[NewMusic] Braxton on FOX

[Phillip Greenlief]

----Original Message-----
From: newmusic-bounces at music.mills.edu
[mailto:newmusic-bounces at music.mills.edu] On Behalf Of andrew raffo
dewar

Of course it's great that it happened at all, and exposing kids to this 
kind of material is to be commended.  

PG:
Yes, agreed.
...............
ARD:
So, it is Cage's 4'33", and it is being exposed to a large audience via 
BBC television -- but is that really good enough? In this case, it's 
not given even remotely the same respect as a performance of Mozart or 
what have you -- notice the conductor mopping his brow and the 
resultant chuckles at the 3 minute mark.

PG:
It's an almost worthless exercise, in my opinion, if the conductor, or
"educator" isn't committed to the music and isn't going to take the
composition seriously, or impart that the material the students are
learning isn't extremely valuable. Students learn what we teach them,
and the attitude this conductor displays isn't what I would consider
"committed".
................
ARD: 
Is it really doing the music a service simply by having it pass through 
a larger number of eyes and ears, regardless of the context and 
execution?

PG:
It's valuable only on a level of pure exposure, so that if and when the
students confront Braxton's (insert any other composer in this
situation) they have some form of context for listening or playing the
music in the future. But as I said, if the conductor or educator is
imparting to the students some form of: "isn't this music a bit silly"
on any level, it can damage or negatively influence the student's
attitude toward it.
................