Re: [microsound] microsound as pop music

[Andrei <andrei@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 17 Jul 2002, Stasisfield.com wrote:

> >But pop(ular) music sells millions of records,
> >generating huge revenues for corporations.  Academic
> >music is usually supported by grants, and is listened
> >to by a small group of listeners.  They are very, very
> >different. There is a distinction.
>
>
> If the definition of "pop music" includes "sell(ing) millions of
> records", how does one categorize work by someone like Marshall
> Crenshaw (to stray WILDLY from the realm of artists normally
> discussed here!) who has spent his lifetime crafting what I can only
> see fit to call "pop music" yet sells very few records?
>
> Can "pop" be as much an aesthetic as it is a label for music that
> gains a certain level of acceptance by the masses?


For me pop music is defined by the way it's constructed and by the way
it's (meant to be) consumed. Nothing to do with sales figures or
popularity. Pop music uses simple structures and simple/common musical
devices (i.e. tonal harmony, common rhythms, song structure, etc.) and can
be easily appreciated by anyone.
Pop music is primarily experienced in a visceral/sensual way. I don't
think people who mostly listen to pop music engage in active listening.
It's mostly about the general emotional effect a piece of music has on
them.

On the other hand I think with "academic" music active listening is a
requisite and sometimes more effort on the part of the listener is
required in order to understand it. Development within a piece of music
isn't really an issue in pop music, whereas that is an integral concept in
"academic" music.


I'm the one who kind of started this thread and I wanna say that the point
of making these distinctions isn't to point out one type of music's
superiority over the other. I think both pop music and academic music have
their strengths and weaknesses. I grew up on pop music and still listen to
lots of it. I don't think categorizing pieces of music as pop or academic
even serves much of a purpose in the end because it doesn't help one
enjoy listening to music in any way, which is what it's all about in the
end.
The reason I like to point out differences between these two types of
music is because it bothers me when people make comments about the musical
complexity/sophistication of a lot of what's referred to as microsound.

God, and does anyone actually refer to any music as microsound ? I know
personally I never use the term. Only if I'm referring to this mailing
list.


Andrei