Day 181

It's as though the progression of "high" art today is happening too fast. Discord in visual and audio media seems to be increasing at a pace that the tradional ear tuned to tonality and clear expression cannot keep up with. I really do try; I listen to and watch the art that grows out of the academic world, but I just don't find myself understanding it, let alone enjoying it.

Meanwhile the television is inundated with music that is manufactured very much the same way any other product is. Marketing analysts teamed up with psychologists figure out what harmonies and musical ideas and emotional themes are particularly desirable, and then design their media fr success; it is beautiful in a way more scientific than anything else.

If art is to be a reflection of life, it must hook up with experience in some way however abstract. If I see a painting and I cannot bring it into my world of experience (or vice versa) in any meaningful or revealing way, I question its vaue as an artistic work. Likewise with music, literature, and all other art forms.

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