Page 277 - ESSENTIAL LISTENING TO MUSIC

As to the proper subject for art, the acceptable boundaries have exploded in the Postmodern period. In 1952 Francis Bacon, whose paintings now sell for up- ward of $140 million (sic), attached slabs of beef to his torso and photographed himself; in 2010 Lady Gaga shocked the crowds at the Video Music Awards in a dress made entirely of raw meat. These adventurous artists aim to show that any object can be transformed into a bold creative statement. Finally, Postmodern- ism holds that we live in a pluralistic world in which one culture is as important as the next. Indeed, cultural differences are shrinking owing to globalization, a process of homogenization made inevitable by instant mass-media communi- cation. Postmodernism is thus refreshingly egalitarian when it comes to sex and gender, affirming a belief that the creations of, say, gay living black women are just as important as those of straight dead white men.
Postmodernist principles apply to music as well as to art, architecture, and fashion. If all art holds equal potential, then it is no longer necessary to separate classical from popular music—the two styles can even coexist within one and the same composition, as they do, for example, in recent works of Paul McCart- ney and Wynton Marsalis. No longer, according to Postmodernism, need there be such distinctions between “highbrow” and “lowbrow” music; all music— classical, country, hip-hop, folk, rock, and all the rest—is to be prized in equal measure. John Williams’s film music is as important as Igor Stravinsky’s ballet scores; Eminem is as worthy of our attention as Mozart. People can listen to whatever they want.
Finally, in today’s Postmodernist musical culture, amplified instruments and electronic music are commonplace in symphony hall and rock arena alike. Traditional acoustic instruments must share the spotlight with newer electronic ones. While Yo-Yo Ma’s Stradivarius cello is a cultural treasure, so, too, is Jimi Hendrix’s electric guitar. Postmodernism embraces an egalitarian, pluralistic musical world in which technology plays an important role. Today, unlike in the past, when a listener attends a concert of new “art” music, it is impossible to predict what he or she will hear.
Electronic Music: From Thomas Edison to Radiohead
The application of modern technology to music began in 1877 when Thomas Edison patented the phonograph. Around 1920, sounds of the phonograph be- came harnessed to electromagnetic wave diffusion via the radio; the principal content of the radio broadcast was music, some live, but most played from pho- nograph records. The magnetic tape recorder appeared in 1936 as a means of recording and hearing music, but during the 1980s that technology was replaced by the digital CD and it, in turn, by the downloaded and streamed MP3 and M4A files of today. Thus, the means of dissemination of music has changed radically during the last hundred years. To hear music, it is no longer necessary to learn to play an instrument or go to a concert, just turn on your phone.
Digital processing of sound has not only revolutionized how we get music, but also how we create it. Most traditional music around the world was and is generated on acoustic instruments (ones made of natural materials). But shortly after World War II, experimental musicians began tinkering with tape record- ers and then computers to produce new sounds and a new kind of music: elec-
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