Bernard Chasan wrote:

>...  But there is a puritanical strand in all of this- how much better
>to play music than just to LISTEN to music!!!  Yes, and how much better
>to grow our own food.  And make our own clothing !!!  But that is not the
>world in which we live.  The fact that your assumptions agree with Steve's
>perspective hardly makes the case, But I now realize that this is not a
>particularly interesting or important argument.  What is important is the
>here and now, and how our musical life can be improved, or at least saved
>from decay.  That is a challenge.

While I don't see anything of the puritanical in all of this, I do believe
that when one makes music one understands it differently, at least that
has been my experience.  In graduate school my composition teacher was in
charge of the electronic music lab.  I had no appreciation for electronic
music.  He insisted that I take the classes in electronic music.  While
I rarely composer anymore, I feel that my best work was done with
electronics.  Only after composing at a Moog and then later at the computer
did I have much sense of what it was all about.  I am speaking only for
myself, but I wonder if those who do not "participate" will have a
different appreciation for music, and may have different expectations.

I am curious as to your use of the word decay.  I see an evolution.  For
me, the concert hall is pretty much dead, yet in recording, I am able to
hear things I never dreamt I would hear...the Antheil 1st Symphony is one
recent example that comes to mind.  I can hear treasured performances from
the past brilliantly transferred to CD by the likes of Obert-Thorn and
Marston.  The amount of art music available in recording is remarkable.

We certainly have lost something in the museumification of live
performance, yet we have gained in many other ways.  I guess my question
is, what do you see as the decay in our musical life.

Karl