Critic's Corner

Literacy Test

65.205.15.220

In Reply to: RE: American Musical Literacy (long) posted by Pjay on July 17, 2007 at 10:00:13

I don't think that one can go out a buy any 12 pieces of music and thereby become musically, much less culturally, literate. Also, there are well more than 12 distinct categories of contemporaneous music, never mind historical groupings, so how can any list capture what represents the full spectrum of music of cultural and historic importance?

Rather than list "important" pieces, I think the list should include pieces that, if recognized by a listener, would be merely an indicia that that listener has broad musical and cultural experience.

In that sense, I think it would be telling if someone did not recognize the tune for Gilligan's Island or certain commercial jingles. If that same person recognizes the piano works of Nancarrow, that too, would be telling.

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