aesthetic issues (was :Re: Re: lost in appalachia)

There's been a lot to digest in recent postings about aesthetics and repetition, but i've noticed one theme: it seems as though we can think of repetitiveness on a sort of continuum from "the late great Fela Kuti" to "arch-antirepetitionists like Ives"

I think that there exists another dimension--of entropy, the amount of new information presented. So even though Ives' music is completely throughcomposed, since he made such use of familiar tunes, his audience wasn't being offered so much to keep in their heads at once. Stravinsky liked to repeat motives often, but he would vary the repetitions enough so that the listener would find it hard to predict what comes next.

Since any one genre of music has its standards and common practices, the entropy of a piece of music depends greatly on the listener's experiences and education: Ives' music today sounds completely far out, because we dont recognize all the quotes he's using, and when people listen to music with which they're unfamiliar, they experience a wash of sameness, in terms of entropy, they may as well be listening to white noise.

As composers and performers of new music, then, we have the challenge of tailoring the flow of information to fit our audiences' experiences. (Or not.) For we microtonalists, meddling with the only constant that todays average listeners take for granted, it's perhaps more of a concern than for, say, a reggae composer trying to play a hiphop crowd.

http://acnet.pratt.edu/~arch543p/readings/Arnheim.html <http://acnet.pratt.edu/%7Earch543p/readings/Arnheim.html>
recently found link to important book on entropy. Says much about information theory

Benjamin Shirley-Quirk wrote:

>There's been a lot to digest in recent postings about aesthetics and >repetition, but i've noticed one theme: it seems as though we can think >of repetitiveness on a sort of continuum from "the late great Fela >Kuti" to "arch-antirepetitionists like Ives"
>
>I think that there exists another dimension--of entropy, the amount of >new information presented. So even though Ives' music is completely >throughcomposed, since he made such use of familiar tunes, his audience >wasn't being offered so much to keep in their heads at once. >Stravinsky liked to repeat motives often, but he would vary the >repetitions enough so that the listener would find it hard to predict >what comes next.
>
> Since any one genre of music has its standards and common >practices, the entropy of a piece of music depends greatly on the >listener's experiences and education: Ives' music today sounds >completely far out, because we dont recognize all the quotes he's >using, and when people listen to music with which they're unfamiliar, >they experience a wash of sameness, in terms of entropy, they may as >well be listening to white noise.
>
> As composers and performers of new music, then, we have the challenge >of tailoring the flow of information to fit our audiences' experiences. > (Or not.) For we microtonalists, meddling with the only constant that >todays average listeners take for granted, it's perhaps more of a >concern than for, say, a reggae composer trying to play a hiphop crowd.
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--
Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island <http://anaphoria.com/>
The Wandering Medicine Show
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