Is Classical Music considered to be inherently superior to all else?

music_phantom13 · 11-16-2009, 08:16 PM

But in the professional world (fields that study music like ethnomusicology) classical music is often considered the only form of music, with a lot of people in the academic refusing to acknowledge even jazz as intelligent music. So by their viewpoint, no there is not. This is ironic to me, because I would expect those people to be open minded.

Freebase Dali · 11-16-2009, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by music_phantom13

But in the professional world (fields that study music like ethnomusicology) classical music is often considered the only form of music, with a lot of people in the academic refusing to acknowledge even jazz as intelligent music. So by their viewpoint, no there is not. This is ironic to me, because I would expect those people to be open minded.

Interesting.
I haven't studied that, but in that context it begs the question... was there a such thing as music prior to pianos, trumpets, violins, etc.?
Obviously, the answer is yes.
Classical music can't define itself as the only form of music by virtue of itself if "itself" is composed of instruments inspired by, and created for, the creation of music, unless it's referring to the creation of a form of music related to its creation.
Musical expression happened long before classical music came to be.

music_phantom13 · 11-17-2009, 06:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freebase Dali

Interesting.
I haven't studied that, but in that context it begs the question... was there a such thing as music prior to pianos, trumpets, violins, etc.?
Obviously, the answer is yes.
Classical music can't define itself as the only form of music by virtue of itself if "itself" is composed of instruments inspired by, and created for, the creation of music, unless it's referring to the creation of a form of music related to its creation.
Musical expression happened long before classical music came to be.

Your absolutely right, and earlier music might be studied in academic fields; I'm no expert. I just know that virtually all forms of music that have cropped up in the past 100 years or so that don't fall under the classical umbrella tend to be regarded as crap (except maybe more traditional folk music from around the world, aka not jazz, rap, rock, electronica, etc). Obviously I don't agree with this statement, but it's what I learned when I looked into ethnomusicology.

11-16-2009, 08:16 PM	#1 (permalink)
music_phantom13 Music Addict Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 942	But in the professional world (fields that study music like ethnomusicology) classical music is often considered the only form of music, with a lot of people in the academic refusing to acknowledge even jazz as intelligent music. So by their viewpoint, no there is not. This is ironic to me, because I would expect those people to be open minded.