Re: [microsound] visual artists

[cyborgk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Well, perhaps it is also possible we are both correct, because I would
suggest that the political atmosphere changed substantially from 1971 to
1993 when I went to school, to become much more conservative.

But, of course this is also going to be different from university to
university; perhaps I simply had the misortune of being at the wrong
place.

Also, don't get me wrong, my COMPOSITION teacher was very supportive
(although somewhat old fashioned in some of his ideas; i.e. he thought
music needed "development" in the traditional western sense, as opposed to
static, non-western, or alternative forms). But amongst all the musicians,
orchestral, piano players, singers, and jazz musicians, the ideas about
music were overwhelmingly conservative, and those ideas were basically
reinforced. At the time I was really working a lot from the free jazz/free
improv tradition, and as I recall, that was especially incomprehensible /
unmusicial to a lot of people.

Also, I'm really referring to average WORKING musicians, in or out of
academia, who play instruments for a living. There's always a minority
with a totally different viewpoint but by and large there's a pretty
consistent idea on what music is. I say this having played piano on cruise
ships for a couple of years! Usually when I meet artists or students who
want to become artists, they seem much more interested in exploring and
experimenting.

However, I have to grant that all this is very personally biased, since
the art community has turned out to be much more interested in /
supportive of my work than the traditional music community, I feel more in
tune with them naturally.

~David

>
> On Feb 7, 2006, at 7:16 PM, David Powers wrote:
>
>> A lot of musicians still maintain very old fashioned ideas, on the
>> other hand, and they are never forced to ask themselves hard aesthetic
>> questions or consider broader questions on the nature of sound and
>> music. They typically consider someone like John Cage to be a complete
>> joke and crackpot!
>
> well, even though i come from a mostly visual art background i have to
> take some
> issue with this statement. my big eye-openers regarding experimental
> music came
> by way of an academic music institution -  Indiana University in
> Bloomington, IN.
> this was back in '71, and in addition to being a prestigious mainstream
> music college
> IU also had adventurous jazz and avant garde programs. Iannis Xenakis
> was in
> residence the year that i was there, and i saw him "perform" Bohor with
> a 16 channel
> speaker system circling the audience. in addition, i saw several
> recitals of new music,
> including some fantastic performances of Cage's prepared piano pieces.
> more than
> anything i got from my art studies, these experiences at age 18 totally
> changed my
> way of thinking about sound and music and set me firmly on the sonic
> path i'm still
> walking down. and it also had an immense impact on my visual art - most
> of the artists
> who were pushing the boundaries of sound and visuals were
> interdisciplinarians,
> and the intersection of art and sound was all the rage. on the other
> hand, the art program
> at IU left a lot to be desired, and after a year i moved on to another
> school.
> in any discipline there will be forward thinkers and those with
> blinders on.
> just my 2 cents.
> cheers
> bruce
>
> bruce tovsky
> www.skeletonhome.com
>
> "Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."
> Douglas Adams
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: microsound-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> For additional commands, e-mail: microsound-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> website: http://www.microsound.org
>
>



---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: microsound-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
For additional commands, e-mail: microsound-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
website: http://www.microsound.org