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From: ISSSSM@NUSVM.BITNET (Stephen Smoliar)
Newsgroups: comp.music
Subject: RE: WHY NO ONE CARES WHAT S. PAGE DOES
Message-ID: <9106260038.AA13566@lilac.berkeley.edu>
Date: 26 Jun 91 00:39:12 GMT
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X-Unparsable-Date: Wed, 26 Jun 91 08:37:18 SST

In article <1991Jun25.044117.8155@rand.org> edhall@rand.org (Ed Hall) writes:
>
>Any theory of music which focuses on pitch and duration, to the exclusion
>of other factors, is nothing but a form of numerology.  In fact, even
>more inclusive theories of music fall far short if they ignore the
>effect of music upon the mental state of the listener or practitioner.
>The goal of music is, after all, to produce things to be played and
>listened to, and not the production of grist for the analytic mill.
>
>My apologies any open-minded theorists out there who recognize the
>centrality of human experience to this thing we call "music."  My
>hat is off to those distinguished few, and I am left with just one
>question for them: Why have you not succeeded in awakening your
>souless brethren?
>
If you had attended the Oakland meeting of the Society for Music Theory, you
might have discovered that there are more of those "open-minded theorists" out
there than you assumed.  This is why I began my argument along this thread by
invoking Sturgeon's Law.  The "Good Guys" are out there, Ed;  but they are
always going to be a minority!  As far as your final question is concerned,
we probably both know the answer equally well:  It is always going to be
easier to complete a thesis, publish a paper, or receive a grant for being
good a manipulating the symbols of your trade than for asking hard questions
about behavioral practice and then revealing that you can only come up with
bare splinters of answers.

>  -Ed Hall, who is being a bit of a curmudgeon this week

I'm not feeling any better, myself, Ed;  and I hope it has been clear that I
have not been trying to "pick on you."  Personally, I do not think any society
ever offers much encouragement towards asking truly hard questions.  The good
news is that the people who ask them are rarely put off by the attitude of that
society.

===============================================================================

Stephen W. Smoliar
Institute of Systems Science
National University of Singapore
Heng Mui Keng Terrace, Kent Ridge
SINGAPORE 0511

BITNET:  ISSSSM@NUSVM

"He was of Lord Essex's opinion, 'rather to go an hundred miles to speak with
one wise man, than five miles to see a fair town.'"--Boswell on Johnson