The Tyranny of Pop Music

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Poor Nat. Nobody seems to stick to his burning question about the volume dial.

Well, on the "What the flazes is he going on about" scale of comprehensibility, it does go up to eleven.

[ardcarp]

I've arrived rather late to this thread I'm afraid, having just heard the Sunday repeat. For me it's the tyranny of piped music that's the problem, as the Lord gave us eyelids but unfortunately not earlids. It's the inflicting of someone's personal sound on others that offends me. Scruton was making a particular point against pop music (vacuous, naive, repetitive) saying that it spoiled young people's ears/brains for the finer things in life, and he quoted Beethoven late quartets, I think. The latter have always been the food of the musical gourmet, I would hazard, so probably a silly example. His point about young people (he used the 'student' word) being given the opportunity of other types of music via singing and playing is well made, though, but it must start young. No point in making the average 15-year-old start the violin from scratch (literally)...and probably 'musical appreciation' is dead in the water by then. One of my g-kids has Shostakovitch's 5th as a set work for A-level. As she's been brought up in a musical household it's not too unapproachable for her. But I can well imagine that for a kid whose only experience of the world of music so far has been GCSE vacuity, it would be a total shock and very difficult to find any pleasure from.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Poor Nat. Nobody seems to stick to his burning question about the volume dial.

Perhaps the point is that there should be no volume dial. If you want the music to be loud, then you should make the effort yourself.

I think amplified busking should be banned

[P. G. Tipps]

Spot on
What we need is a test to weed out the "wrong'uns"

Oh, no need for any test or a Chilcott-style Inquiry, as we are now clearly surrounded by the 'wrong 'uns', Mr GG!

Let's simply copy best American practice and just fire or incarcerate the little blighters, instead?

[Bryn]

Perhaps the point is that there should be no volume dial. If you want the music to be loud, then you should make the effort yourself.

I think amplified busking should be banned

What, no string instruments, woodwind or brass (where the original sound source is amplified acoustically)?

[MrGongGong]

But I can well imagine that for a kid whose only experience of the world of music so far has been GCSE vacuity, it would be a total shock and very difficult to find any pleasure from.

I know what you mean by "GCSE vacuity"

http://www.musicalcontexts.co.uk/index_files/page0006.htm

I think amplified busking should be banned

I've just had an incredible Déjà vu moment




Replace all the singer songwriters with their battery amps with Samba bands and make the world a more peaceful place?
Can't see any problem with that, can you?

What, no string instruments, woodwind or brass (where the original sound source is amplified acoustically)?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

"GCSE vacuity"? Handel's And the Glory of the Lord, Chopin's "Raindrop" Prelude, Schönberg's Op 16, #4, Mozart's "40th" Symphony, Reich's Electric Counterpoint, "Something's Coming" (from West Side Story, Miles Davis' All Blues, Jeff Buckley's Grace, three pieces of "World Music" - PLUS at least six composition projects, and solo and ensemble performance.

Anyone care to challenge their own knowledge of Hexachord relationships with that of a 16-year-old having followed so "vacuous" a course?

[ahinton]

Oh, no need for any test or a Chilcott-style Inquiry

I agree that this would not be a good idea; after all, why launch an inquiry when the inordinate delays in publication of its findings would be such as to encourage anyone interested in those findings to lose the will to live - or even lose their lives anyway!

[jean]

...One of my g-kids has Shostakovitch's 5th as a set work for A-level. As she's been brought up in a musical household it's not too unapproachable for her. But I can well imagine that for a kid whose only experience of the world of music so far has been GCSE vacuity, it would be a total shock and very difficult to find any pleasure from.

Putting aside whether the GCSE syllabus is 'vacuous' or not, it sometimes seems to be assumed that the standard C19 orchestral repertoire is the best way into classical music for anyone not brought up on it.

But I've always thought that that is not a stage anyone needs to go through - Shostakovitch may well have a direct appeal to anyone with an awareness of jazz, just as medieval music can appeal to those with a knowledge of folk music who may have shunned the standard repertoire.

[jean]

In defence of Table Music...

Isn't it a fact, though, that it was only the King who got anything to eat?

So the rest of them were probably listening all the more intently, to take their minds off how hungry they were

[teamsaint]

I would have thought that most GCSE students would have been exposed to plenty of music , outside of the syllabus that makes demands of the listener. Various genres of Metal, for example.

[ardcarp]

Needless to say my 'GCSE vacuity' comment was borne of total ignorance.

Luckily one doesn't have to be expert (or even informed) to join in this jolly old Forum. My only experience of GCSE music was of the aforementioned grandchild's taking of it. She got an A* but largely on the merits of her performances (clarinet and singing) and of a 'composition' which, charming though it was, consisted of a couple of arpeggiated chords (all root position, of course) and a pop-influenced tune. Her knowledge of the nuts and bolts of music (key sigs, time sigs, everything else) was entirely acquired through doing Grade V Theory at home and not through school.

I think my point is that even understanding (seeing?) an orchestral score comes as a complete surprise at A-level. GCSE seems no preparation for it.

But what do I know?

[doversoul1]

Isn't it a fact, though, that it was only the King who got anything to eat?

So the rest of them were probably listening all the more intently, to take their minds off how hungry they were

I imagine Telemann’s table music was slightly more Republican-ish leaning than some table and other music in France.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

She got an A* but largely on the merits of her performances (clarinet and singing) and of a 'composition' which, charming though it was, consisted of a couple of arpeggiated chords (all root position, of course) and a pop-influenced tune. Her knowledge of the nuts and bolts of music (key sigs, time sigs, everything else) was entirely acquired through doing Grade V Theory at home and not through school.

I think my point is that even understanding (seeing?) an orchestral score comes as a complete surprise at A-level. GCSE seems no preparation for it.

But what do I know?

A great deal, in my opinion. I think GSCE music is largely a waste of time, the aim being to get bums on seats.

[P. G. Tipps]

I note that one of the First Minister of Scotland's contributions today on the increasingly awful Desert Island Discs was some wretched pop-song entitled "Sisters are Doin' it for Themselves"

One would certainly suppose the FM might have the perfect opportunity to fully utilise her sisterly self-reliance if she ever found herself stranded alone on a desert island?