Thad Anderson
Chew on this…
Chew on this. I know I still am…
I finally got my hands on the A Lou Harrison Reader (thanks to our wonderful ILL office here at UCF), which is a collection of various letters, writings, poems, scores, etc. related to Harrison and compiled by Peter Garland. The collection was published by Soundings Press in 1987 and you can still purchase a copy from Frog Peak Music (for a hefty $100).
In my readings this evening, I found this tidbit from an article Harrison wrote for the View magazine in November of 1945. The article is titled Ruggles, Ives, Varese and reads:
Hatred of commercialism is also an absolute essential to any serious American composers nowadays; there is no grace, no reality, to be had from trade today, indeed the nature of American business is false from the beginning both to the heart and the mind. It is a monstrous fake carried out (like a patent medicine show) on the backs of slaves and pandering to a populous stupidity. That anyone survives to do really honest work in music is a blessed miracle, and that he should be professional in the usual sense is unthinkable.
All of this in light of the recent economic crisis and the “Occupy Wall Street” happenings. He continues by explaining that American music (as well as most art) is the creation of amateurs and thus ties Ives, Ruggles, and Varese into the picture.
While this was still digesting in my head, I stumbled upon an essay published tonight on a New York Times’ blog called The Score (which features the writings of composers on their work and the issues involved in creating music in the 21st century, as the traditional notion of “classical” continues to be reconsidered, revised and reimagined. The guest curator of the series is Daniel Felsenfeld). The post is by composer Frederic Rzewski and is called Prophecy of Machines.
Again, still digesting here, but I couldn’t help but think that these two readings came into my life at the same time for a reason. Thoughts?
Personally, I’d like to take the ‘glass half full’ approach here. A couple of months ago I actually got into a debate with a musician who was taking a hiatus from making music because he felt there was no meaning in the act of making music. Disillusioned by the industry, the lack of true art and the accessibility of non-artists… and the fact that the people who were listening to his music were only capable of a shallow view of its meaning.
I disagree. Yes, culture/communication is always evolving as a result of new technologies and also is constantly helping to shape it. Commercialism takes ANYTHING out there that’s creative and eats it up and all they ‘allow’ us to experience is the puke-y mess left afterwards. BUT, the beauty of this technology, the same one that is claimed to squash artistic expression, allows us incredible accessibility. We have the choice to be exposed to so many pockets of creativity and information that IS occurring out there. I think it’s easy to take the disgruntled route, but people will always fight for expression and innovation. I also think these movements happen in waves, and that we are in a huge wave back towards the tactile, the artist; realizing the value of art as communication and striving to expand it. If you really want to find it, and if you want to be apart of it- you can.