Re: [microsound] ???

[david turgeon <david.t@xxxxxxxx>]

before i start, as a sidenote to the list: i was thinking about my
earlier contribution to this thread (the 'rude' message with offensive
capitals) & thought some _might_ actually think it rude (i sort of do
myself).  please accept my apologies if that were the case.

> > by the way, the american people have also
> >voted for a republican government.
> last I heard the american people voted for a democratic govt but the
> electoral college voted for a republican one...
> ???

i do have grudges with anyone who voted _either_ democrat or republican,
but what the hell; it's an unjust opinion if i applied it to everybody
as there aren't all that many visible alternatives save for the greens. 
i don't mean to criticize "the american people"; i think i was (probably
mistakenly) using the phrase the way every politician does, as this is
how everybody is _supposed_ to understand it; plus, it's not like the
federal election in canada was anymore fair...  my point was that the
right wing has "officially" taken over in north america & the western
world in general, & that it doesn't look good in general for culture
outside of the "ugly radio sound".  (unless the right wing mellows down
to a point where they are _completely indistinguishable_ from the
previous administration, in which case things might stay the same ~ not
too glorious a prospect either.)

> >Again, I think it's all personal preference.  Someone like Kim Cascone, who
> >I think is about as "inhuman" as an electronic composer can get (and who is
> >on record as disliking "emotional" electronic music) is still highly
> >interesting to me, even if only in terms of the music's gleamingly
> >impenetrible machinic surfaces  But again, its more of an admiration (or
> >perhaps interest) rather than actual emotional involvement, somewhat like
> >surveying some ingenious, anonymous bit of industrial design.

i agree.  it's obviously about personal preference, but it's also about
not considering that music must _convey emotion_ in order to be
classified as such.  i think music has to communicate somehow (even if
only through the movement of a vu meter) but "convey emotion"?  writing
& visual arts don't have to convey emotion, why should music?

i think that, as listeners, as soon as we understand (or at least make
up) some form of a "code" to understand a piece, we already become more
empathic towards it.  the emotion is in the listener, not the composer. 
as composers, we may use a sonic form which is known to usually elicit a
certain emotion ("okay, this is the sad part") but it's completely up to
the listener to interpret it as "the sad part".  happy music doesn't
make you happy just because it's "happy music".  & you're not a "robot"
because you listen to "robot music".

& once & for all: "inhuman music" is the sound of the wind on tree
leaves, the rain falling, volcanos exploding...

digital composers are, as a matter of fact, people too.

~ david