Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site lanl.ARPA Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!godot!harvard!seismo!cmcl2!lanl!jlg From: jlg@lanl.ARPA Newsgroups: net.music.classical Subject: Re: discussion Message-ID: <18405@lanl.ARPA> Date: Thu, 20-Dec-84 23:01:18 EST Article-I.D.: lanl.18405 Posted: Thu Dec 20 23:01:18 1984 Date-Received: Sun, 23-Dec-84 05:23:11 EST References: <> <61@lanierrnd.UUCP> Sender: newsreader@lanl.ARPA Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory Lines: 26 > Needless to say I don't. I'm trying to educate my taste in music, and > here's a big question I confront often: > SHOULD I enjoy this? > It's true that there's music that almost everyone agrees is bad, and some that > almost everyone agrees is good. In fact, outside those classifications, > people can often agree that piece A is better than piece B. But what is > the object of good taste in music? A friend once told me, "If I don't > enjoy a piece, it's my problem." That's an easy and good answer to > the problem, but I can't live with that. Is there always an answer to > whether a piece is good or bad? Is there sometimes an answer? I have recently maintained that musical taste is totally subjective and that what agreement there is, is culturally based and depends upon the individuals background. I used to think that there should be some objective criterion by which to value music, but I can't come up with a consistent system. Based upon this idea I can't conclude that any of John Cage's music is bad since any given piece may fall within someones subjective range of what he considers good. I can conclude that random music generation IS a bad idea, since it does not necessarily generate music that anyone will like - not even the 'composer' (the human component of the composition process). To be good music, I think there should be directed effort on SOMEONE'S part to make the music enjoyable. Of course, these are just MY conclusions. I don't like John Cage either, but I have not felt the need to defend my tastes for some time since I think the whole thing is purely subjective anyway.