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In Reply to: RE: Seriously? posted by Analog Scott on September 02, 2012 at 09:31:46
>OK I will remind you of what you said on the subject.
"Yuja Wang's rhythms are wrong, and where they aren't wrong, they're unsophisticated."
Scott, I know what I said. I'm just not sure why that has anything to do with the URL I provided, since I didn't make that post until later.
"If you are going to assert that your claims on these alleged 'rhythmic anomalies' are valid based on your familiarity with the genre you can't claim logical fallacy when an opposing position is presented by someone who is clearly more familiar with that genre."
You've made a logical error here, confounding "one must be familiar with a genre to make judgments" with "familiarity with a genre confers the ability to make judgments." Do you question the former? I certainly question the latter.
[Tchaikovsky] Tchaikovsky did make such objective assertions about Brahms, and about Bach as well. I disagree with them, just as I disagree with the judgment of these two jazz musicians.
"I think you lose the argument if that is the criteria."
I think it has no effect on the argument one way or the other. It is merely an observation about the nature of judgment, and why professionals don't necessarily have judgment that's superior to non-professionals.
You keep personifying this when neither ad hominems nor argument from authority -- which as I think about it are flip sides of the same thing -- have any validity.
"If that is your position I think you are plainly wrong. One can not excel at anything without the ability to evaluate the success of their en devours and the en devours of others. There is no way a musician as well versed in jazz as Sasha Mazakowski is going to miss objectively 'wrong rhythms' or 'rhythmic anomalies'."
If that were true, all professional musicians would have equal interpretive skills. I don't think you'll find many who say that they do. Furthermore, you persist in oversimplifying style, supposing that it is something that a musicologist could describe. Except in the most basic degree, we aren't able to do that.
What makes Schnabel's performance of the Hammerklavier so compelling? Certainly not technical virtuosity -- there are many pianists who have fleeter, more reliable, fingers. Can what makes his performance be described in entirely mechanistic terms? I don't think so. Not of course because there's no logic to it, but because we lack the analytical tools to do so. We can say so-and-so played with gusto, or rare understanding, or sensitivity, and critics regularly do. Or we can say he took the andante too fast, or that her intonation was off. But we can't put into words everything that makes a performance great. We can only hear it (or not), and respond to it.
Follow Ups:
> > > OK I will remind you of what you said on the subject.
"Yuja Wang's rhythms are wrong, and where they aren't wrong, they're unsophisticated."> > >
> > Scott, I know what I said. I'm just not sure why that has anything to do with the URL I provided, since I didn't make that post until later.> >
You claimed it supported your assertion of objective "wrongness" of Yuja Wang's rhythms.
> > > "If you are going to assert that your claims on these alleged 'rhythmic anomalies' are valid based on your familiarity with the genre you can't claim logical fallacy when an opposing position is presented by someone who is clearly more familiar with that genre."> > >
> > You've made a logical error here, confounding "one must be familiar with a genre to make judgments" with "familiarity with a genre confers the ability to make judgments." Do you question the former? I certainly question the latter.> >
excellent argument! Almost. The problem is you can't exclude yourself from the scope of "the former" It is entirely possible that both musicians whose opinions I cited are actually incapable of making such judgements. And of course this would be quite ironic since Art Tatum is one of Sasha Masakowski's favorite jazz pianists. Then the re is the degree of "familiarity" that we are talking about here. You and I are familiar with jazz as fans of music. Indeed that does not show an ability to make judgements on jazz music. OTOH Sasha Masakowski is a professional jazz musician whose livelyhood depends on her ability to make judgements when she records and performs jazz music. Also, she has a degree in jazz studies from the university of New Orleans. I think it is pretty safe to say that her knowledge of jazz runs much deeper than your garden just a basic familiarity. And as such it is quite reasonable that if there were objective "rhythmic anomalies" that you claim are "obvious" that someone with Sasha Masakowski's training, knowledge and experience would recognize it.
> > [Tchaikovsky] Tchaikovsky did make such objective assertions about Brahms, and about Bach as well. I disagree with them, just as I disagree with the judgment of these two jazz musicians.> >
He made objective claims of "wrongness?" I'd like to read up on those claims. Do you have any references?
> > > "I think you lose the argument if that is the criteria."> > >
> > I think it has no effect on the argument one way or the other. It is merely an observation about the nature of judgment, and why professionals don't necessarily have judgment that's superior to non-professionals.> >
This isn't judgement on something subjective. Your claims about "wrong rhythms" are quite objective. In such matters training, knowledge and experience do play very heavily in one's ability to make such judgements. Who do you trust in objective assessments of law, a law professor or someone who watches the People's Court?
> > You keep personifying this when neither ad hominems nor argument from authority -- which as I think about it are flip sides of the same thing -- have any validity.> >
I have not engaged in any ad hominem here. You have made objective claims about the performance in question and I have cited testimony from two musicians one of which has a degree in jazz studies that clearly run contrary to your objective claims. Your only support for your claims is your familiarity with jazz. it is not ad hominem to point out that your familiarity with jazz clearly takes a back seat to that of Sasha Masakowski's in assessing objective claims about "right" or "wrong" rhythms in jazz. I really don't think you are going to be picking up on "obviously wrong rhythms" that are being missed by a working musician with a degree in jazz studies. it is ever so slightly possible but ever so unlikely.
> > > "If that is your position I think you are plainly wrong. One can not excel at anything without the ability to evaluate the success of their en devours and the en devours of others. There is no way a musician as well versed in jazz as Sasha Mazakowski is going to miss objectively 'wrong rhythms' or 'rhythmic anomalies'."> > >
> > If that were true, all professional musicians would have equal interpretive skills.> >
That is a non sequitur. Interpretive skills are as much if not more subjective than objective. You made objective assertions of wrong rhythms. You claimed they were obvious. Such obvious errors are not going to be missed by two different musicians one of which has a degree in jazz studies and makes her living as a musician. If they are wrong then please point them out and explain how they are wrong. you can not rely on your familiarity with jazz as support of this assertion now that we have testimony of two musicians that run contrary to your claims.
> > Furthermore, you persist in oversimplifying style, supposing that it is something that a musicologist could describe. Except in the most basic degree, we aren't able to do that.> >
How have I oversimplified style and how is it relevant to your assertions of obvious objective wrongness of rhythms?
> > What makes Schnabel's performance of the Hammerklavier so compelling?> >
1. There is no consensus that is compelling
2. Claiming one finds it "compelling" is not making objective claim of "rightness" so the point does not relate
> > Certainly not technical virtuosity -- there are many pianists who have fleeter, more reliable, fingers.> >
But technical accomplishment is something that can be discussed in objective terms and in most cases better discussed by folks with training, experience and knowledge when it comes to the technical side of classical piano. And as such one would expect that if Schnabel's performance of Hammerklavier were so objectively technically flawed that it could be described as "obviously wrong" it would be something that his fellow musicians would pretty much universally recognize.
> > Can what makes his performance be described in entirely mechanistic terms?> >
Doesn't matter. If it could accurately be described as "rhythmically wrong" and "obviously" so by a layman there is little doubt that trained pianists and musicologists would see that as plain as the noses on their faces.
> > Not of course because there's no logic to it, but because we lack the analytical tools to do so.> >
There is plenty of logic behind and means of analysis of the objective measure of rhythms. If one is going to make such objective claims then one needs more than citation of their familiarity with jazz to support them. This is especially true when these alleged "obvious" "rhythmic anomalies" are going undetected by trained, experienced and knowledgeable jazz musicians.
Again, I have no issue with your taste. That is entirely subjective. If you had stopped at "I don't like it" or "it doesn't work for me." We would have never had this discussion. I don't argue taste. It is one thing not to like a particular tempo or phrasing. It's another to say it is "wrong."
"You claimed it supported your assertion of objective "wrongness" of Yuja Wang's rhythms."
It does, and yes, I did, after you had raised the question. I did not, however, make that claim at the time I posted it, as you will see if you look at my post.
It does because it's an example of great jazz playing. It doesn't in the sense that it's not the same arrangement, note for note, although as you yourself pointed out, the issue isn't note-by-note reproduction of the interpretation -- nobody would be expected to do that, or could. Rather, it's about a musically valid interpretation.
I've heard a lot of jazz played by lots of great artists, and to my ears, it has almost always had that validity. To my ears, Wang's doesn't. I could have put up a recording of Louis Armstrong and made the same point -- here's great jazz, played as it should be played.
"I think it is pretty safe to say that her knowledge of jazz runs much deeper than your garden just a basic familiarity. And as such it is quite reasonable that if there were objective "rhythmic anomalies" that you claim are "obvious" that someone with Sasha Masakowski's training, knowledge and experience would recognize it."
I agree with the first, not the second. You're still making an argument from authority.
I realized, after reading a paper online, that the numbness I'd been experiencing in my fingers and toes was the consequence of my sleep apnea. This after three different doctors, including a neurologist who conducted nerve conduction tests, failed to make the diagnosis. These men all knew far more about medicine than I do.
Arguments from authority don't mean much.
"[Tchaikovsky] made objective claims of 'wrongness?' I'd like to read up on those claims. Do you have any references?"
http://www.tchaikovsky-research.net/en/people/brahms_johannes.html
"I really don't think you are going to be picking up on "obviously wrong rhythms" that are being missed by a working musician with a degree in jazz studies."
You will never get anywhere if you persist in arguing from authority, or its converse. They are logical fallacies.
To understand an issue, one must discuss the issue, not the people discussing the issue. It's as simple as tha
"You can not rely on your familiarity with jazz as support of this assertion now that we have testimony of two musicians that run contrary to your claims."
I have never relied on my familiarity of jazz as a support of this assertion. You seem unable to get away from seeing this in terms of authority. That is a logical fallacy. I have tried to show you why, using as an example one of the greatest musical geniuses, and his bone-headed characterizations of Bach and Brahm.
"> > What makes Schnabel's performance of the Hammerklavier so compelling?> >
"1. There is no consensus that is compelling"
Actually, I suspect very much that there is: Schnabel's playing of late Beethoven is widely considered peerless and I'm one of many who consider his Beethoven Society recordings the greatest recording project ever. But what if there weren't? What difference would that make? You keep seeing this in terms of authority.
"Again, I have no issue with your taste. That is entirely subjective. If you had stopped at 'I don't like it' or 'it doesn't work for me.' We would have never had this discussion. I don't argue taste. It is one thing not to like a particular tempo or phrasing. It's another to say it is 'wrong'."
I don't like it and in my judgment it is wrong, like an umbrella made of Swiss cheese, or a two-legged stool. You can quote every authority in the world but that wouldn't affect my judgment. You -- or they -- would have to say something that actually changes my understanding to do that. Arguments from authority don't. If I am willing to disagree with the likes of Tchaikovsky and Wagner about Brahms, why would the opinion of two musicians, however esteemed, change my mind about Wang's Tatum?
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