Now
let us return to the belief of the MEAE enthusiasts that all music should be
understood in terms of its aesthetic qualities.
One of the problems of this thesis is that a concomitant of this belief
is aesthetic qualities control music’s meaning (or value if one does not
believe that music has meaning.) A concomitant
of the “aesthetic qualities” theory is the belief that the more aesthetic
qualities a piece of music possesses, the more value or import it
contains.
One of
the apparent anomies in this philosophical praxis is that a very simple genre
can communicate much meaning and thereby may possess great value. It should be pointed out at this point in
this discussion that the aesthetic qualities in a piece of music are capable of
effecting its nature and value. Music
that is well composed or arranged will possess aesthetic qualities that are
valuable to the listener and performer, but that does not mean that aesthetic
qualities are the only qualities with which one should evaluate or esteem a
music genre.
On
one of the other sides of this multi-sided musical coin displays the formal
propertied of the music. To the strict
formalist, these formal properties are the only side of the musical coin that
matters. To these strict formalists, all
music should be perceived and understood strictly from this viewpoint. I will very willingly concede that the formal
properties of any music are very important to one’s understanding of what any
music offers to the listener or performer.
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