Re: [microsound] music is the ultimate incorruptible

[nick knouf <nknouf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mar 16, 2006, at 7:36 PM, mat.the.w wrote:
> I'd like to point out that Cage's compositional technique is just  
> as precise
> and controlled as Schoenbergs, if not more.

Exactly.  I recently attended a concert that featured a performances  
of "Variations II", the piece that uses transparent sheets of  
plastic, dots, and lines; the details of the performance are  
determined by the distance of the dots from the line.  So what first  
appears to be random is in fact highly precise.

On Mar 16, 2006, at 4:47 PM, erik schoster wrote:
> I'm not such a pessimist that I think very beautiful or aesthetic  
> things
> can't happen in a traditional context, or that it's impossible to  
> preserve
> your agency as a listener in a performance situation (if that's the  
> goal -
> maybe the goal is to completely submit, or something in between...)  
> but i
> think it's worth discussing, since i dont' see that power  
> relationship ever
> going away.

I want to latch on to the uses of the words "submit" and "power".   
While I understand the general thrust of the points here, I think our  
conceptualizations of these two words leads to a certain distaste of  
more Western-traditional methods of presenting music.  To me, power  
relations in music connote specific situations where there is an  
extremely clear division between the roles of the performer and the  
listener, and a series of social rules that prevent particular  
actions on the part of one group (I'm looking at you, traditional  
classical music concert).  Yet even for happenings of sound that fit  
into this category, there are particular times in my life, as I'm  
sure for others on this list, that such a happening is the most  
appropriate means of experiencing the sounds.  Perhaps my  
participation is being a conscientious listener of the event; that's  
the extent of the participation.  Is this submission?  Maybe, but if  
it is, it's *conscious* submission, a choice on my part to exchange  
some of my power (to listen in a certain way, act in a certain way,  
etc.) for the chance to experience someone else's power over me.

This reminds me of a thought I had back in secondary school, where I  
would hear about how we all needed to be leaders; yet if we're all  
leaders, who are the followers?  Who do we lead?

So I think the question is not about making the power relationships  
go away; in fact, I think that would be extremely detrimental.  In my  
likely-idealistic view, if we're aware of these relationships, if we  
enter into them willingly and know what we want to expect as a result  
of the experience, then the fact that we've ceded power to someone  
else, for a short period of time, becomes a non-problem.

nick

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