[NewMusic] Book Review - Alex Ross = Gannicide

[Matthew Goodheart]

Well, my experience is a bit different. For example, I've been able  
to get Fundamentalist Christians (including some Republicans who  
watch Fox News several hours a day) to go to sfSound concerts, Cecil  
Taylor, and several of my performances. They loved the Xenakis at  
last Feb's sfSound, for example. I was able to do this by leading  
them into it in an open way, discussing the music with them, giving  
them a "personal" way in because they trusted me (the fools!). They  
may not run out and buy "Dark to Themselves," but they enjoyed the  
experiences, respect the music, and feel that it is valid.

Music is essentially tribal in nature, so folks tend to be more open  
when things "outside the tribe" are presented to them in a friendly  
way from someone "inside the tribe."  It's not true for all people,  
but it is true for some. So therefore a certain percentage of people  
who don't know what to do with themselves when CSI is in reruns,  
might be open to something new if presented to them in a certain  
way.  But if it's presented to them as "weird," or "angry new music"  
or something ( like a Terry Gross cute-ified Sun Ra), they are more  
likely to use that as a filter for their experience.

Then there is the issue of "demographic" itself. . . so far you, me,  
and Slusser are apparently NPR listeners, so. . . doesn't mean we are  
"typical," but then no one is if you dig deep enough.

mg


On Nov 3, 2007, at 12:26 PM, George Cremaschi wrote:

>
>
>> I think some of the NPR demographics are salvageable
>
> Well...maybe, maybe not.
> The *real* NPR demographic might be represented by
> the woman who called in to yesterday's Forum show about
> the imminent Hollywood writer's strike: she worried that she
> and her husband wouldn't know what to do with themselves
> if their TV schedule were disrupted. And elsewhere in the program,
> there were statistics cited that Americans now watch 8 hours of TV per
> day. Does anyone know if this is true?
>
>
>> But this mechanism is part of the mindset of the programmers, not  
>> the listeners.
>
> Or maybe the programmers just give the listeners what they want, all
> of them, programmers and listeners, being folks cut from a similar  
> cloth.
> And what they want is to *feel* like they're culturally informed -  
> not that
> they're going to do anything different with their 'leisure' time.  
> They might
> hear a review by Kevin Whitehead about a Steve Lacy or Ben Goldberg
> recording, which is about as far out as you're going to get on NPR,  
> but most
> likely what they have in their iPod is White Stripes and Norah Jones.
> Take "A Prairie Home Companion" - they feature lots and lots of music,
> nearly all of it Americana of some sort, and 100% of it completely  
> safe,
> sentimental and as derivative and inoffensive as possible. These  
> people don't
> want Roscoe Holcomb, or even Billie Holiday - they prefer Bela  
> Fleck and Madeleine
> Peyroux. That's your NPR demographic.
>
>
>
>> I think you're right on the money about "academic refugees" who  
>> make the
>> association between academia and serialist hegemony.
>
> I still remember John Adams' whiny, pathetic, and ultimately  
> insecure and defensive
> rant (on NPR, of course) about how he rebelled against the  
> 'serialist hegemony' of
> his time - and while he was at it, he took a few potshots at the  
> European avant garde
> of the 60's. Would that he could ever be even mentioned seriously  
> in the same breath
> as Nono and Ligeti...
>
> -George
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Matthew Goodheart
composer ~ improviser ~ pianist
matthew at matthewgoodheart.com
http://matthewgoodheart.com