Prefatory note: I've always wanted to write an essay on this topic for my blog, so, having the excuse to do so for the Critics' Conversation, I post it here as well. “Artists hate terms” is a truism, but not one of the eternal truths of music. It is too often proved false - artists occasionally find terms very useful. Debussy repudiated “Impressionism,” Glass and Reich disavow “Minimalism,” and in the current climate these examples are triumphantly thrown in our face at every turn as though they embody an unalterable principle. But … [Read more...]
Paved with Good Intentions
August 3, 2004 By
Fellow blogger Drew McManus adds some apt cautionary points to my musings on granting degrees in music criticism: One of my overriding thoughts while reading the series of posts has been "why is it that a good share of music critics have no serious musical training?" I know that's a topic worthy of a large amount of debate, but I wonder that if too many schools eventually start offering degrees in music criticism then aren't they going to start producing more and more individuals that have no direct experience with the art they are … [Read more...]
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