music snobs

Even though I still think 4'33'' is utterly pointless (4min33sec of silence), I'm beginning to have new respect for the man behind this piece of music. While I still find his music hard to stomach, I appreciate his philosophy behind his music, that there is beauty in everything if you look hard enough; and in the same vein there is beauty in every sound around us. I think this is a strong message to music purists everywhere – those snobs who insist that their classical music or bossa nova or whatnot represents the zenith of sound. Or the mainstream pop junkies who are so quick to dismiss jazz or heavy metal (both of which have challenged the conventions of music to some extent and at some point – they gradually attracted a larger following after the initial resistance) as noise.

There is a parallel to be drawn between abstract art and all those under-appreciated genres of music. Both are, on the surface, unpalatable to most, yet they express more raw emotion than their mainstream counterparts ever could, unfettered by convention. Conventions like, in the case of music, music theory; in art the need to resemble something. The beauty of abstraction lies not so much in its appearance as its subject matter/the emotions it tries to convey, and only when one experiences the painting on a more profound level does it become beautiful. The same can be said of jazz or metal or John Cage's works in their function as a sort of anti-aesthetic. They are all acquired tastes.

Sadly, most of us have developed an ear for strictly radio-friendly, melodic sounds, which according to Cage, is like developing an ego. It is the same ego that closes our minds to abstract art or cubism simply because they don't seem to resemble anything. We learn to refuse sounds and images that are so-called non-musical or non-visually pleasing, thereby cutting ourselves out from a great deal of experience.

Now i'm not saying I don't have any of that ego. I still cannot stand some of the music that's going on out there. But i'm hoping to open my mind to and explore more kinds of music. (hence my rather bizarre taste of late) I also felt compelled to rant about the music snobs who feel that they invented music and feel the need to define it for others.

“The first question I ask myself when something doesn't seem to be beautiful is why do I think it's not beautiful. And very shortly you discover that there is no reason.” - John Cage