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Our American Musical Resources

Our American Musical Resources Our American Musical Resources Several years ago, a young friend of mine came here from Europe to study musical composition at one of our universities. He had been inspired to compose by hearing the music of the masters over the radio. The country from which he came is one rich in folk lore, and also one that has a most interesting native musical idiom. This young man planned to base some compositions on folk themes of his country, and mentioned his plans to certain other musicians. They spoke scornfully of folk music, and said that the use of folk themes would be equivalent to writing popular music. They advised him to devote himself solely to the creation of abstract music. This he did, with the result that the compositions he turned out were so lacking in inspiration and so intellectual that it was difficult for audiences to listen to them. It would have been better, in my opinion, if he had tried to idealize his country's folk music, or even to write music reminiscent of the masters—provided, of course, that in doing so he would have been looking forward to the day when he would find himself and when http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Black Sacred Music Duke University Press

Our American Musical Resources

Black Sacred Music , Volume 6 (2) – Sep 1, 1992

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Copyright
Copyright © 1992 by Duke University Press
ISSN
1043-9455
eISSN
2640-9879
DOI
10.1215/10439455-6.2.194
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Our American Musical Resources Several years ago, a young friend of mine came here from Europe to study musical composition at one of our universities. He had been inspired to compose by hearing the music of the masters over the radio. The country from which he came is one rich in folk lore, and also one that has a most interesting native musical idiom. This young man planned to base some compositions on folk themes of his country, and mentioned his plans to certain other musicians. They spoke scornfully of folk music, and said that the use of folk themes would be equivalent to writing popular music. They advised him to devote himself solely to the creation of abstract music. This he did, with the result that the compositions he turned out were so lacking in inspiration and so intellectual that it was difficult for audiences to listen to them. It would have been better, in my opinion, if he had tried to idealize his country's folk music, or even to write music reminiscent of the masters—provided, of course, that in doing so he would have been looking forward to the day when he would find himself and when

Journal

Black Sacred MusicDuke University Press

Published: Sep 1, 1992

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