Re: [microsound] state of beauty

[Julian Knowles <julianknowles@xxxxxxx>]

On Friday, November 26, 2004, at 09:12  AM, michael trommer wrote:

>> all music has stayed
>> much the same
>
> from the same source (The Origins of Music
> Nils L. Wallin, Björn Merker + Steven Brown):
>
> [This suggests] that music evolved and continues to function as a  
> courtship
> display, mostly broadcast by young males to attract females. (Miller)
>
> heeheehee !
>
> (couldn't resist this one)
>

And if you dig back to the context for that quote to see how the  
conclusion was drawn,. you find....

"I took random samples of... jazz albums... rock albums... and  
classical music works... [M]ales produced ten times as much music as  
females, and their musical output peaked in young adulthood, around age  
thirty, near the time of peak mating effort... [This suggests] that  
music evolved and continues to function as a courtship display, mostly  
broadcast by young males to attract females". (Miller)

One would hope the standard of criticism would be a bit higher than  
this in the rest of the book... That's one hell of a conclusion to  
draw!!! Of course we all know that the canon is representative of  
practice, don't we, and that gender politics have no relationship to  
the canon... and...  i'll stop there..

I think the review by Christopher Coleman is interesting

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0262232065/104-4777952- 
0840746?v=glance