tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10680113.post382442403288007423..comments2024-03-23T11:40:13.092-05:00Comments on Musical Assumptions: Knowing Stuff About MusicElaine Finehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248422399226824168noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10680113.post-89952716726942359892012-11-16T12:40:33.005-06:002012-11-16T12:40:33.005-06:00What a fantastic Holland quote, Anonymous!
Yes he...<i>What a fantastic Holland quote, Anonymous!</i><br /><br />Yes he has several good ones!<br /><br />(I had a login glitch yesterday)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12254138622622583294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10680113.post-86683895549092503812012-11-16T11:17:44.752-06:002012-11-16T11:17:44.752-06:00In context, I'm not so impressed with the Holl...In context, I'm not so impressed with the Holland quotation. He was reviewing a book called "Musical Languages," by Joseph Swain, which is described elsewhere as a systematic attempt to compare music with language. I cannot tell whether it's a book intended for a popular or academic audience. However, it's clear that Holland is basically opposed to that approach - which doesn't make him a good reviewer for the book, unless he's going to make a serious and cogent case why it's a bad approach. Instead, he's impressionistic.<br /><br />In the review, he uses an example from the book that...well, he may find it problematic, but I certainly don't. The whole review is an argument against analysis or intellectual attempts to understand music.<br /><br />It's just another case of Lazy Bernard Holland, IMO. And I'm betting the anonymous poster is the Pelleastrian, the only person I know who regularly, and approvingly, quotes Holland.Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10680113.post-87885721884391516052012-11-16T11:06:22.997-06:002012-11-16T11:06:22.997-06:00What a fantastic Holland quote, Anonymous! And I&...What a fantastic Holland quote, Anonymous! And I'm happy to have company in my acceptance of an ever-expanding lack of knowledge, Lisa and Erin.Elaine Finehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14248422399226824168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10680113.post-5951440862486446692012-11-15T21:09:13.091-06:002012-11-15T21:09:13.091-06:00I thought I knew a bit about music, until I starte...I thought I knew a bit about music, until I started working at a big arts centre and writing about it all the time... that was a crash course in all the things I didn't know. I got to work with this man (http://marshallmarcus.wordpress.com) and I learned quite a bit from talking through the season's programming and how it all fit together. But I am the first to admit I don't know a lot! Still!Erinhttp://erinatlarge.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10680113.post-58105670633603908442012-11-15T20:13:45.330-06:002012-11-15T20:13:45.330-06:00Elaine,
Thank you for your humility.
And here is...Elaine,<br /><br />Thank you for your humility.<br /><br />And here is a nice addendum by Bernard Holland:<br /><br />"Music is terrifyingly simple, something the inquiring intellectual has a hard time dealing with. Its effects can be profound and lasting, but its processes render the word ''meaning'' meaningless. Music bypasses reason. It attacks us directly and unthinkingly. Music wears its illiteracy proudly, like a medal. I know this from my work as a music critic. I am helpless to write about what music is; I can only record the aftershocks it leaves behind"<br /><br />http://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/16/books/classical-view-what-s-easy-on-the-ears-can-be-painful-to-describe.html?pagewanted=all&src=pmAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10680113.post-66154718430597071282012-11-15T16:38:21.909-06:002012-11-15T16:38:21.909-06:00Hoo boy, 100% agreement on this one.Hoo boy, 100% agreement on this one.Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.com