Hi Readers,
Can you recall being moved to tears by a song? Not by the lyrics or the message, but by the actual melodies and harmonies themselves? It's a rare accomplishment when it happens, but when it does, it is magical. You don't know how or why you're crying, you just know that there are tears in your eyes.
When I listened to Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand during a concert at the U of I, I remember sitting there during the flute and piano interlude and having tears stream down my face. It was literally that beautiful. Others may listen to the same thing and say "meh", which saddens me because they are not able to experience a slice of heaven.
It is weird to think about how much music has changed in the last century. Traditionally, music has undergone leaps roughly every century. You had baroque music (Bach) in the 17th century, classical music (Mozart) in the 18th, Romantic music (Chopin) in the 19th, and Impressionism (Ravel) / minimalism (Satie) in the 20th.
However, in no time during history has music undergone such a revolution as between the 20th and 21st centuries. The piano and violin became overshadowed by the guitar and drums, and the regular musical structures that were established in history became obsolete as repetitiveness, arising from musical minimalism, became the norm. Operas are now movies, chamber music are now rock bands, and symphonies are now giant music festivals.
Has there really been such a radical change in people's psyche, that "classical music" (a modern term commonly used to agglomerate the music from the 17th century all the way to 20th century) has so fallen out of favor with the public that it is now looked upon as an "elite" symbol?
I personally feel that the cultural revolution that has stemmed from the availability of technology has completely destroyed the vertical hierarchy of the institution of music. If Tchaikovsky or Mozart lived in the modern world, they'd likely be penniless, with no ability to find a record company willing to take their songs, and no clubs willing to play their music. In technical electrical engineering terms, the signal-to-noise ratio of composer quality has degraded so much in the past century that the signal peaks are all but drowned out in the white noise. All we have left now are mediocre bands who are catering to our tastes and not caring about the foundation of music - the development of the melody, harmony, and rhythm.
Musical exceptionalism has disappeared from the vast majority of music. With the democratization of supply and demand for music, future generations will see the current era for what it is - the lost era of music. It's so sad.
-FCDH
Can you recall being moved to tears by a song? Not by the lyrics or the message, but by the actual melodies and harmonies themselves? It's a rare accomplishment when it happens, but when it does, it is magical. You don't know how or why you're crying, you just know that there are tears in your eyes.
When I listened to Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand during a concert at the U of I, I remember sitting there during the flute and piano interlude and having tears stream down my face. It was literally that beautiful. Others may listen to the same thing and say "meh", which saddens me because they are not able to experience a slice of heaven.
It is weird to think about how much music has changed in the last century. Traditionally, music has undergone leaps roughly every century. You had baroque music (Bach) in the 17th century, classical music (Mozart) in the 18th, Romantic music (Chopin) in the 19th, and Impressionism (Ravel) / minimalism (Satie) in the 20th.
However, in no time during history has music undergone such a revolution as between the 20th and 21st centuries. The piano and violin became overshadowed by the guitar and drums, and the regular musical structures that were established in history became obsolete as repetitiveness, arising from musical minimalism, became the norm. Operas are now movies, chamber music are now rock bands, and symphonies are now giant music festivals.
Has there really been such a radical change in people's psyche, that "classical music" (a modern term commonly used to agglomerate the music from the 17th century all the way to 20th century) has so fallen out of favor with the public that it is now looked upon as an "elite" symbol?
I personally feel that the cultural revolution that has stemmed from the availability of technology has completely destroyed the vertical hierarchy of the institution of music. If Tchaikovsky or Mozart lived in the modern world, they'd likely be penniless, with no ability to find a record company willing to take their songs, and no clubs willing to play their music. In technical electrical engineering terms, the signal-to-noise ratio of composer quality has degraded so much in the past century that the signal peaks are all but drowned out in the white noise. All we have left now are mediocre bands who are catering to our tastes and not caring about the foundation of music - the development of the melody, harmony, and rhythm.
Musical exceptionalism has disappeared from the vast majority of music. With the democratization of supply and demand for music, future generations will see the current era for what it is - the lost era of music. It's so sad.
-FCDH
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