In a recent New York Times article, Allan Kozzin discusses the evolution of music and the modern day “split in the classical music world between traditionalists and experimenters”. Kozzin questions the definition of music. He seeks to evaluate and understand the role technology has played in the modern music world. He discusses the contrast of the old and the new and the continuously growing riff between the “standard” traditional and the up-and-coming.
An interesting point which Kozzin discusses is the idea of “arrested development”. This author fears that musical evolution has the potentially of freezing. He proposes that “today’s composers have a difficult choice” and that often, composers will revert to the “traditional” for fear of otherwise not having their works heard.
The highlight of this article then shifts to those composers who have traveled towards the opposite end of the spectrum. With both visual and audio examples, Kozzin provides interesting insight into the modern music world. (Note to readers: The audio recordings are absolutely worth listening too, and are crucial to a fuller understanding of Kozzin’s discussion.)
Personally, I am not sure of my feelings on this struggle, but I do know that it is an important one and will define music for years to come. Kozzin’s article has encouraged me to be more open to different types of music and even if I may not necessarily like every “modern” piece, I can still appreciate the composer’s creativity and musical prowess.
I would consider myself a traditionalist, but to many I might seem to be an experimenter. I like to think of my own music as experimenting with tradition. Harry Partch, on the other hand, was clearly a revolutionary experimenter who sought to re-define nearly everything about what music is. Experimentation is particularly prevalent in the world of percussion music. We’ll be seeing examples of this later this week in the master class and concert with Michael Gordon.