Re: [microsound] the great depression of experimental music?

[Praemedia <praemedia@xxxxxxxxx>]

> Music flourished quite happily prior to becoming
> archived by either 
> notation or recording.

I think this would depend on what idea of 'flourish'
you had in mind. It existed, thats true, but it didn't
advance very far until notation. 

Ah, but there is an easy rebuttal hidden in that, so
keep reading to get to my response to that...

> The fact that notation and recording allowed musical
> techniques that we 
> wouldn't have otherwise have had available doesn't
> establish that the 
> result is any 'better' than what would have been
> produced if something 
> different had happened.

I never said it is or was 'better'. In fact, there
really is no way of determining this. Aside from the
fact that 'better' is a hugely subjective term, one
cannot compare (at least not accurately) a history
against what did NOT happen or what possible courses
it might have taken. 

This isn't to say one can't or shouldn't imagine it,
but to say one is 'better' than the other isn't were i
could possible go...

That said, without notation and then recording I'm
fairly certain most if not all of the music I love
would not have existed nor could it have if building
that sort of residual history hadn't been part of the
concern of art (and/or music).

> > Part of progress is leaving
> > behind a residue called 'history' for people to
> > reference.  
> 
> That, again, presuposses a value in modernity for
> its own sake.

No, it presuposses that I am only a product of the
history we have and so is our music. It is
(perhaps)too late to postulate another possible
history (thereby perhaps my bias toward what you are
referring to as 'mosernity'). It is not, however, too
late to start working on possible futures. My opinion
of what constitutes that future is not the only one,
which is why i think this sort of discussion is good.
 
> 'History' is embedded in our culture anyway, so
> music production will 
> reflect it intrinsicly.

I can't agree there given the difference between
different types of histories and trnasmissions of
cultural phenomenons....

BUT, to remove it from the 'history' debate for a
moment, here is a possible future....(yep, its
exagerrated doomsday stuff, but its just to make a
point)....

1. People buy less CDs or other forms of music which
put a few pennies in the pocket of artists.
2. Eventually very few artists can afford the
equipment to record, encode and upload there music or,
to do so they have to spend most of their day slaving
away at a corporate job (working for another evil
empire company in another industry, since the music
industry has virtually collapsed at this point).
3. Eventually companies who make the software and
hardware to make your music fold becuase they can't
afford to keep it up (thereby also throwing out a lot
more musicians onto the streets jobless).
4. With a lack of interest, corporate music hosting
services disappear. Most musicians have already pulled
their own hosted music sites off the net because they
can no longer afford the space.
5. A thriving CDR trade exists, but as degraded form
of the early cassette trade as cdrs rot in a decade or
so (unlike well cared for vinyl or even cassettes). As
less people purchase music, less companies make the
equipment to play it, eventually phasing out the cd
entirely. All thats left are mp3 players where you can
download subscription songs from the three remaining
megacompanies for a fee.
6. With less musicians able to reliably host and
distribute their music on the net due to the
skyrocketing costs (because, of course, at this late
stage in the doomsday scenario, internet access is
controlled by one or two companies who charge
impossibly high prices).

and etc......

.....just a possibility...

7. i suppose there will always by a haxk on a guitar
on the street corner, but the songs will remain
relatively unchanged for a few thousand more years as
they are  passed on orally from one to another. 

and etc.

lance




		
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