Richard reported this in his latest blog post about his daughter's engagement party:
A lady in the room told us that she had a vast experience of listening to music and sort of implied that she was a bit of an expert.
OK, I think I know what she meant but it does sound a bit silly like saying " I'm very experienced in drinking so I guess I'm like a winemaker".
I listen to a lot of music but I don't consider myself an expert. I don't concentrate on one type of music and tend to leap about a bit (not literally as dancing isn't one of my things) in my listening. I have catholic tastes in this regard which is the only bit of catholicism I'll admit to.
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I never managed to learn to play a musical instrument having unsuccessfully given piano, bagpipes and guitar a go. I guess, like in most endeavours in my life this was attributable to laziness rather than any inability to appreciate music and nice sounds.
I don't know why some musicians get a bit uppity about how non musicians appreciate music (I'm not saying that Richard does). After all, if there were only musicians in this world and no non-musician audiences the whole thing would be a mess. The musicians would be forever arguing amongst themselves on how the other guy messed up his double note and choked on his hemidemisemiquaver.
Generally non musicians who like music can easily recognise rhythm, melody, harmony and timbre and at least hear dynamics, texture, and form without knowing all of the technical minituae behind them.
I fully agree with you. The woman at the party was one of those people who spout out things like, "George Harrison was a better musician than John Lennon and Paul McCartney." Now, in my opinion, this statement is very debatable and I don't think there would be a decisive or correct outcome. However (because this know all annoyed me) I did throw out some evidence in Paul McCartney's favour. It also worried me that such a knowledgeable listener showed no interest at all when Paganini's solo violin caprice was aired. One certainly does not have to be a musician to appreciate music and I'm sure that many non musicians hear a lot more in music than a lot of people who are called (or call themselves) musicians. I just don't think that this woman was necessarily one of them.
ReplyDeleteNo names, no packdrill.
ReplyDeleteSì. È vero.
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