judging new music

[ide!lofdahl@Sun.COM (Corey Lofdahl)]

In article <5179.8906011758@aipna.ed.ac.uk> you write:
>Really-From: Richard Caley <rjc%aipna.edinburgh.ac.uk@NSFNET-RELAY.AC.UK>
>
>>>Really-From: ide!lofdahl@Sun.COM (Corey Lofdahl)
>
>>>After all, what would happen
>>>if you liked the song and the artist turned out to be 
>>>too commercial (like Phil Collins), or too obscure 
>>>(like Kate Bush),
>
>Actually though there is more of a problem than you seem to believe. It
>really _is_ hard to respond to music you have never heard before. I
>suggest you go listen to some Gregorian Chant/Bartok/Tangerine
>Dream/Gong ( or whatever - pick something very different from anything
>you have heard ) and try and make rational comments after one hearing.
>

You bring up a very good point, though I bridle at the suggestion that
it is one that I don't understand.  In my posting, I simply pointed out that
some people feign a musical understanding they simply don't posess, confusing
a taste for mass-merchandised music with genuine musical appreciation.  
The subtle difference is in the way one approaches new music.  I know when
I hear a new piece of music, if I like it or am intrigued by it, I will
try and obtain it simply to expand my musical range.  At the other extreme
I knew a person who didn't want to listen to any new music because if he
liked that artist, he would have to buy all their CDs for his collection,
and he couldn't afford any more CDs.  Completeness was more important than
content.  So using your example, he would never listen to Tangerine Dream
because they have tens of albums out, and he could never afford to buy them
all, so he didn't want to listen to them because he was afraid he might
like them.  You're absolutely correct in saying that making rational 
comments after a single listening is difficult, but that's not the point.
It is only only by openly listening to new forms of musical expression 
that one can broaden his tastes and mature, which I will argue is a
inherently difficult but "good" thing to do.

	--Corey