Schoenberg/serial

Well, since it got brought up, I'll confess that over the years I've tried to listen to the Schoenberg violin concerto, and really didn't like the way it made me feel...the words "empty," or "bleak" come to mind, or, sense of humor please, it seemed "overly intellectual," like it came from a part of Mr. S that was without feeling...I didn't like it at all, and what can you do about that? I'm assuming HE felt it when he wrote it, of course, but if I don't feel it, it doesn't matter when I am listening to it.
It always seems to cause a ruckus, this discussion about feeling vs. intellectuality in music, but it will never be resolved, because human beings, when they hear a piece of music, can only relate what it sounds like to THEM, how it makes them feel inside. I know for myself that when I hear music, the way I feel about it is involuntary, the sound strikes my ears/body, and there's a gut reaction, if you will, that exists whether I like it or not...and then we comment on what we feel, and if someone doesn't agree, they may choose to get a bit angry about it, which is also a human reaction, although often not the wisest one.
I can respect music that I don't necessarily like to listen to, or musicians who compose stuff that I don't like. It's obvious to me that Schoenberg and the serialists were a quite brilliant bunch of folks, but that doesn't mean I am going to like the sonic result of their compositions. And, for me it's the same with so called minimalism...I don't like Glass, Reich and that genre, but I certainly respect them as musicians/composers I myself have composed a couple of pieces using a row technique, one in 19, and I think it's an interesting concept. But for me, it's only one of many compositional concepts I've studied over the years, and I don't use it very often...but, my 19 tone piece "The Spider" was built using this technique, and it's a personal favorite among my own compositions.
I personally don't care who likes what, I only care about mutual respect between people. I've had folks tell me they cannot listen to some of my music because of the way it makes them feel inside...and that's ok with me. What does bother me, though, is if people get into attack mode, and direct some sort of personal insult to me BECAUSE they don't like my music...you see this in shitty reviews all the time, where the reviewer doesn't like the music but also decides to make slimy personal comments about the creator of that music...that's no good, and there's no need for it.
Growing up in the slums of St. Louis, I became a very blunt person, and I have what might be called "street" humor, but I rarely use it, except with friends who know me, cause I don't want to offend folks. So, if you heard what I REALLY say about Schoenberg's violin concerto, in St. Louie talk, you might not dig it too much. But, good street humor is just that, humor, they call it doing the dozens. Listen to Bo Diddley's tune "Say Man," where he and Jerome Arnold trade insults on record. It's an old street tradition, but if a person didn't grow up in that fashion, they might not get it.
And, just for the record, I do firmly believe that some music has more feeling than other music, and that some musicians, such as Jimi Hendrix, had deepdeep feeling, and that some composers may NOT have as much. And some people DO live more in their head than their hearts, but so what? I have all sorts of friends, and I might like different people for different qualities they have. If we accept who and what we are, there's no need to get defensive and fuss and fight. Respect is where it's at, and we can all do that with a little effort...best..Hstick
microstick.net