“Music appreciation”
An oh-so quoteworthy riff on ‘music appreciation’ from our friend Brian Micklethwait:
For me, classical music is like English. I heard it in my infancy, and I know exactly what it is about.
The only classical music I dislike is the classical music which was leadenly explained to me in music appreciation classes at school. They chose the most “fun” pieces they could find, and then drained all the fun out of them, by telling me at tedious length what they were “about”.
The music I most adore is the music I found me way to alone, via the gramophone, with no explanation whatever of it except the sound that it made. That then filled me with curiosity to know what sort of person wrote it, when he lived, where, how, etc…but learning about Beethoven’s love life, lodgings, personal habits, funeral, etc. was as much to learn some more history in an agreeable way and from a different angle, rather than in order to do “music appreciation”. I already appreciate the music.
I feel the same way about ‘literature appreciation’. More on which tomorrow, when I will detail the conversation I have been having over the last two days with an author whose books I have loved since I was nine years old.