More on music...

My post on 29 August 2005 discussed an essay by Francisco López where he critiqued the Cagean stance on music, sounds, and silence. His thoughts have been on my mind quite a lot recently and I keep coming back to one of the central ideas. López writes:

The apparently radical confrontation with traditional compositional concerns is a devious way of being trapped once again in the old pitfall of proceduralism and craftsmanship as reference points for the understanding of music.

I have to confess that I have undoubtedly been guilty of this in the past. Though unintentional, this line of procedural thinking has entered many of my discussions of music. At this point I intend to move forward and to discuss music as sounds and the perceptions they create.