Unusual Trends…
This week I have spent countless hours listening to submissions for a new music festival, my first such experience. I was struck by two unusual trends:
- Sounds that used to arouse negative valance (i.e. digital distortion and the like) are now free game for musical exploitation.
- Music that using Western materials that maintains stasis for entire pieces.
Concerning (1), I sense that composers are playing with “forbidden” sounds much like the Diabolus in musica.
Concerning (2), hasn’t this already been exquisitely accomplished by composers such as Messiaen, as in the Quartet for the End of Time.
In the midst of all of this, I ran across Kyle Gann’s blog, “View from Outside the Cage” on PostClassic. He acknowledges that John Cage was no different from any other composer that has a preferred aesthetic that he deems the best or coolest. His aesthetic just happened to be worlds away from the other composers of his time.
I bring this up to point out that I am able to clarify my personal aesthetic the more I see major trends that I would rather not happen.
Fortunately, much of what I heard was actually quite good, or at least almost there. I am excited each day to get back to my own work as I see and hear all of the amazing things that can be done. In the meanwhile, I just avoid the things I don’t particularly like.
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