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On Thu, Feb 14, 2013 at 7:39 AM, Rustom Mody  wrote:
>

quoted text
> Personally, Ive for years belonged to the class of people who consider

> that music starts with Bach and ends with Beethoven. Bach because he is God

> and Beethoven because He is a man.

>

as much of a lover of Bach's non-vocal works as I am, I'd like to point out

that most definitions of music involve at least 3 components:
         rhythm

         melody

         harmony
one might also timbre if you were in the right mood. Bach, like more or

less everyone who is a part of the "western tradition", did some incredible

things with harmony, and had some modest accomplishments in the melodic

area (*), but did essentially nothing with rhythm.
It is entirely possible to fully respect the incredible work of western

composers while also acknowledging that "music" begins and ends in places

far outside anywhere that they (or any other single musical culture) have

ever explored.
(*) contrast western notions of melody with that found in carnatic music,

for example. one could argue that this is a matter of listener

interpretation rather than compositional form, but since in practice these

two are tightly bound together, it doesn't make a lot of difference when it

comes to actual music.
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On Thu, Feb 14, 2013 at 7:39 AM, Rustom =

Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> wrote:

Personally, Ive for years belonged to the class of people who consider =

that music starts with Bach and ends with Beethoven. Bach because he is God=

 and Beethoven because He is a man.as much of a l=

over of Bach's non-vocal works as I am, I'd like to point out that =

most definitions of music involve at least 3 components:

=A0=A0 =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 rhythm=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 melo=

dy=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 harmonyone might also timbre if you =

were in the right mood. Bach, like more or less everyone who is a part of t=

he "western tradition", did some incredible things with harmony, =

and had some modest accomplishments in the melodic area (*), but did essent=

ially nothing with rhythm.

It is entirely possible to fully respect the incredible work of western=

 composers while also acknowledging that "music" begins and ends =

in places far outside anywhere that they (or any other single musical cultu=

re) have ever explored.

(*) contrast western notions of melody with that found in carnatic =

music, for example. one could argue that this is a matter of listener inter=

pretation rather than compositional form, but since in practice these two a=

re tightly bound together, it doesn't make a lot of difference when it =

comes to actual music.
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