The influence of joy

The vein which for threehundred years offered a seemingly inexhaustible yield of beautiful music has run out. What we know as modern music is the noise made by deluded spectators picking through the slag pile.” These quotes are from the Joseph Machlis text “Introduction to Contemporary Music” It is the source for my research for this part of the series. The subject area is the Modern Western Concert Tradition - but the concepts are relevant for any contemporary art music in our modern society. I originally turned to the book to get some information on the influences Parker metioned - as I read, I realized that Jazz not only shared some very broad similiarities with this music but also the changes in musical elements. Both were seeking a new expressive musical language - a language that was discriptive of a modern society. Machlis mentions Rules and the Artist. What he in essence says is that the rules of artisic creation are not broken for the sheer joy of breaking them. These rules are used to achieve freedom of action wihin a self-imposed frame and when these rules are rejected it is because they have ceased to be meaningful ...»