RE: [microsound] Is microsound boring?

[Paulo Mouat <microsound@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> why do you think xenakis was right?

Given that music is quite subjective in nature and subject to cultural
baggage, I do think he's right.  Moreover, I think the quote applies to
music in general and not to only his own pieces.

> but you are right, i should have written "most avantgarde
> *music* fail to communicate/connect".

Well, in my own music and in the music I like to listen, I couldn't care
less about the issue of communication.  Why should I bother with what
audiences think/perceive/imagine?  That's their concern, not mine.
That's part of the challenge and part of the pleasure.  So, that's why I
asked:  Why do you think avant-garde wants to communicate something
specific -- something unequivocally defined?

As for connecting, I don't think avant-garde music is composed to
'connect'.  It is composed to intimately and personally express visions,
ideas and sensibilities, not to be read as a newspaper or the latest
best-seller romantic novel.

> the structures (or whatever) that the listener hear may or
> may not be the same ones as the composer used when producing
> the piece. but this is nothing new and is true for most
> music styles.

Who said it was new?  And if you're aware of it and that it is true for
other styles, why do you contend that avant-garde should be different
and complain that it isn't?

> xenakis? actually i have been listening to him (both music
> and text) on and off since the early 70s.

Does this give you more authority when discussing Xenakis?

> he was a cool guy.  but using software to compose music
> requires a great deal of work and most tend to give up
> early and take the easy way out by increasing the element
> of chance

True.  Although I fail to see how this would apply to avant-garde music
in general.

> so much that the end result is just boring (most random
> music tend to sound the same).

True.  Much like <insert your favourite genre here>-music tends to sound
the same to someone not attuned to it.
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   ___     Paulo Mouat
  |___|    http://www.mp3.com/0010minimal
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