gwern comments on Open Thread: October 2009 - Less Wrong

5 Post author: gwern 01 October 2009 12:49PM

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Comment author: pdf23ds 03 October 2009 09:39:53PM 0 points [-]

Mightn't that just be because those courses are specifically to teach appreciation of those kinds of music?

Music theory, no, but the others, yes. (I wouldn't think music theory would increase classical appreciation more than other genres, though.)

There is very little net benefit to learning to appreciate a new kind of music

Disagree. Whatever the genre, more variety means listening is less tiring (because less monotonous) and, on the whole, more edifying. Each genre is enjoyed differently, and stimulates different parts of the mind. And in the specific case of classical music, on the theory that it is deeper and richer than other music (in the same way that set theory is deeper and richer than propositional logic, or Netflix is deeper and richer than Blockbuster) the limit of enjoyment is actually higher.

Comment author: gwern 20 August 2010 07:02:50AM 0 points [-]

And in the specific case of classical music, on the theory that it is deeper and richer than other music (in the same way that set theory is deeper and richer than propositional logic, or Netflix is deeper and richer than Blockbuster) the limit of enjoyment is actually higher.

This sounds like a really terrible analogy; if anything, it ought to prove the opposite, that rap could beat classical since rap has access to all the instruments and styles classical does (including, let's not forget, the human voice which modern classical usually shuns) and much more (electronica?). So rap is more general than classical like set theory is more general than propositional logic. Or something.

Comment author: komponisto 20 August 2010 08:27:21AM *  1 point [-]

the human voice which modern classical usually shuns

What on Earth are you talking about? Seriously, what data is generating this impression in your mind?

rap has access to...more (electronica?)

Same question. Where did you get the impression that electronic media aren't ...central to the recent history of art music?

The fundamental difference between art music and popular music (including rap) is nothing so superficial as instrumentation. It's complexity of musical structure. Art music is structurally more complex than popular music; just as "art"/"research" X is structurally more complex than "popular" X, for all X.

(By the way, that's different from what makes something art music vs. popular music. That has to do with memetic lineage. An individual work of art music could happen to be less complex than an individual work of popular music. But the differing lineages differ statistically as described here.)

Comment author: gwern 20 August 2010 09:05:26AM 0 points [-]

Seriously, what data is generating this impression in your mind?

Sunday Baroque on NPR.

Is... is this not a good source of modern preferences in classical music?

Also, I feel that we are arguing in difference ways about complexity. I'm thinking in terms of total possibilities (eg. there are only so many 5 minute pieces expressible with 88 keys or whatever), but you seem to have some sort of entropy measure in mind.

Comment author: komponisto 20 August 2010 09:46:50AM *  2 points [-]

Sunday Baroque on NPR.

Is... is this not a good source of modern preferences in classical music?

I completely misunderstood you. I thought you were talking about actual modern music, not modern preferences in Baroque music. (You did say "modern classical".)

For the record, there is an abundance of vocal music from the Baroque period; I don't know how much of it is played on NPR.

Also, I feel that we are arguing in difference ways about complexity. I'm thinking in terms of total possibilities (eg. there are only so many 5 minute pieces expressible with 88 keys or whatever), but you seem to have some sort of entropy measure in mind.

Yes on the latter point. As for the former, I don't understand what you mean. Are you saying something like "there are fewer possible art compositions than rap songs, because art music is limited to 5-minute piano pieces"? That would be absurd, but I can't come up with another meaning.

Comment author: gwern 20 August 2010 10:20:09AM 1 point [-]

As for the former, I don't understand what you mean. Are you saying something like "there are fewer possible art compositions than rap songs, because art music is limited to 5-minute piano pieces"? That would be absurd, but I can't come up with another meaning.

What is absurd about it? It seems pretty apparent to me that rap can generate nearly-arbitrary sounds within the space of humanly-perceivable sounds, while Baroque/classical/classical-style music is limited to the smaller set of what pianos & flutes & etc. can generate.

Comment author: komponisto 20 August 2010 10:41:32AM 2 points [-]