The Philosophy of Music: A Topic Fraught With....

[jochanaan]

I forget the composer and exact circumstances, but as I recall when a certain composer was asked "what was his biggest struggle," he replied: "Getting the notes right."

There's a charming story about pianist Rudolf Serkin.  A music teacher came to him and began to talk about her theories, which included mental development, breathing and such like.  Mr. Serkin listened for a while, then interrupted, "Yes, yes, but what about their fingers?"

[starrynight]

I liked the post quoting the song by Leonard Bernstein.

My answer to the question posed by the OP, is that Music exists in order to express what man needs to express but cannot accomploish using anything other than music.  However, what it is exactly that music expresses is hard to pin down, and that is another discussion I have no interest in  opening.

I also have zero interest in "classical" music, "pop" music, music called "jazz", or "rock" or any other label applied to Music.  Part of the problem, for me is the attempt to compartmentalize music into tiny boxes by academics, critics, fans, and even practitioners.

I love music - in any form it is found simply because whatever it expresses speaks to me at a very deep level.

I believe Duke Ellington divided music into two kinds: good and bad.   0:)

You have a most excellent encapsulation there: the deeper question remains of why an impulse exists which insists that Music must express...our inner something.  From the viewpoint of socio-biology it could be that our happiness through music makes for better humans.

I agree, I think music does have a primal function whether lengthier works or short simpler works, whether classical or popular.  People feel the music through the reception and performance of it, not by reading a score.  The performance is the full experience, as with any performance art.  We feel and understand the musical lines and structures through hearing it, the tension and release of the music is what we follow.  And the greater concentration through more complex classical works could even enhance people's critical appreciation of smaller works of popular music.  Better that than becoming snobby about any style.

[starrynight]

Also as far as music opening up the human mind, this can be the case.  But in many cases it can also close up the mind, with the tendency of people to prefer one stylistic convention and demand that from any genre they listen to.  The opening up of the mind is probably more when people develop the ability to listen to different kinds of styles according to the different perspectives that they use while also seeing the the broader overview of musical communication which could unite things and not letting the detail get in the way of this.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Don't know where else to put this, so:

Overheard between two big guys with beer bellies, on exiting a double-bill of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and Gluck's The Drunkard Reformed at a local university's Opera Theater production today:

BIG GUY #1: So you got some kulcha today.
BIG GUY #2: Yeah, I'm good for ten years.

[jochanaan]

...But in many cases it can also close up the mind, with the tendency of people to prefer one stylistic convention and demand that from any genre they listen to...

Is that the fault of the music, the performers, or the listeners? I tend to blame the latter.

[starrynight]

Is that the fault of the music, the performers, or the listeners? I tend to blame the latter.

I agree.  Though sometimes it could have a reciprocal effect where musicians keep within a narrow range for the niche market they are aiming for / are marketed to as well.