Forum Review of Week 3 Forum

Today's forum was a journey. It was an opportunity to wake up, smell the roses, and break the chains of oppression. The revolution has began.

If a picture says a thousand words, David Harris' work that was performed today said about 1,160 or so; each word more powerful than the last (and the sum of the whole greater than the individual power of more than 1,700 words or so). But he did not choose to use words to say it... instead, David let him music do the talking. And boy, did it tell a story.

What David basically said, for the first time ever, is that music does not NEED to be tonal or metronomical to make sense. For me, this was a revelation. We are diving into unfamiliar territory here, I know, but bare with me. David showed that a work does not need to fit with "traditional" musical ideals, ones that state that music should be something you enjoy participating in, or at least listening to. This "pleasant" idea originated at the start of music, but the human mind has evolved past these naiive ideals.

Instead, David sees music as an opportunity to exapand your mind. Who would have thought you can grab a group of random notes and just write them all over the page however you feel for however many instruments the class has, and achieve such a powerful effect? David makes a statement that has not been made before, (it hasn't been made about 1,000 times), that music can be music for its own sake. And its very effective because it's such a new idea! David feels music does not need to feel pleasant and why should it? Happiness is just a state of mind, one that sometimes makes its presence accross our daily lives, but how about incrimental irritation? How about confused impatience? Or utter, even humurous disbelief? All these feelings, and even some negative ones were felt during the performance of the work. A true inspiration to the upcomming musician...

We have all heard the Beatles, and Led Zeppelin. But have we heard a random splatter of sound, with highlights including verbal expressions such as "the stomach lyning"? No. Is there a reason for this?... of course. We are IGNORANT. Totally ignorant, in a society that promotes art which creates positive feelings. Art can be so much more, or so much less, as this piece expresses. There is only one form of pure music, and that is the one which takes the least brain capacity to write, therefore leaving the rest of the brain to focus on other things, like dinner and teaching composition. If everyone wrote what sounds good, we would be living in fairy land. But what sounds good? That depends on the person doesn't it. To the common peasant, the commercial sounds of Elvis and Britney Spears are enough to satisfy them. But to the gifted savant, the destruction of harmonic language and common sense is only the beggining of the story... We understand the world on a different level. Tonality is not enough for me any more. I hope some day you'll join me. And the world will live as one... JohnyC, signing off.


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