Friday, May 11, 2007
My husband, Hardwick Herpes, has been mooning about the house for weeks now talking about re-defining metamusic. Nothing seems to be getting done, however, so I decided to take the matter in hand.
Of course, metamusic needs to be redefined. Purveyors of New Age recordings which are supposed to alter your brain waves have co-opted the term. I'm afraid that my husband muddied the waters a bit by his popularization of the term metamusic.
"Metamusic" literally means "after music," which implies that it is not music. The point of the Anachronisms work (sic, Hardwick, not oeuvre), however, is that music has become corrupted by commercial considerations and an over-emphasis on technique. That is, they have returned to real music, while corporate interests have got muic consumers hooked on "music."
You will notice that I talked about consumers of music. The music market requires consumers, so instead of encouraging people to play, "music" suppliers encourage them to appreciate music instead. The work of the Anachronisms, on the other hand, has not been commodified. It is even distributed gratis at NEW IMPROVED HEAD.
The Anachronisms' work is active, while commodified music is passive. The Anachronisms' work is expressive, while commodified music is obsessed with technique.
In short, the Anachronisms' work is music. All the other stuff is what's left after music has been stripped of its soul and forced to serve the interests of wholesalers and retailers.
The Anachronisms' work, and the work of others like them is music. All the rest is metamusic.
Of course, metamusic needs to be redefined. Purveyors of New Age recordings which are supposed to alter your brain waves have co-opted the term. I'm afraid that my husband muddied the waters a bit by his popularization of the term metamusic.
"Metamusic" literally means "after music," which implies that it is not music. The point of the Anachronisms work (sic, Hardwick, not oeuvre), however, is that music has become corrupted by commercial considerations and an over-emphasis on technique. That is, they have returned to real music, while corporate interests have got muic consumers hooked on "music."
You will notice that I talked about consumers of music. The music market requires consumers, so instead of encouraging people to play, "music" suppliers encourage them to appreciate music instead. The work of the Anachronisms, on the other hand, has not been commodified. It is even distributed gratis at NEW IMPROVED HEAD.
The Anachronisms' work is active, while commodified music is passive. The Anachronisms' work is expressive, while commodified music is obsessed with technique.
In short, the Anachronisms' work is music. All the other stuff is what's left after music has been stripped of its soul and forced to serve the interests of wholesalers and retailers.
The Anachronisms' work, and the work of others like them is music. All the rest is metamusic.
Labels: Metamusic
