The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #173656   Message #4211284
Posted By: GUEST,Steve Shaw
09-Nov-24 - 04:59 AM
Thread Name: Trad Music Comment from Bob Davenport
Subject: RE: TRAD MUSIC COMMENT Bob Davenport
One hundred percent, Johnny. Also, I'm not sure that we need "trad" in this conversation - maybe just "music." In a book I have about Beethoven the author implicitly characterises music as song or dance, which I suppose is how music "started" thousands of years ago. When it comes to education, I'd be highly suspicious of anyone who tried to use music to "educate" me. Helping me to interpret music is a very different thing. What I like about seeing music as song and dance is the implication that we interact with music and don't just sit back and let it passively entertain us. That can be as basic as singing along with your favourite Beatles songs (even if you just do it inside your head, as Mrs Steve would far prefer that I did). Music can be inspiring, uplifting, edifying, life-affirming, or it may be just a way of relieving the tedium of everyday life, as in those working songs. Or a mixture of all that.

The great pianist and conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy one said words to the effect that music was a complete mystery to him. I like that. It's a humbling thought!