By David Amos
SAN DIEGO — Do we want it to be all-candy for the ears, or do we want it to provoke us? To challenge us and create an emotional response? Would we accept to go to a theatre play, or watch a film, or read a novel where everybody is sweet, everybody is nice, and everything goes smoothly from one step to the next? Perma-smiles in everyone’s faces?
My guess is that you would be bored to tears! You would expect a novel, play, or film to have certain amount of bite and provoking challenges, whether it is a serious drama or a comedy.
It’s the same with music. We may wish to have a comfort level with music, be it familiarity, a story, or another relevant point of reference. But if the music only provides a fuzzy comfort and nothing else, 1) It loses its value as an art form, or, 2) It does not challenge our minds, and therefore, becomes easily forgettable. It is like trying to eat dessert only, for every meal, every day. Maybe it would be fun for a while, but you can guess the consequences. A diet like that is not healthy for the organism.
In the same way, music that is entirely bland is not harmful, but is definitely not healthy for the mind or spirit. It serves at best as a mild anesthetic, which might be what the doctor ordered if you like to sleep at concerts.
This is why listening to New-Age music is such a bore. It is a mind numbing repetition of the same melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic ideas. Little variation and no challenge whatsoever to our intellect. And yes, music needs to make a statement, even an abstract one. It needs to provoke, maybe with not full intensity all of the time, but it certainly should have that element. Don’t even ask me about Rap!
(Have you heard the clever quip, which asks “what do you get when you play New –Age Music backwards”? The answer: New-Age Music!)
During the Baroque and into the Classical Periods, the 1600’s and 1700’s, so much of the music was composed for royalty, was meant for light entertainment or for ceremonies, and most of the times was in the background for social conversations. It served “functional” purposes. Later, with the mature periods of Mozart and Haydn, and much more so with Beethoven, music was composed to be heard and given close and full attention. This happened earlier with operas, music dramas, and church music. The new way was that while the music was being played, it required our complete concentration because it became music with something to say.
Music evolved from being a tool of a religious ceremony, or a necessary component for the dance, royalty, incidental music for drama or light entertainment for the privileged, to and art form to be fully appreciated and enjoyed. And it demanded no other distractions.
Think about this: How horrible it is to have an opera, a Mahler symphony, or anything by, say, Stravinsky, blaring away while you are in a meaningful conversation with someone? But, how satisfying can the same music be if you are devoting all your senses, your undivided attention, and can follow the dramatic line, the story, or what the composer/librettist intended to convey
Nineteenth Century composers started to be strongly nationalistic, political, intensely personal, and their music reflected their feelings. Look, for example at 19th and 20th Century Russian music. It tackles the subjects of war, politics, peace, love, treason, revolution, social changes, the clash of cultures, and mental challenges. Not just pretty stuff that harmlessly and brainlessly floats in and floats out of our consciousness.
This is also reflected in the visual arts. Look at the works of the great masters, Van Gogh, Chagall, Picasso, and so many more. It is not just pretty people, vases or hills.
But, for the same puzzling reason, the general public is more ready to accept innovations that “push the envelope” in drama, literature, theatre, film, dance and the visual arts than it will allow in music. Overall, music is quite a bit behind these arts forms in being embraced in its more inventive and progressive movements.
You should know, however, that a few serious, distinguished classical musicologists have stated that the greatest contribution to the history of music in the 20th Century is –surprise!–, the American popular song.
Nevertheless, if a composer has something to say and tries to shake you up to draw your attention, we may find that offensive. Listen to the insistent, painful, dissonant repeated chords in the first movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 The Eroica. You hear cries of anguish. This is definitely a strong political and social statement, not just cuteness. Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony was a protest against unjust criticism by the Soviet censors. His Seventh Symphony was about the siege of Leningrad. Prokoffiev’s Seventh Symphony was also a seemingly mild response to harsh threats from the Soviet authorities, but the joke was on them; it turned out to be a valuable work that cleverly eluded the disapproval of the music censor.
Tchaikovsky’s music, as beautiful as it is, is a reflection of a troubled soul, irradiating painful emotions of mind and body.
I love the tunes of The Sound of Music, Fiddler on the Roof, and so many other shows, but at least for me, it can not be a steady diet for too long. You very well know what a diet of pure sugar will do to you.
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Amos is conductor of the Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra and has been guest conductor of professional orchestras around the world. He may be contacted via david.amos@sdjewishworld.com