, additions to the mass, the development of the motet, and the various dances used in secular music. Unfortunately, the mad race through the Middle Ages resulted in all of us having a peripheral and maybe superficial knowledge of the music of the time, but I reminded everyone of the number of resources available for additional research. We also discussed Guido d'Arezzo, and Musica Enchiriadis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musica_enchiriadis). It would be a good idea to know a little more about this for your future!
An abrupt stop and we jumped a few centuries to the present time. A philosophical discussion about the palette of musical opportunity and the eclecticism of today's musical world led us to listen to a variety of music. We heard a little Corigliano, Michael Martin Murphy, Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson, and stopped on Phillip Glass. Further discussion revolved around music for entertainment versus cultivated music. A couple of students mentioned that some music seems to bridge the gap between the two general styles and one student maintains that music will continue to "meld" the two distinctions into one.
We ended the lively discussion where everyone had a slightly differing opinion on music of today and the role of entertainment and cultivated music by landing on Phillip Glass and his extraordinary success in the film industry. An assignment was made to name 5 film scores by Glass. We will begin Thursday with a more indepth discussion of minimalism followed by the experimentalism of the the 1950's and 60s.
So what do you think is the difference between art or cultivated music and music for entertainment? Should we study music for entertainment at all in the college curriculum?
See you Thursday.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think that we should discuss and be familiar with "entertainment" or "popular" music. However, in my opinion, studying it in depth at an undergrad level is not necessary. Don't get me wrong, I love music that is simply entertaining and that I don't "have to think about" but that's just the thing...that kind of music doesn't require much thought or study to fulfill it's purpose of entertainment.
ReplyDeleteMy five picks for Philip Glass films are:
ReplyDeleteCassandra's Dream
The Watchmen
Hamburger Hill
The Thin Blue Line (Documentary)
The Illusionist
and although this one isn't a film I did find it interesting that Philip Glass's music can be found in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV on Xbox360 and PS3. You can listen to the radio in the game and one of the stations plays Philip Glass music.
I felt like our discussion was interesting today. While I do realize our class is not a study of cinema it made me think a lot about how cinema and music are intertwined.
One interesting and ironic parallel was our discussion about how 'pop' music is, well, popular and 'art' music is not and the merits of each. Yet hardly anyone in the class had recognized much less seen most the films Dr. Tucker mentioned. Most people, as in our discussion of music, tend to watch things they enjoy even though it's formula may be oversimplified and predictable. Prime example: chick flicks. Lets not forget most of the so called 'high art' was the pop music of it's time.
That being said I totally agree that pop music should be studied along side art or classical music. Not just in theory but performance as well. Especially if your major is in performance (No offense, but IMO it's the most useless undergrad major, especially from HPU).
I think it is interesting that we study Lieder which was considered entertainment music at the time. However, I would not put Schubert Lied in the same category as Michael Jackson. Schubert has elements of composition, progressions, text which is worth studying. In my opinion, our entertainment music is not at the same level. When you look at Schubert you see a composer and when you look at Michael Jackson you see a performer. I think this is the main difference.
ReplyDeletePhillip Glass movies...
1. The Hours
2. The Illusionist
3. No Reservations
4. Secret Window
5. Notes on a Scandal
I think there is an infinite amount of music to study and the system we have now is probably the best. It might need to change in the future, but the format for now is adequate.
ReplyDelete--Olivia
Secret Window was good. I didn't know he did the music for that. I'll have to watch it again now.
ReplyDeleteDr. Tucker suggested that we probably knew or had watched some Philip Glass movies without knowing that we had...well, I hadn't, with the possible exception of A Brief History of Time...I can't remember if I've seen that or only seen bits of it, or only heard of it. I had heard the names of The Thin Blue Line and The Illusionist, and of course Dracula (but was it his or some other make of the same?). None of the others have any recognition for me. What that means to me is that the reason I haven't seen them is advertising...they weren't advertised in the places I would notice them: film watching is something I do rather intentionally, picking and choosing from either old favorites or new ones coming out that look interesting or are based on works I already know. I don't just randomly sample. I may not have watched them even if I had seen advertising for them. Two others that I found on his official website that haven't been mentioned are the sequels to Koyaanisqatsi, Naqoyqtsi and Powaqatsi.
ReplyDeleteAnd this brings me to a comment on the Art Music vs. Popular Music discussion: Movie scores are currently, in my opinion, the only commercially viable art music. If you want to write new art music, and you also want to make money to support yourself and your family, you should consider movie scores. However, it's a difficult business to break into.
Although someone mentioned the LOTR movies, I noticed that no one mentioned Howard Shore perse'. Why is that?
To comment on whether popular music should be studied: yes. As it relates to and is built upon what comes before, I definitely think it should be mentioned. I think less time needs to be spent on it because especially among musically-thinking people it is already intrinsically understood. Someone made the point that if something significant grows out of Michael Jackson's music, then it will still be played, studied and understood...just like the Beatles music. Will we play this music in 100 years? I don't know, but we are still playing music that is 700 years old...so why not? Will it be popular or art music by then? That's another question...
I was pleased to notice that I recognized immediately the minimalist essence of the Steve Reich (sp?) piece. Yay! Esther knows a little bit of music, maybe, after all.
1. Koyannisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, Naqoyqatsi (Qatsi trilogy)
ReplyDelete2. The Thin Blue Line (1988)
3. Dracula (1931 film)
4. The Illusionist (2006)
5. Grand Theft Auto IV (I know it's not a movie)
On the discussion of whether we should listen to and study fine art or popular music, I agree with Stephen that we should study some of the popular music, at least up to 50 years ago. Good music is what people think is good. If people don't think neoclassicism is good, then it isn't. Even fine art music is supposed to be pleasing to us. It is not written to bore us for 30 minutes to 2 hours of our lives.
David
Sorry, he didn't write the original score for Dracula because he wasn't born until 1937. I don't know what Wikipedia means about a soundtrack in 1999 for a movie that was released in 1931.
ReplyDelete"In 1999, he finished a new soundtrack for the 1931 film Dracula." (from Wikipedia)
he re-wrote the soundtrack. replacing the old. It was mostly a silent film. I assume the music he replaced was in spots where people weren't talking. or maybe they didn't talk during the music.
ReplyDeleteI like Howard Shore but my favorite film composer has to be David Arnold.
I think that if you study Music Education that it is incredibly important that you study popular music. If you want instrumental techniques to make sense to Teenagers, you can and should use popular music as a platform for developing their interest.
ReplyDelete-Stephen