Charles Dalmas wrote:

>To me, the difference is self-explanatory.  Popular music is just that,
>popular.  It is the music of the masses.  Generally, it requires no real
>thought, it doesn't express intellectuality or real emotion, and it doesn't
>require much in the way of composition. ...

I doubt that many of us older ones here would disagree with Charles'
assessment of the musical worth of much of the "pop" that the industry
so cunningly and assiduously markets at pre-teens and early teenagers, or
with his feeling that in the good old days (when we were all much younger)
things were much better than they are now.  However, I think that Charles
has left rather a large gap between "classical" and "popular" - and his
definition of that looks dangerously close to "music I don't like".  What
of jazz, musicals, film soundtracks, the great American songwriters?
Classical or popular? Which side are Led Zep and the Floyd etc.  on?

Ian Crisp
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