Has education expanded your listening tastes?

Brownsfan, I like some Stravinsky, "Dunbarton Oaks", L'histoire du soldat"and others.
His Cantata on Old English Texts is a masterwork. Ditto Mahler. In Music i look for pieces that lead me to my goal,
which is clarity of thought and peace of mind. That doesn't mean a piece of has to be soft and lyrical ,but for me, bombastic music is counter-productive.For others may be just the thing.

The only composer I really dislike is Wagner , loathe is more like it, IMO took one to know one when Adolf and Co. raised him to an idol. And yes I know bad people can write
good music, but there is a limit.

I don't think its sooo complicated why music changes. A composer has to make a living , when the powers that be relied on the Church as a legitimizer you got religous music. Breaking with the old order you got Beethoven. When nationalism was the agenda you got Sibelius. When you no longer need half-the population for anything other than consumers you get music that encourges navel-gazing etc etc etc At the MOST general level of analysis
its always follow the money. Of course there are many levels of analysis in social science just as in psychics or chemistry.

*****it really is difficult to discuss music without using musical terms*****

Now, this is very true. If I knew the correct terms, to express my thoughts, You and certain other people would not be so 'condescending' toward Moi. :)

Does Copeland's book explain Music, or HIS Music? I think I will buy the book just to prove a point. That is this: Knowledge will not make you like music that you currently don't like. To think otherwise, is to think that all I need to do, to fall in love with Philip Glass, is to read his book! Like, once he explains that nonsense, I will shout, AHA!!!!

I am always sort of suspicious of Music that has to be 'explained'.

One other thing that might factor into this thread is this: Should Music created, and Composers that Composed, in The 'Age of Hype',(mass media etc...), be scrutinized more closely?

Cheers

*****Rok, Mapman and Brownsfan have made good stabs at answering your question. However, if you really want to understand the changes in music over time, you need to understand more about music in the first place*****

They didn't say anything I didn't understand. I felt Mapman nailed it. I agree with him. I have always said, 'music IS history'. Sometimes we make things more difficult than they have to be.

Anything that involves Humans, will change with time. Even the most resistant of all, Religion!

Cheers

Musicians come from a different place than most listeners.
Classical Music is very important to me ,esp.since I can no longer pursue other great interests I once had had like hunting and hiking.
But at the end of the day, as much as I love it. its both an end in itself and a means I use to get both pleasure and a feeling that I'm closer to god by bathing in beauty on a daily basis. I read the Copland book , it was interesting and all but superfulous to my needs, its like telling you how your phone works . I don't care, I just want to make a call. And I'm the only one who knows who I want to call.

To a musician its his craft and or/obcession which is as it should be. Without the cook. nobody eats.
A serious musician is one of the few jobs truly worth doing .

Along the "music is hostory" lines, the current information revolution going on, where anyone has acces to almost anything anytime if they so choose, represents a BIG event in music history. PEople are more swamped with information and sources of entertainment than ever before. The smoke is far yet from clearing, but it is the best time ever to be a proactive music fan.

I say proactive in that the fruit is there for the taking but only for those with teh initiative to do it. Living by the norms and standards of even 10 years ago is a bottleneck.

If another new composition were not created for another 10 years, I would still probably be over my head in potential things to listen to that I would never have had access to before, that also happen to sound very good.

Its overwhelming to a certain extent, and I think that is a reason why things might seem so stagnant creatively these days.

But with just a good pair of earbuds attached to a computer, using youtube alone, the treasures to be found by amateurs providing their own source material alone is mindboggling. Screw the record companies. WHo needs them really anymore? Know what you seek and you will probably find it, and it will probably also have better sound quality than ever before for a price that even a young child music lover might afford.

If you can find a way to save it and then play it back on your SOTA reference home system, then you are truly in audiophile heaven.

So I guess what I am trying to say is a little education along the lines needed to locate mine, and enjoy all the good sounding music, both old and new, out there today via various channels, will go a long way. An appreciation of history and how music correlates to it is just one dimension of learning that helps, A LOT!!!!