Re: [microsound] "Academic" computer music?

[Bill Jarboe <billjarboe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

on 3/7/03 8:31 AM, Richard Zvonar at zvonar@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> At 1:21 PM +0100 3/7/03, Massimiliano Viel wrote:
> I would call 'academic composer' a composer who is recognized in a tradition.
> 
> At 10:25 PM -0800 3/6/03, Bill Jarboe wrote:
> 
>> The reason I mentioned those people is that they 'teach' techniques ,
>> viewpoints , aesthetics  that have had an effect on my perception of what
>> computer music is. I'm not thinking of academic as someone holding tenure or
>> having a phD.
> 
> These are certainly reasonable interpretations of the word "academic"
> but it's a third, rather pejorative usage that I was reacting to. As
> one who passed through the hallowed halls and then chose to remain
> outside them, I've usually used that word (and I spell it "akademic")
> to refer to something didactic, doctrinaire, ossified rather than as
> a neutral reference to music history and education.

 I see it as something like 'church' ,' having babies'; something which
exists as an institution yet also is an organic phenomenon; something which
resides within the human and is a natural outcropping created by those who
congregate and seek the truth. It's certainly useful to have doctors ,
midwives and oxygen machines handy yet one can produce something equally
valid without them.

 To me it isn't a 'whatever' proposition . There is a clear difference
between a course of study with clearly defined goals taking into
consideration the sum of human knowledge published about the subject and
just 'surfing the sea of humanity' , making an impression or trying to
obtain items of value by physical force.
> 
> I've also worked with and socialized with some of these people.
> Pauline and Mort are decidedly anomalous within the university scene
> as a whole, though they tend to teach within institutions that run a
> bit contrary to the akademic.

 I sometimes wonder; does something have to be really dry sounding to be
considered academic? If there is just huge amounts of reverb is it
considered bedwetting and therefore to be avoided?

 There is also the matter of physicality. If a person gets wildly excited
about a piece of music and starts leaping about is it still academic?
Does one then get relegated to drama or dance?

 There seems to be a psychological need for sort of slack muscled , vaguely
inaccesible demi-gods to help the human race figure out what is intellectual
and what isn't , as if staying in one spot for a long period of time helps
one settle the elements and therefore is enabling in the detection of
nuance.
> 
> Xenakis, who was a marvelous teacher, did so as a sort of renegade.
> His time at Indiana was a particularly good example of how he was
> viewed (and shamefully treated) by the musical establishment.

 (For some reason) I visualize an opera titled 'Xenakis in Indiana' starring
a group of frat-boys and their girlfriends who sit around and figure out bad
versions of .38 special tunes , Foghat etc.. There is an occasional
dismissive  reference to a foreign guy with half his face blown off. There
are also run-ins with academic types who can't figure out a .38 special tune
even badly... I'd give away the ending except this may be a fragment of my
career 15 years from now.

  (just a few thoughts)

                             Bill 

------------------------------