Great interview. I really liked Ian's example how abstract conclusions can be drawn from score analysis (discovering tonality in a Finnissy piece, etc.) that might not be evident in an actual performance.
This is just a fantastically refreshing interview. It's so refreshing to hear an open minded forward thinking discussion of academia, composers, research/science music, Babbitt, analysis, conservatory/university programs. I so enjoyed this mind expanding perspective on the current state of art music that I hope to pursue this topic further and learn more about Mr. Pace's work and music.
I think you have the wrong Ian "Pace" in mind, you are referring to Ian "Paice" from Deep Purple. The one commonality between the two is that they both play percussion instruments. Cheers.
It's amazing seeing two individuals that are really involved and in love with what they do discuss all sorts of things, especially when its about education and how to reach younger generations for the thing they strive towards to survive into the future. Many thanks!
I think it's curious that Ian takes umbrage at the fact that musicology might want to move towards cultural studies, considering that music *is* culture and has pretty much always been political. Hanslick's old critical pieces may well be classified under Ian's own definition of "ethnomusicology", and - I'm not sure if I am understanding this weirdly - he seems to come from a point of view that defaults to "the Western viewpoint is the neutral one"; his own writing is also ideologically and morally loaded (as much as he disclaims not to be). As for musicological reportage outside specialist academic circles, I think his Spectator article was the most responsible for that rather than anything else.
I'm currently writing my master thesis for my educational master in music and i'm very interested in this difference between a more holistic approach versus a specific approach in the music educational system. I wonder why it's common in the conservatory to study a specific style, like classical or jazz, and why this distinction isn't made so explicitly when studying dance, architecture or painting in art school. Anyone some thoughts? Some books/articles to recommend?
I really found this interview fascinating and relevant to issues that have cropped up time and again in the music departments in which I have worked. The only area that I felt was under emphasised is the ever increasing pressure on courses to prove that they're demonstrable ways into employment. This leads to pressure to point students more towards the current commercial/mainstream scene and away from the experimental and the search for originality. My own view is that these need not be conflicting standpoints. Even in the commercial world, it's important to stand out from the crowd and not be forever playing catch-up with current trends. For higher education establishments to make knee-jerk changes to curriculum in order to pour students into current moulds is short-sighted. Students need musical and critical skills for an unkonwn tomorrow, not for a transitory today.
I am greatly troubled by the notion that it is the market that determines value. The market favours those who have the resources to promote their work and to showcase it in a good light. Often the music that is successful in its own time sinks into obscurity in later decades and centuries. Conversely, music can be positively reevaluated long after its appearance. I fear a certain amount of elitism is actually necessary: the merits of Josquin, Schoenberg or Pärt may not be evident to the majority of hearers, but they are nonetheless merits that can be appreciated by those with sufficient musical understanding. Therefore, I am leaning towards the view that music-and art in general-should be supported without pressure in the academic milieu. This relates loosely to political debates as well: it only takes a glance at Twitter to find people opining, often in aggressive and frightening terms, on subjects and communities of which they have almost no knowledge, understanding or investment in. A society that defines values by reference only to popularity and market forces is going to end up reducing everything to the lowest common denominator and the crudest, least nuanced terms, and with likely devastating results.
Thank you for this content, I was so anticipated. Question Dear. MR.Pace Do you have any hesitation or concerns to composer yourself? I would be highly appreciated if you could interact and create with composition ideas. What do you think of the word RESISTANCE itself? Because lots of contemporary composer resists on diverse tendencies as far as I know, they extensively resist the fact of superficiality. But I would like to aware how pianist and musicologist concerns about resistance. I admire you that you have performed a lot of complex pieces by many different composers, even Complete Finnissy. Bit what do you think was the most demanding piece of your life?
@Ian Pace I am very appreciated that you could be able to reply to my question, thank you for the reply and interaction. I think the superficiality could be defined as what people see in different perspectives but having short attention spans. For example if one object which could be very simplistic that can be very common in our lives, but what I mean is resisting the tendency on those perspectives simplistic perspectives and taking views in rather deep visions. I am very sympathetic with your idea if demandingness, as a when the panting STARTS performer, I rather feel like it is harder than Tract (could be subjective) because of physical difficulties, fingerings and extreme polyryhthms assigned to each finger. Also English Country Tunes feel like undescribeable because of the early Finnissy style. It needs a plenty of dedications to perform one bar, and I was very sympathetic of what you have said.
Hi Ian. Thank you for your insights. The point you made about giving students a critical vocabulary by which to evaluate new music, even if they still feel negatively towards it afterwards, resonated with me. It is something I have experimented with in a different context by trying to get secondary school students to explain to me why exactly they don't like opera, other than simply decrying the shrill sound of an enthusiastic soprano! Anyway, at the end of this video you referenced a conference in July. Will it be possible to participate in this conference online, or is it an in-person conference only? Thanks again.
@@samuel_andreyev I'm currently writing my master thesis for my educational master in music and i'm very interested in this difference between a more holistic approach versus a specific approach in the music educational system. I wonder why it's common in the conservatory to study a specific style, like classical or jazz, and why this distinction isn't made so explicitly when studying dance, architecture or painting in art school. Do you happen to know some books/articles on this subject? Would help me a lot!
An open-ended question for Ian: What has the case of Julius Eastman's academic career made evident about his conservatory or conservatories in general? Has this changed today?
59:05 - Why adopting a softer critical approach towards music from the developing world should even be understood, while it shouldn’t at all be tolorated within a context of the developed world? As benign and “politically correct” as this may sound and though Ian Pace has expressed reservations, by suggesting so, there’s an implication that endeavours from developing world may be promoted and encouraged even if they happen to be mediocre, taking power imbalance into consideration: if the aim is empowerment, judgments should rather be based on substance and merit.
