What distinguishes music as an academic field is this purported enjoyment plus the cultural capture—the belief, which you keep repeating, that not enjoying the elite-designated music is a failing of the listener, and academia is the one that gets to make this call.
I think we need to taboo the highlighted term.
There are, in fact, cognitive/intellectual prerequisites to being able to enjoy music. This shouldn’t be surprising: chimpanzees presumably don’t get human-level enjoyment out of the Beatles, much less Beethoven. (And even if they do, mice still don’t, etc.) I doubt the infant Beethoven would have appreciated the works of his adult self. And so likewise, some humans (like my current self) are better equipped to appreciate Ferneyhough than others (like my 12-year-old-self).
It occurs to me that what this argument is really about is status. I read you as resisting the idea that the kind of abilities involved in being able to enjoy academic music are something that one should be awarded status for possessing. I think this may be because you misunderstand the nature of those abilities.
(It’s very important, by the way, to understand that we’re not talking about aesthetic evaluation, at this point. We’re talking about the ability to hear the music as music, as opposed to incoherent nonsense. Only after you can actually perceive the musical structure of a piece can you begin to talk about the extent to which that structure suits your own personal tastes. But most people who say they “don’t like” contemporary art music aren’t at that stage; what they are expressing is the fact that contemporary music sounds like nonsense to them, and they are mistaking their non-enjoyment of nonsense for aesthetic disagreement, evidently not quite realizing that the music actually sounds different to people who “get” it.)
If there were a real accomplishment here, rather than a mere agreement to applaud other members of the clique, academic-produced music should outperform in blind tests
Outperform what, in what kind of test? What test does a piece of music have to pass for you to consider it a “real accomplishment”?
Meanwhile, I have some empirical predictions for you. If any of these were able to be decisively falsified, I would be confused and would have to reevaluate my model:
The average IQ of the population of Beethoven enthusiasts should be higher than the average IQ of Beatles enthusiasts, and lower than the average IQ of Schoenberg enthusiasts.
Among professional musicians, enthusiasm for the music of Schoenberg should be positively correlated with IQ to an even greater extent than among the general population. (High-IQ should be greater evidence of Schoenberg enthusiasm conditioning on the person being a professional musician.)
People who enjoy Beethoven should perform better on aural skills tests (sight-singing and musical dictation) than people who don’t. This should be true to a lesser extent if “Beethoven” is replaced by “the Beatles”, and to a greater extent if “Beethoven” is replaced by “Schoenberg”.
Answered here. No, that humans are smarter than chimpanzees does not imply that the music you like is objectively better than other music, nor does it having the capacity to be worked at for years.
(I am given caution by having heard similar arguments from rock musicians who have fifty Frank Zappa albums. Technical complication is an emotional button for art to press, that humans have and chimps don’t, but that does not make it the highest of all possible buttons.)
that humans are smarter than chimpanzees does not imply that the music you like is objectively better than other music
I did not use the highlighted phrase in my comment. You will have to spell out an argument that what I said implies that, because I don’t see it. You’ll have to start by telling me what “objectively better” means.
And then, assuming you’re actually disagreeing with me about something specific, you’ll have to tell me why the argument I presented is wrong. Which of my predictions do you disagree with, and by how much?
There are several disparate issues that I’m going to need to tie together, and I think they represent an excellent example for how to apply the lessons from the sequences, so I’m going to save my replies on this topic for an article that more coherently presents my intuitions in context.
Tentative titles: “Truly Part of Your Values”, “Excellence in the Dojo Alone”
I think we need to taboo the highlighted term.
There are, in fact, cognitive/intellectual prerequisites to being able to enjoy music. This shouldn’t be surprising: chimpanzees presumably don’t get human-level enjoyment out of the Beatles, much less Beethoven. (And even if they do, mice still don’t, etc.) I doubt the infant Beethoven would have appreciated the works of his adult self. And so likewise, some humans (like my current self) are better equipped to appreciate Ferneyhough than others (like my 12-year-old-self).
It occurs to me that what this argument is really about is status. I read you as resisting the idea that the kind of abilities involved in being able to enjoy academic music are something that one should be awarded status for possessing. I think this may be because you misunderstand the nature of those abilities.
(It’s very important, by the way, to understand that we’re not talking about aesthetic evaluation, at this point. We’re talking about the ability to hear the music as music, as opposed to incoherent nonsense. Only after you can actually perceive the musical structure of a piece can you begin to talk about the extent to which that structure suits your own personal tastes. But most people who say they “don’t like” contemporary art music aren’t at that stage; what they are expressing is the fact that contemporary music sounds like nonsense to them, and they are mistaking their non-enjoyment of nonsense for aesthetic disagreement, evidently not quite realizing that the music actually sounds different to people who “get” it.)
Outperform what, in what kind of test? What test does a piece of music have to pass for you to consider it a “real accomplishment”?
Meanwhile, I have some empirical predictions for you. If any of these were able to be decisively falsified, I would be confused and would have to reevaluate my model:
The average IQ of the population of Beethoven enthusiasts should be higher than the average IQ of Beatles enthusiasts, and lower than the average IQ of Schoenberg enthusiasts.
Among professional musicians, enthusiasm for the music of Schoenberg should be positively correlated with IQ to an even greater extent than among the general population. (High-IQ should be greater evidence of Schoenberg enthusiasm conditioning on the person being a professional musician.)
People who enjoy Beethoven should perform better on aural skills tests (sight-singing and musical dictation) than people who don’t. This should be true to a lesser extent if “Beethoven” is replaced by “the Beatles”, and to a greater extent if “Beethoven” is replaced by “Schoenberg”.
Answered here. No, that humans are smarter than chimpanzees does not imply that the music you like is objectively better than other music, nor does it having the capacity to be worked at for years.
(I am given caution by having heard similar arguments from rock musicians who have fifty Frank Zappa albums. Technical complication is an emotional button for art to press, that humans have and chimps don’t, but that does not make it the highest of all possible buttons.)
I did not use the highlighted phrase in my comment. You will have to spell out an argument that what I said implies that, because I don’t see it. You’ll have to start by telling me what “objectively better” means.
And then, assuming you’re actually disagreeing with me about something specific, you’ll have to tell me why the argument I presented is wrong. Which of my predictions do you disagree with, and by how much?
Your comment makes detailed claims of inherent superiority of the fans of the music you like. Are you claiming that doesn’t constitute such a claim?
A claim that X utilizes more intellectual resources than Y does not constitute a claim that X is “objectively better” than Y, no.
There are several disparate issues that I’m going to need to tie together, and I think they represent an excellent example for how to apply the lessons from the sequences, so I’m going to save my replies on this topic for an article that more coherently presents my intuitions in context.
Tentative titles: “Truly Part of Your Values”, “Excellence in the Dojo Alone”