On Aug 25, 2007, at 10:25 PM, PORRES wrote: for Christ Sake, which world do you live in? Demand a survey for the obvious? I am speechless When I hear the deity invoked on Sunday morning concerning sensory consonance, I suspect that we have reached a state that Koreans describe as "Talking East, Hearing West." Permit me to attempt an analysis of the miscommunication. There is the world of music heard in ordinary life, a world where the statistics of performances, recordings, downloads, and degrees of recognizability count. That would appear to be Martin Braun's reference. There is the world of music conservatories and departments, where various (sometimes erroneous) standard narratives are taught concerning the history and craft of music. That would appear to be the reference for Martin's perplexed respondents. I once studied in a conservatory with one of Schoenberg's best pupils (Leonard Stein). I once worked in a dot.com music company where popularity was the leading indicator of significance. The two worlds rarely come in contact with each other, and each assumes the other is irrelevant. And in their own way, each is correct. Could we now move on? Best wishes, Bob Gjerdingen The School of Music Northwestern University |