What, a sensible person might ask, does this open door policy do for me?
First posted on Mark Is Cranky:
A bunch of years ago, I went on a serious Captain Beefheart jag. Trout Mask Replica was fed through my ears on a daily basis. My officemate at the time, spying the CD's bizarre cover art (yes, that was a real fish boys 'n girls), become interested in what was going on inside my headphones. I offered an overnight loan ("spread the word", I was thinking).
The next morning I arrived late to work to discover the Beefheart CD on my chair, affixed with a short Post-It note:
Well, that certainly left no room for debate!
Seriously though, it's fairly easy to hear why Trout Mask isn't for everybody. In fact, there's a whole world of music with limited appeal that I like to refer to as 'difficult listening'. That categorization for me has always pushed forward the mystery of why things sound 'good'. That's a giant problem best left for another essay. A more basic question might be: what is music?
Dictionary definitions tend to bring up melody, harmony and rhythm, all of which are categories of organized sound. Folks in the West like to think that melody is the most important aspect of music (read: if there's no melody, it's not music). This 'rule' leads to heated debate (OK, shouting matches) about the musical validity of certain forms. Rap music takes the most heat here.
After years of pouring (maybe too much) music into my head, I've come to the conclusion that none of the "big three" are necessary for sound to be music. Nosir. Instead, it's closer to the following dictionary entry:
An aesthetically pleasing or harmonious sound or combination of sounds: the music of the wind in the pines.
Think of it as: perceive it as music...and it is. I'll admit that this is a sort of over-intellectualized stance (go ahead, call it eggheaded) but if it was good enough for people like John Cage and Frank Zappa then it works for me.
What, a sensible person might ask, does this open door policy do for me? It doesn't really work like that. See, the reason I've adopted this 'rule' is that it appears to explain, and I suppose legitimize, my hankering for odd sounds. So, periodic thunking tones of mallets on stalactites of ice? Music. Electric guitar strings being scraped behind the bridge with a spatula? Music. A snare drum struck crisply in a cavernous room? Music. The human voice rhyming a story on top of a shattering beat? Music. Definitely.
Of course, none of this means that other folks have to like (or even appreciate) any of this music. It's just a framework that I use to justify the honks, shrieks, and clanks that ooze by my earbuds or out from under my listening room door. I will say this though...when a person declares that something is not music (let's use Rap as an example, where the most conflict occurs) maybe they should stop and think about the parallels to legitimacy being ignored. A spoken phrase, no matter how aggressive, has a contour to it - not unlike a melody. The syllables form a rhythm. Hey, we're two thirds of the way there!
I didn't blame my old work associate for pullin' the ripcord on Trout Mask Replica. The psychotic jazz/blues/field recordings presented there easily quality as 'difficult listening'. I can only hope that the seeds of the tree of odd music had been planted.
(For more thought-provoking ruminations on the nature of music, check out Blogcritics own mpho and the recent series Soothe Me, I'm Savage).…
Article comments
26 - Mark Saleski
i have to admit that sometimes it's fun to put on stuff like that (Stockhausen, Varese, etc.) just to see the reactions wash over peoples faces.
...but i do seriously love the stuff. the 'why' is the hard part. something i haven't yet written about because it's the hardest part to get to.
27 - Shark
John Cage said that the sound of traffic is the "new" silence.
Good stuff.
PS: Mark, nice to include the late-great Harry Partch, CD, AND the photo!
PPS: "What is art" and "What is music" are questions to be pondered ONLY by college students at 3 A.M. while smoking dope.
Seriously.
It's the law.
STOP IT.
xxoo
S
28 - Mark Saleski
to be pondered ONLY by college students at 3 A.M. while smoking dope
i spose...tho the problem there was that "what is music?" was soon replaced by "who's gonna call for pizza".
29 - Shark
Oh. Almost forgot:
it's amazing how adaptable our 'hearing' is. (at least mine, heh)
ie. Today's "noise" is tomorrow's music.
30 - JR
The old silence was way better than the crap the kids are listening to nowadays. In my opinion, it ain't even really silence anymore.
31 - Mark Saleski
not only that, their attention span is so short that they don't even appreciate a full 4'33" of silence. hell, they hardly make it to 2'27"!
32 - Phillip Winn
I'd tune in if a ClearChannel station starting broadcasting silence in either 2'27" or 4'33" chunks!
33 - Douglas Mays
Shark, re: comment 27. The art question. I have the answer.
Q: What is art?
A: What isn't?
-Pablo Picasso
34 - boldergeizd
It's been said before, and i agree.
It's all a perception thing.
Something becomes music as soon as you perceive it as music.
I think a key ingredient is time. Time provokes music. Standalone sounds start relating to
eachother as soon as time gets involved.
Sounds become series of sounds, and series of sounds can be perceived as music.
I think Miles was referring to time when he said "Music is the space between notes".
Which makes a nice bridge to my next point.
I'd like to add that i think the reach of music is not limited to our ears. I think it can
be experienced with other senses just as well. You can see music in a motion, in a painting,
...
I think it's no coincidence Miles used the word space to refer to time.
Space is a visual representation of time. Space is a distance on a time line.
Defining music with a visual parameter is no abstract concept to Miles,
space actually is what he perceives and tries to express.
Many artists use such swithes to talk about what they do.
Describing music with colors ( blue music, caramel drums, ...).
Describing paintings using terms as rhythm and harmony.
Describing literature with dynamical elements as flow.
Describing an architectural piece of work with "there's a slow but steady beat to it."
Music is a mood thing, and moods are cross-platform.
what about these questions :
Does music exist ?
Is music an illusion ?
Is music mathematics ?
Is music a perversion of our mind and senses ?
Do animals experience music as music ?
Well, I think I'll have a big pepperoni with cheese and extra cacciatore.
Burrrps ...
What was it again we were talking about only seconds ago ?
Damn, I know we were talking about something really interesting, i just can't remember what
it was. What was it ?
boldergeizd
35 - mpho
Hey Mark,
Great rumination. With this you've hit the nail on the head: "An aesthetically pleasing or harmonious sound or combination of sounds: the music of the wind in the pines." Reminds me of the subjective nature of dance. You know how there's always one or two people in the room about whom is said s/he can't dance? My brother had a great observation. It's not that they can't dance, it's that they're dancing to a different song than everyone else, and that song is always the same: Jimmy Cracked Corn. Next time you see someone who you think can't dance, get Jimmy Cracked Corn going in your head and you'll realize that they are actually dancing quite well. Dancing, music, art--all so subjective, all aesthetically pleasing to one person but not the next one. Trout Mask Replica is a good example of music that isn't conventional, but it has pleased (and influenced) a lot of people. Thanks for the props by the way. I'm going to cross-post you too. Kudos.
36 - Mark Saleski
thanks mpho.
and i tell ya, i've never heard that jimmy cracked corn thing about dancing...but it's fricken funny!
37 - Shark
um, you've apparently never seen me "dance".
It's best if you imagine I'm *dancing to John Cage's 4'33'' !
*I'm not only extremely white, but I don't move at all.
38 - Mark Saleski
i liked douglas mays' picasso comment. very cool.
39 - Al Barger
Trout Mask Replica is chock full of melody, rhythm and harmony. These are some highly organized sounds.
40 - Mark Saleski
very true.
but there's plenty of other music out there with none of those components.
41 - Al Barger
Please be more specific, Mark. What would be some worthwhile music that does NOT have melody, rhythm or harmony? What artist, album, composition?
42 - Mark Saleski
there's a ton of fully improvised music out there that's closer to what we're discussing:
Derek Bailey
Han Bennink
Bruce Eisenbeil
Peter Brotzmann
Evan Parker
43 - Al Barger
Alright, that's narrowing it down a little. Could you recommend specific works by some of these composers?
"Improvised" however does not mean lacking in melody, but just describes the manner in which it is being generated.
44 - Mark Saleski
go ahead and check out almost anything by Derek Bailey. no melody there. still music.
45 - damme vi
hi!!!!!!!!!!! you see me dancing me? i'm damme vi necesario fron cadiz city negross occ. in philippines and i know also in singing..................