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From: rlr@pyuxn.UUCP (Rich Rosen)
Newsgroups: net.music.classical
Subject: Re: Differences between pop and classical
Message-ID: <1114@pyuxn.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 14-Sep-84 19:46:29 EDT
Article-I.D.: pyuxn.1114
Posted: Fri Sep 14 19:46:29 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 25-Sep-84 01:37:57 EDT
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Organization: Bell Communications Research, Piscataway N.J.
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>    To Mr. Janzen's remarks I would also add that classical music requires
> a great deal more mental effort from all parties involved-- composer,
> performer(s), and listener-- than does pop. And I don't mean merely that
> classical works are longer and therefore require sustained concentration,
> though this is a major part of it. I mean that the effort-per-unit-time
> is higher in classical music. I admit I don't know much about how pop
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> songs are produced these days, but I can't help but get the impression
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> that quite a bit less work goes into a five-minute rock tune than went
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> into a piece of comparable length by, say, Stravinsky.
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Perhaps that's because the "impression" so many seem to get of "pop songs"
is based solely on exposure to Top 40 radio ("WZZZ, home of the sheep, where
the commercials are included right in the songs so you can be told what to
buy while you sleep").  The list I could offer of artists (mis)labelled as
"popular music" (mainly because "popular" hardly describes their status) would
floor you.  Underground and college radio may be the only places one gets to
hear such music (other than live).  If you wish to build the fence you've
just described (X.Y nunu's, where the nunu is the effort-per-unit-time unit,
is the threshold that separates "classical" music from "pop"), what are our
choices?  Should we move all of the really good music currently called
popular "above" the boundary line into the realm of serious/classical/whatever,
or should we just forget about making such fences!!!!!!!!!

(Amazing how no one has actually engaged in the stereotyping I described,
implying that classical music was above some threshold which pop music fell
below.  :-)  Maybe next time I'll just for other people's actions to make
my points for me... )
-- 
Now I've lost my train of thought. I'll have to catch the bus of thought.
			Rich Rosen    pyuxn!rlr