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Week 2 Reflections
Paragraph 1 (seminar):
The discussions surrounding ‘frame of reference’ when listening to new music we may
never have heard or old music we may love, I found particularly interesting in Monday’s
seminar. One particular point I found to be interesting was the fact that, when
conducting a general study over the 1st years present in the lecture, it was found that for
the most part, teachers had a big influence on what their students listened to. This
fascinated me because, while teachers had been influential in my musical development I
had always found that my parents were a bigger influence. When relating this point
back to myself, I always recall the QYO Big Band conductor that I had in my very first
year in the band (2017), Rafael Karlen (Brisbane Saxophonist and composer) handing
out a page of album titles and musician’s names to listen to. Through listening to some
of the sources found on the sheet, much of my tastes in the modern jazz idiom were
developed, assisting me in part of what I choose to play today. However, during the
study I also raised my hand (how the study was conducted) when asked if my tastes in
music were influenced by my parents and peers. Growing with a father who is a big fan
of 60s and 70s progressive and experimental rock artists such as Frank Zappa, King
Crimson and Mahavishnu Orchestra and a mother who had more mellow tastes in
Australian bands like the Sunny Boys and The Australian Crawl definitely influenced
what I chose to listen to and enjoy from a very young age. On top of that, for my 11th
birthday, they bought me John Coltrane’s ‘Giant Steps’ and Dave Brubeck’s ‘Time Out,’
to incredibly influential albums not only in my own development but in jazz as a whole.
Taking this into account, I have decided that I will further ask my teachers about music
materials to listen to get a different perspective and possibly take on a different
understanding of music.
Paragraph 2 (reading):
When reading “Influences on Music Preference Formation,” one thing instantly jumped
out at me within the first couple of paragraphs. The idea that atonality and tonality
could lead to some music being liked more than others. Given my exposure to the music
of Frank Zappa and, through him, other classical composers such as Edgard Varese and
Arnold Schoenberg, I am no beginner when it comes to atonal music. Therefore this idea
of atonal and tonal music drew great interest, forcing me to ask myself: Why do
composers write/compose atonal music if it isn’t pleasing to the ear? On top of that,
why do some people enjoy atonal music while others don’t? I know from classroom
music in high school that Schoenberg composed the music he did because he felt that
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the music being composed coming in at the end of the 19th century was dull and
repetitive. That however does not give explanation to the continued growth in
popularity of atonal music throughout the 20th century. This then brings in another point
discussed in the paper: social status. I then began to think about the upper echelon
parties of the early 20th century and how that must’ve effected the popularity. It then
became clear to me that it isn’t just the intrinsic qualities of music but also the extrinsic
as well. After translating this to my own world, I can now see ways which both intrinsic
and extrinsic qualities have effected my tastes in music. For example, when on tour with
the QYO Big Band in 2017, a good friend, Hamish Jamieson, introduced me to an album:
Badbadnotgood and Ghostface Killah. A rap album. Before this, the most rap I had been
exposed to at home was the Beastie Boys on the MTV Greatest Songs of All Time shows
so needless to say this was a big jump. However, due to Hamish’ social status with
people at the con I decided to look into it and ever since then I’ve gotten very deep into
hip-hop and rap. In future however, this has taught me to be careful about musical
suggestions when talking to someone of a higher social status than myself.