source file: mills2.txt Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 09:22:07 -0700 Subject: Post from McLaren From: John Chalmers From: mclaren Subject: More marvellous musical insights from the musical cognitive elite -- Without concern for how the music *sounds*, no system of composition can long survive. And the endeavour to keep a brain- dead theory of composition from perishing, on life support, years after its rationale has gone, can only lead to brain death. The latest outbreak of this symptomatic condition bursts forth in Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 39, Nos. 1 & 2, 1995, pp. 554-558. The article is "Cheered By Battleship," by James Boros. It's quite something. "It ended in an open shaftway, following LBJ's example. By designating cauldron 19 as their sauce, mirages (against no odds) vented mighty grams of plenty, and cast visceral tracking smoke in henceforth unforeseen celebtrations of danger. Without too much grinding, her inappropriate spasm posed as a lofty cur: negation would only disprove gaiety in instances *not* involving firecrackers declared inspid by consensual bigotry. Having agonized under lack of stress, the rambunctious turnip sought deadening solids as a means of obtaining `gaslight marginality' admist dining vocations of porn. Besides, where in Charlie's hell is there room for another afghan recorder?" [Boros, James, "Cheered By Battleship," Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 39, Nos. 1 & 2, pp. 554-555] Ah, the aroma of modern 12-TET music theory! Reminiscent of a Tasmanian devil sniffing its own arse... In the Alice In Wonderland world of so-called "serious" modern music theory, *this* is what passes for profound investigation into the nature of contemporary music. Meanwhile, when I write: "if we've learned ANYTHING by reading the past 60 years of music history, we've learned that there *isn't* any final stage of musical evolution. There is no `ultimate style.' There is no `Single correct way to compose.'" .. When I write such a sentence, these are the ravings of an unpleasant crank. By contrast, James Boros demonstrates sublime insight into modern music when he blesses us with these nuggets of immortal wisdom: "...On and on, reeling in daft plaque via assorted remora directionality... Semblances, forked like brazen espresso wallflowers, logged furiously against the wishes of `kelp,' delegating crap to wealthy bunglers whose pouches struck Mickey as naked." [Boros, James, "Cheered By Battleship," Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 39, Nos. 1 & 2, pg. 555] The ravings of a tiresome crank: "The clearest example of this Orwellian and ruthless state of musical conformity is of course the string quartet. Offhand, there's no reason at all why 4 fretless string instruments couldn't perform in any scale desired-- 19-TET, 31-TET, 53-TET, 11-TET, the free-free metal bar scale, the Bohlen-Pierce scale, or any other tuning. Naturally, any string quartet that gets handed such a score will burn the offending sheaf of music paper and bury the ashes. Naturally, all string players have been programmed to perform in 12, only 12, always 12, forever 12." -- mclaren, Tuning Digest 592 Profound modern music theory: "Traditions upheld with a pang, we jogged into sunbeams laden with molten beef, and skimmed the celebrants' Tuscany while dimming flaps Prognoses adhered to rougher points (like sawteeth) despite their having been abused in deep water." [Boros, James, "Cheered By Battleship," Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 39, Nos. 1 & 2, pg. 555] The ravings of an unpleasant crank: "Moreover, the most important facts about the equal tempered scales are not available in and have never been mentioned in the music theory journals: Each equal temperament has its own `sound,' or `mood,' or `sonic fingerprint.' Ivor Darreg was the first to point this out, in his 1975 Xenharmonic Bulletin. Over a period of some 25 years, he made literally hundreds of different demonstration cassettes showing the vivid differences in sound between different equal temperaments. No academic music theory journal has ever referred to these clearly audible differences between equal temperaments." --mclaren Profound modern music theory: "Upon crossing the lumbar nerve, it noted several uranium holster supplements making faces at crossfire emitted from one of the New England states. Her dance resembled that of a thumbprint, water-logged janitors aside." [Boros, James, "Cheered By Battleship," Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 39, Nos. 1 & 2, pg. 555] Yes indeedy... In the Alice In Wonderland realm of so-called "serious" modern music, black is white, up is down, dry is wet, ignorance is strength, freedom is slavery, and gibberish is profundity. Sho' nuff, chilluns... Passages like "This grieving advertisement put 'em in a vault with lather and resin, and prayed for the delivery of wounds" offer incisive illumination into the nature of modern music (because after all they appear in a "serious" modern music journal, Perspective of New Music). Meanwhile, my statements that 12-TET music theory has descended into a frenzied spiral of mental masturbation and glossolalia are the ravings of a crank. Yes, once we step behind the looking glass and emerge into the world of modern music theory, anything is possible. Anything, it would seem, but common sense, logic, and sanity. --mclaren Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Wed, 14 Aug 1996 22:23 +0200 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA11476; Wed, 14 Aug 1996 22:23:38 +0200 Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA11412 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id NAA27380; Wed, 14 Aug 1996 13:23:36 -0700 Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 13:23:36 -0700 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu