In class today we learned about compression and how modern music has alternated the loudness of music. We heard several examples of this, such as Katy Perry, Adele, and Rachel Platten, as compared with older singers like Arethra Franklin and Mahalia Jackson. When it was pointed out, I did realize that the volume of newer songs had little to no change. But I’d be lying if I said I felt outraged or deprived of “real music.” Franklin and Jackson did have quality to them, and I can’t deny they’re “better” singers than Perry and Platten (with range, power, etc). But they’re too different, too separate, for me to make a distinct call on “quality.” Katy Perry’s “Firework” is not 1930s gospel; different strokes for different folks, as the saying goes.
Something I did find interesting was in the article we were assigned to read, it mentioned that new pop music is more repetitive. It made me realize that I sing to modern pop a lot more than I do to songs before, say, the 1970s, even if I know the song and lyrics well. With pre-1970s songs I’m more likely to listen to them as background than attempt to sing along (I’m a terrible singer but I do enjoy it). Maybe that’s because the repetitive lyrics make it easier? Just a thought that crossed my mind.
A deeper note was struck with the discussion of idealism vs realism, which goes far beyond the realm of music. Professor O’Malley mentioned Plato’s perfect forms, and the idea that there was a perfect everything, and that anything else is a shadow of it. I think I’m more of an Aristotelian, but I’m forward with my dearth of Greek philosophy beneath the cursory. I can’t rightly put myself in one camp or another. As a political junkie, I’m forced to view the debate from that angle. I’m radical in my views; some have derided them as utopian. I don’t believe in a perfect world, just a better one. And I don’t believe it exists; just that it can. As a lapsed Catholic turned full atheist, I don’t recognize any kind of higher power; but the romanticism of the Church and the Christian outlook are alluring for other reasons. I don’t feel quite comfortable putting myself firmly in either camp. Although I’m sure I’m in one or the other. If you could be in both, wouldn’t everybody do it?