Certain musical forms are so highly specialized as to raise the question as to whether it is the music or the rarefied knowledge related to the arcana of the style that is esteemed.
Such are the ways of artifice and contrivance, but in any case it is the listener who makes the judgement, and very few listeners care more for exclusionary, byzantine aesthetics than trust their own ears-- nor should they.
A critical listener with well-rounded tastes is capable of appreciating music of all types, and of listening accordingly in the various ways that offer the greatest enjoyment. The pleasure of music is self-evident, and, the difficulties of composition and performance notwithstanding, it is a chief source of satisfaction to the musical artist to convey that shared sense of enjoyment to the listener.
Such are the ways of artifice and contrivance, but in any case it is the listener who makes the judgement, and very few listeners care more for exclusionary, byzantine aesthetics than trust their own ears-- nor should they.
A critical listener with well-rounded tastes is capable of appreciating music of all types, and of listening accordingly in the various ways that offer the greatest enjoyment. The pleasure of music is self-evident, and, the difficulties of composition and performance notwithstanding, it is a chief source of satisfaction to the musical artist to convey that shared sense of enjoyment to the listener.
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Comments opened Jan. 2016. All comments moderated, out of respect for the intelligence of the audience.