What element of music do you appreciate/enjoy the most?

[DavidW]

Inspired by MN Dave's post.  Let's see if Grazioso is right, if so I will admit that melodists in the majority on gmg if it it proves to be so. 0:)

The four categories where chosen by Copland's book.

And by "most" I mean "more than" and NOT "to the exclusion of all else".

[MN Dave]

I will have to go with melody but it's better if all that other stuff is in service to it.

[DavidW]

Yeah you should take it that way, what dominates for you, with the others acting to support it.  Good interpretation, matches with the discussion on the other thread.

[greg]

Harmony.

[karlhenning]

I will have to go with melody but it's better if all that other stuff is in service to it.

But what if, like plainchant, it's melody all on its own?

-- Of course, the chant itself hath its rhythmic characteristics, and its harmonic implications . . . possibly (not necessary) triadic implications . . . certainly its 'arrival points'.

[Gurn Blanston]

Well, I voted 'no preference' because after giving it some thought, I realized that I don't have one in particular. I like best whichever one that I feel that piece of music is leaning on the hardest. If absolutely pressed for something more determinate, I guess it would be "Tonal Color"....



----------------
Now playing:
London Fortepiano Trio - K 254 Trio in Bb for Fortepiano & Strings 1st mvmt - Allegro assai

[karlhenning]

Also sprach Gurn! : )

[DavidW]

Candidates for tonal colorists (since Gurn was tempted to tonal color) I bet would be:
(a) modernists because modern music makes extensive use of textures
(b) PIons, they like to revel in the nuances of instruments with the clarity and textural transparency of their ensembles
(c) chambernuts because you can actually hear the timbre of the individual instruments, something not heard in orchestral stuff.

But I have a feeling that they are a rare breed.

[eyeresist]

Well, I'd go for melody (AKA thematic material), but not on its own. Development, ornamentation, instrumental colour, and convincing "rhetoric", for want of a better word, are all required to support it.  OTOH, if the other elements are there, but the note choices are banal, then I'm not interested.


BTW, I'd say some "amelodic" music is actually no such thing. I.e. even "untuned" percussion has tonal bias and harmonic elements, so when a pattern is played on more than one percussive instrument, it suggests to the ear a melodic pattern, and from that perhaps even a harmonic progression.

[Daverz]

I like the noise it makes.

[springrite]

Where is "performer's physical attractiveness"? The choices leaves fans of Hilary Hahn et al cold.

[springrite]

No preferences here. I like different works for different reasons. And where is counterpoint (or form and structural integrity)? Hehee

[eyeresist]

Balls

The music of the spheres?

[Josquin des Prez]

Harmony.

[max]

Anything which makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts. Why not just ask whether you prefer the left eye over the right when looking at face?

[springrite]

Anything which makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts. Why not just ask whether you prefer the left eye over the right when looking at face?

I have a feeling that, even if some people do have a preference for the left (or the right) eye, they'd still prefer seeing a face that has two eyes. 

[WI Dan]

I have a feeling that, even if some people do have a preference for the left (or the right) eye, they'd still prefer seeing a face that has two eyes. 

Yes, indeed.  Especially if it looks like Hilary Hahn.

[WI Dan]

Melody.

[jowcol]

I  listen to different artists for different reasons.  I love a good melodic line, but I also like many compositions that don't have a memorable melody.  I love  the way Debussy uses harmony, but I also love what a harmonically static work like an Indian Raga or a Delta Juke blues band would have.  I love the likes of Bax and Scriabin for color.   ANd I'm a fiend for polymeter and polyrhythms. 

I hate to say " no preference"-- I'm not apathetic.  But I like a work to be internally consistent, and achieve the goals it sets out to achieve. 

[karlhenning]

Where is "performer's physical attractiveness"? The choices leaves fans of Hilary Hahn et al cold.

And Vivaldi.