Chris Parles wrote:

>Second, if you hear a piece you don't like, don't automatically denounce
>the composer and never listen to any of his music again.  I made this
>mistake a few times before I realized that many times one piece is not
>representative a composer and that you may like some works of one composer,
>while not liking other ones.  I made this mistake with, for example,
>Schoenberg.  I heard some piece of his which, at the time, I found
>extremely dissonant and unappealing.  For a long time I avoided Schoenberg.
>Then, about 9 months later I decided I should try him again and now I
>thoroughly enjoy most of his works.

Your note reminds of when I was first listening to classical music. I
still recall an afternoon when I was in 6th grade grade. They broadcast
a work of Schoenberg. The announcer gave Schoenberg's dates before they
played the piece. Can't remember what it was, but I was surprised to
think that there were composers still writing "classical music" in the
20th Century. After hearing the piece, I thought...well if this is what
is being done, its all over! They followed the Schoenberg with some
Vaughn Williams. I was confused. I wondered how both of these composers
could be alive at the same time and write music that was so different.
I thought that, if more worked like Vaughan Williams, classical music
would have a chance to survive. But then some months later I heard an
early work of Schoenberg and thought, this is great. The thought crossed
my mind, that if Schoenberg could write, early in his career, something
that I could value, maybe the "problem" was me, and not Schoenberg's
music. I decided that I needed to "understand" a piece before I could
ulimately decide for myself, its "worth."

I would also like to suggest Copland's book, "What to Listen For In
Music." Amongst other things, Copland discusses three levels of listening,
the emotional (or sensual); narrative; and music on its own terms,
suggesting that we all strive for listening to music on its own terms.

A related recent post on the providing an emotional, or narrative response
to Lutoslawski is very telling. It would seem that conductor assumes his
audience listens on one of those levels, and maybe even worse, namely,
that this is the only way to listen.

Karl