Regarding a recent performance of an apparently inane bit of work by Pauline Oliveros, Kevin Sutton seethes: >By the same token, what can we say of "musicians" who "specialize" in >this kind of nonsense. Does it take a conservatory education and years >of preparation to be able to zip and unzip your damned instrument case? >Even if you can do it in some sort of tempo and rhythm, you're still an >idiot to call it music. > >I miss the days when composers wrote music, and musicians played it. I realize Kevin is upset, but like many rants his comments are greatly overstated. He seems to be taking the very existence of such work as a personal affront and seems to be equating it with contemporary composition in general. I think there are relatively few performances of this sort of thing and I imagine that most of the people who attended had some idea of what they were in for. Such music, or whatever you want to call it, is so marginal that I really can't see what there is to get excited about. Maybe Western Civilization is doomed, but I don't think Ms. Oliveros' role in its destruction is very profound. To suggest that there are no composers writing music for musicians to play seems simply absurd. Regards, John Parker