Welcome to the Research and Development Department

Most people who compose or play challenging new music (or serious music, avant garde, experimental, what-have-you) have had to endure repeated questioning of the value of their music by friends, family members, co-workers, and the rest. Not to mention possibly trying to build a career and a body of work in a capitalist society that devalues non-commercial music (that is to say, unpopular music). Academia and the non-profit sector are the traditional means of support for adventurous musical endeavors, but even these are tightening up and shifting focus to more crowd pleasing forms of music. At the same time, paradoxically, presentations of new music are getting mainstream attention and large crowds. For instance Stockhausen at the Park Avenue Armory, Michael Gordon's Timbre. Though you could make an argument for the crowd-pleasingness of those two pieces. But it is still crucial to repeat some of what Milton Babbitt wrote in "Who Cares If You Listen" way back in the day. Note that there is some controversy over that title and over Babbitt's claims that he did actually care if you listen. Of course composers care if you listen. But we also don't care if you don't. The music still needs to be made because, as Babbitt says, it is essential to the progress of the art form. He talks about new music, or "serious" music as he calls it, as an area of research on par with advanced mathematics and physics. I like to think of serious music as the Research and Development Department of Global Popmusic Corp. Usually there is a roughly 10-20 year lag between advancements in serious music and their apparent influence on popular music.

Sound collage, aka musique concrete? Pierre Schaeffer in the late 1940's, Beatles in the late 1960's.

Of course there is always Les Paul messing with tape speed in 1950's pop music.

Synthesizers? Milton Babbitt in the early 1960's, The Byrds in the late 1960's.

Turntables as instruments? Paul Hindemith and John Cage in the 1930's, DJ Kool Herc and Grandwizard Theodore in the late 1970's.

I could go on. The mainstream music audience gets their ears adjusted somehow.