Rock versus Classical Music Author(s): Stephen Davies Source: The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 57, No. 2, Aesthetics and Popular Culture (Spring, 1999), pp. 193-204 Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of The American Society for Aesthetics Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/432312 Accessed: 21/09/2009 10:09

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http://www.jstor.org STEPHEN DAVIES

Rock versus Classical Music

In this paper I consider the issue whether rock feels to the listener,or the way it affects the listener's and classical music requiredifferent criteria for body. (p. 23) their appreciationand evaluation. I addressthis issue througha considerationof Bruce Baugh's Baugh makes no attempt to define what he "Prolegomena to Any Aesthetics of Rock means by "rock"or "classical"music. The rock Music."' I consider Baugh's position because it songs he names areconfined largelyto the 1960s representsa widely held viewpoint. Versions of and 1970s. As regardsclassical music, he men- it are held by unreflectiverock fans and profes- tions a numberof composers, but refers to only sional commentators on the rock scene alike. a few works or performers.Obviously there are Ideas centralto Baugh'spositive accountof rock gray areas.How should we class rock operas, or music-for instance, that it has a nonrational, the efforts of the Boston Pops? Despite these Dionysian appeal that depends on its power and worries, I will accept, as does James O. Young,3 rhythm-are presentedby a wide rangeof rock's Baugh's critic, that our precriticalgroupings of defenders, from proto-rock-journalistRichard the relevantmusical types coincide well enough Meltzer to musicologists Susan McClary and to make the dialogue possible. RobertWalser to rock critic and historianRobert Baugh's argumentcan be summarizedas fol- Palmer, as well as by its critics, for example, lows: Classical works are appreciatedprimarily Allan Bloom.2 Nevertheless,I think thatthis po- for their forms, and the focus of attentionin this sition is mistaken. I suggest that, at the level of music falls more on the work than the perfor- generality presupposed by classifications as mance.The performeris subservientto the score broadas "classical"and "rock,"it is not distinc- she follows. By contrast,in rock music the per- tive aesthetics that separatethese types. formance is the object of attentionand it is en- joyed and valued for its nonformal properties. I. THE ARGUMENTS The musicians usually have no score to direct them, and the sonic effects at which they aim are Baugh asks: "Does rock music have standardsof not ones that could be notatedeasily. Of impor- its own, which uniquely apply to it, or that apply tance among the nonformalproperties central to to it in an especially appropriateway?" (p. 23). rock are the "materialfeatures of sound,"espe- He believes the answerto be "yes"and notes that cially rhythm,the expressivityof notes, and vol- ume. These affect the listener's body directly any attempt to evaluate or understandrock music and are appreciatednonintellectually. They pro- using traditionalaesthetics of music is bound to result duce a response that is visceral or somatic. It is in a misunderstanding....Rock belongs to a different the aim of rock music to elicit this reaction, tradition,with different concerns and aims.... Tradi- whereasclassical music does not have this effect tional musical aesthetics is concerned with form and or purpose. composition, whereasrock is concernedwith the mat- Young responds by arguing that nonformal ter of music. ... By "matter"I mean the way music featuresare no less presentin classical thanrock

The Journalof Aesthetics and Art Criticism57:2 Spring 1999 194 The Journalof Aesthetics and Art Criticism music. Classical music often is expressive of essay was to establishthe limits of formalistcrit- emotion. Sheer beauty of tone is importantand icism when it comes to music."7 He closes by loudness sometimes is of expressive signifi- turningYoung's conclusion on its head. cance. Moreover, classical music also affects the listener's body, eliciting foot-tapping,head- PerhapsYoung is right that what is truly valuable in nodding,air-conducting, and (in private,if not in classical performances is also a matter of feeling the concert chamber) dancing. While classical ratherthan form. But in that case, in classical music, performersusually follow a score, considerable as in rock, formal complexity can never make up for freedom in the score's interpretationis tolerated; an absence of expressive qualities, and for better or also, some classical works, such as those with a for worse, classical music would have to be judged by figuredbass, requirethe performerto improvise. the same performance-basedstandards used to judge Because classical performerscan adopt a more rock music.8 earthy,primitive technique when the music calls for it, Young decides that classical music en- Whereas Young intimates that rock will fare compasses all the features presented by Baugh badly in the comparisonwith classical music ac- as distinctive of rock, and more besides. He con- cording to the criteriaof evaluationthat apply to cludes: all music, Baughimplies the reverse.If its perfor- manceis overly intellectual,and rule governed, as Eachof thestandards of excellencein rockmusic per- Baugh often intimates, classical music will be formancewhich Baugh identifies applies as well to revealed as sterile and unappealingwhen non- performancesof classical music.... This is not to say formal criteriaof evaluationcome into play. thatno differenceexists betweenrock and classical Some good points are made on both sides of music. For better or worse, however, rock music has this exchange. Young does well to emphasize to bejudged by thestandards which have always been how limited is Baugh's view of the role of the used to judge music.4 performerand of the place of expressiveness in classical music. Baugh is correct to insist that In his reply to Young's criticisms, Baugh ar- rock playersharness distinctive skills in the pur- gues that the techniquesof performancefor rock suit of goals different from those that concern are not merely primitive versions of those used the classical performer.Nevertheless, my over- in classical music.5A differentkind of virtuosity all impression is that the argumentsmiss each is required,which is why good classical musi- other. This occurs despite the fact that Young cians cannot usually transfertheir skills to the seems to accept the parametersset up by Baugh. successful performance of rock music. More- Their differences might have been more clearly over, the rock player's techniques are untrained articulatedhad those parametersbeen examined. and natural, rather than mechanical and pol- Baugh's argumentrelies on questionabledistinc- ished. He suggests, in addition, that classical tions between music's formal and nonformalel- music long has lost its connection with the lis- ements and between the kinds of musicianship tener's emotional or bodily response: involved in performingthe two kinds of music.

A traditionis an ongoing,developing thing, and the II. FORMALISM AND EXPRESSIVENESS classical traditionhas ... become more formalistin its standardsof compositionand performance and more Baugh believes that the interest in classical intellectualistin its approachto listening....If feeling music is exclusively formal, and he cites Kant, and formalismonce vied with each other ..., the battle Hanslick, and Adorno in support of the claim. is longsince over, and the formalists won.6 "Classical aesthetics of music explicitly ex- cludes questions concerninghow music feels or As to Young's conclusion, Baugh approaches sounds, and the emotional reactions music pro- it in a fashion that is perhaps surprising. He vokes, from considerationof musicalbeauty" (p. might have insisted that his goal was to identify 24). Formalistissues continue to predominatein features that are distinctive of, if not always ex- music criticism in general, from journalism to clusive to, rock music. Instead, and somewhat academia (p. 24). Against all this, Young ob- disingenuously,he writes: "the main aim of my serves that composers and musicians have al- Davies Rock versus Classical Music 195 ways regardedclassical music as including the service of form, and is always judged in relation expression and arousal of emotions.9 (He could to form"(p. 25). have added,of course, thatmany philosophersof It might be said that form is one thing and ex- music in this century have taken the analysis of pressiveness quite another.The two are distinct, music's expressive powers as their prime topic.) certainly,but they operatein such intimateprox- He arguesthat nonformalproperties are often of imity that a rigid distinctionbetween the formal more interest than formal elements in classical and nonformalproperties of music is easily un- music. dermined. The expressive character of music For my part, I am more inclined to question often depends on its structure,and we might un- the viability of the distinction on which Baugh derstanda piece's form as much in terms of its founds his argument.I cannot imagine how one expressive progressas in termsof textbookmod- could listen to music withoutconcerning oneself els. Micro, medium, and macropatterns of orga- with form, with the structuringof sound. Music nization affect the piece's expressive character. is patternedsound, and one can hearthe music in Imagine two musical sections: a slow, dragging the noise it makes only by detectingits pattern.'10 part (X) and an upbeat, lively one (Y). The ex- At the micro-level, much music is organized in pressive mood of the piece obviously is affected terms of tonalities or modalities, harmoniccom- in part by how these are ordered-for example, binations, meter, and so on. At the mid-level, as XY, YX, XYX, YXY, and so on.'2 Take the there are units such as melodies. At the macro- twelve-bar patternof blues as an example. The level, there are chunks, some of which repeator micro-form usually is of an XXY type. In the vary previously introducedmaterial. Unless one final four measures,the pace of harmonicchange can hear a tune-hear when it begins and ends, is doubled. When this is coupled with an appro- when it is repeated-one cannot locate the priate melodic and rhythmicintensification, the music that is there. This way of listening is not resulting impression is one of compression, of any more "intellectual"than is hearing a sen- centripetalcollapse, which lends a special inex- tence in one's mother tongue with understand- orability and power in the drive to the tonic that ing. In both cases, a great deal of enculturation resolves the tension and closes the section. It is lies behind the process, but that process is "nat- these "formal"elements, as much as any others, ural"to the extent that it is our effortless way of that create the expressive effect of the singer's hearing music and language as such. The per- being over-burdenedand crushedby sadness. ceptual experience that would require thought In addition, it is not possible to distinguish and special effort is that of hearing one's native the formal from the nonformal by arguing that music or language merely as stringsof unrelated perception of the former is intellectual where sounds. that of the latter is not. Emotions have a large As music, rock is no less formal than any cognitive component. And one needs to per- other kind. Typically,it is tonal (thoughthe third ceive and understandlots of things about music and seventh degrees of the scale can be inflected, in order to be able to recognize expressiveness as in the scale used in blues). It employs the in it (and to respond to what one hears with ap- meter of common time and a persistent back- propriateemotions). So practical is the knowl- beat. It uses familiar harmonic patterns.It con- edge involved that its role is not always appar- tains melodies. It is sectioned according to ent to the absorbedlistener. But as soon as she strophicor other repetitive structures.Baugh al- is presented with music ordered according to lows as much, but he suggests that art rock was conventions very different from those with a disaster when it attemptedto make its forms which she is at home, its expressive characteris the focus of interest (p. 25)." When rock suc- rendered opaque. I suspect that most Western ceeds, it does so not in virtue of its formal inter- listeners can make little of the "nonformal" est but, rather, by using the "materiality"of propertiesof Japanesegagaku or Chinese opera sound to generate nonformal properties. With when they encounter such music for the first classical music, by contrast,the listener's atten- time. tion should be directed to the form, and nonfor- Baugh implies that those who listen to classi- mal propertiesare of secondaryimportance only. cal music attend in an intellectual way to its "In classical aesthetics of music, matteris at the form, whereas rock music engages the listener's 196 The Journalof Aesthetics and Art Criticism feelings and thereby engenders a noncognitive ings the music produces in the listener's body.... response. I believe that he mischaracterizesthe These material or "visceral" properties of rock are person who listens to classical music. While that registeredin the body core, in the gut, and in the mus- person's experience must be informed by a cles and sinews of the arms and legs, ratherthan in knowledge of the relevant conventions, prac- any intellectualfaculty of judgment.(pp. 23-24) tices, and idioms, it need not be intellectual in the sense of requiring an internal commentary Obviously, very loud music has an effect on the body, that refers to technical notions.13 And while and notjust on the ears; you can feel it vibratein your some pieces, such as Bach's fugues, do invite at- chest cavity. (p. 28) tention specifically to the details of their struc- ture, many others are to be understoodand ap- As he describes it, the rock audience'sresponse preciated in terms of their expressive or lyrical is not based on their listening to the music as character. such, but is a physiological reactionto the noise In general, I doubt that a distinction can be it makes. drawnbetween formal and nonformalproperties Baugh is inclined to take the argumentfurther that will be such as to show that a person might by suggesting that, because of the way it affects listen in terms of the one without an awareness the body, rock music falls in a traditionin which of the other. And I doubt that there is any basis music is for dancing, not listening, to. "A bad for distinguishingthe person who listens to rock rock song is one that tries and fails to inspirethe music from the one who listens to classical body to dance" (p. 26). He allows that there is a music on the grounds that the former's interest significant body of rock music that one is not is in nonformal properties that are appreciated meant to dance to. Nevertheless, he maintains noncognitively, whereas the latter'sconcern fo- that rock remains in touch with its historical cuses on forms that are recognized in a self- roots in dance music, as classical music does consciously intellectual fashion. If the discus- not. The dance types from which classical music sion is about a person who listens to the music arose were appreciatedfor theirformal qualities, she appreciates,Baugh's contrast between rock "not for their somatic or visceral aspects. On the and classical music is unconvincing. contrary,in courtly dance, matterand the body One way of breathinglife back into the dis- are subject to form and the intellect. This was tinction between formal and nonformalmusical never more truethan in Romanticballet" (p. 26). propertiesis by arguingthat the person who ap- In response to Young's objection that those who preciates rock does not listen to it, though she is danced to the music of Mozartand Haydn were affected, nonetheless, by what she hears. In ef- not in the least concerned with the music's fect, this is how Baugh develops his argument. form,'4 Baugh replies: While he sometimes writes as if what is impor- tant to rock music is its engagementwith the au- The fact thatat one time the music was played and lis- dience's emotions, more often he characterizes tened to with dance in mind does not mean that it is the crucial response as yet more primitive than still played and listened to that way. ... In the second this. He insists that rock affects the body and place, even in the eighteenth century, dance was a that the reaction that it provokes is somatic, vis- highly formal affair: minuets and waltzes observe ceral, in the gut. The three featureshe mentions strict formal patterns.... Rock dancing can include a as constituting"rock's essence" (p. 28) are such lot of fancy footwork and intricate movements, but because of their capacity to provoke this re- not often according to a set pattern, and sometimes sponse. there is no formal patternat all.15

The materialityof tone, or more accurately,of the per- I am unconvinced by the claim that rock formanceof tones, is only one importantmaterial ele- music is always more intimately connected to ment of rock music. Two others are loudness and dance than is classical music. Is it the case that rhythm. Both of these are also more properlyfelt by baroquedance suites or contemporaryminimal- the body than judged by the mind ... and the proper ist works-not to mentionBartok's music for the use of both is crucial to the success of a rock music ballet The MiraculousMandarin or Stravinsky's performance,a success which is judged by the feel- for The Rite of Spring-are less kinetically im- Davies Rock versus Classical Music 197 pelling than rock ballads such as "TheRose," or responsein those who arefamiliar with, and who "Yesterday"?Is "A Day in the Life" more "in enjoy, its style and idiom. This reaction usually touch"with the dance traditionto which it is heir is unselfconscious but it is not thereby noncog- than is Beethoven's Seventh Symphony?I doubt nitive. Because the response is to the multi- that most people feel irresistibly impelled to strandedpattern of tensions and relaxationsthat dance to rock music heard on the radio. Rock propel the music forwardand bring it to a close, music, like otherkinds, is very frequentlyused as the listenermust have internalizedaspects of the a backgroundaccompaniment to other activities. style's "grammar,"so that she has expectations Anyway,does no one ever danceto Mozartin the that can be confirmed, delayed, or defeated by privacy of her home? Of course, rock music that the music's course. (Music that is entirely unfa- is writtento be danced to is danced to when it is miliar and unpredictablemakes one feel consis- played at dances, but this is how people respond tently uncomfortableor indifferent,whereas the to dance music at dances, and it is how they al- response I have been describingreflects the ar- ways have done. It is worthrecalling that dancing ticulation of the music.) Accordingly, while the is a socially sophisticated, self-conscious, and listener need not attend to the music to the ex- deliberate reaction to music. Low-level motor clusion of all other actions and thoughts,at least and physiological responses triggeredby music she must register its features and hear them as mightimpel the listenerto dance,but this is by no such if it is to affect her body. Despite Baugh's means inevitable.Whether the primitiveresponse emphasis on the nonintellectualcharacter of the finds expression in this way depends on the so- rock audience's response, there is no reason to cial context and personal inclination of the lis- doubt that the followers of rock attainan appro- tener. priateawareness of the music presentedto them. Baugh's more interesting and basic point, I The rock listener might not be aware of her think, is the one aboutthe way that music affects awareness of relevant features, but the same the body. Particulartimbres or discords can turn goes equally for the person who listens to classi- the listener'sblood cold and make his skin-hairs cal music. The second point is this: While tim- stand on end. Certaintones, intervals,cadences, bral quality, rhythm, and loudness all can con- or sudden changes in dynamics, tempo, or tributeto evoking a visceral reaction,so too can rhythmcan cause the listener to catch breath,or many other musical elements. These other ele- to exhale. Sometimes it is only when he does so ments are significant in rock music, as much as that he realizes how responsive to the music his classical. Baugh underestimatesthe extent to patternof breathinghas become. And above all, which the visceral response he describes de- music's regularities and its cross-patterns are pends not only on the musical featureshe high- echoed kinesthetically by both the performer lights, but also on a song's melodic and har- and the listener, who twitch, tap, contract,flex, monic shape, its words, its overall structure,and twist, jerk, tense, sway, and stretchas they react so on. bodily to the music. Music moves us, quite liter- Baugh may be correct in thinking that some ally, and often we are unawareof the small mo- rock music takes as its prime goal the arousalof tions we make in response to it. a physiological response. I suspect, however, It seems to me that, when Baugh writes of a that this truthcannot easily be generalized into somatic, visceral, body-core reaction to rock one about the fundamentaldifference between music, it is the response just described above rock and classical music. As I have alreadyindi- that he is referringto. His main claims are these: cated, there are many classical works that are no Rock music engages the listener's body by pro- less direct in their appeal to the listener's body. voking such a response. It does so mainly in In the past, innovations in all kinds of music terms of timbralquality, loudness, and rhythm. have been consistently condemnedas lascivious This reaction is unthinkingand noncognitive; it and morally corrupting for this very reason. does not require listening as such. Classical Meanwhile, many types of rock music invite at- music does not have as its main aim the stimula- tention more to their lyrics, their melodies, their tion of an equivalentresponse. expressiveness, or their self-conscious playing I would reply with two points.All music, clas- with the conventions of the genre than to the sical as much as other kinds, producesa visceral "materiality"of their sounds. 198 The Journalof Aesthetics and Art Criticism

III. WORKS, PERFORMANCES, AND NOTATIONS that can add to musical expression.When they hit the right notes, it is not because the notes are right that Baugh maintains that, for classical music, the makes them great guitarists, but the way the notes object of attentionis the work, whereas for rock sound, and the "timing"of the notes. (p. 28) music it is the performance.In rock, it is the singer (orthe electric guitar),not the song, thatis By contrast with those who listen to classical important(p. 23). This difference is "a matterof music, degree," he allows (p. 27), as he surely must. Few people thinkall rock songs are equally good rock listeners are willing to concede a fair numberof and it is similarly plain in the case of classical wrong and roughly rendered notes, as long as the music that certain singers and performers are tones are played in a way that engages the ear and the lauded, whereas no one would turn out to hear body. Rock listeners also prefera performancewhere me sing opera.'6 the beat is staggeredto one where it is even, playing Baugh often makes his point by suggesting around the beat to playing on the beat, and playing that musical notations are not adequateto cap- that is emotionally engaging to the sort of technically ture the nuances of rock performance,whereas accomplished and polished performances at which performancesof classical music are governedby some classical (and rock) musiciansexcel.18 faithfulness to the composer's score. He writes: "no standardscore capturesthe subtletiesor tim- Implicit in these remarksis a view about the ing and rhythm that a good rock musician can kinds of musicianshiprequired by rock and clas- feel" (p. 26). In rock music, sical music. I will returnto that topic presently, but here wish to take up the claims about nota- questions of "faithfulness"to the music rarely arise. tion. I regardtheir introductionas a red herring. The only question is whether the performance/inter- The absence of a notation is no barrierto the pretationis convincing, not whetherit is "faithful"to preservationof a performanceor interpretation some (usually non-existent) score. No one got too in all its subtle detail. Some rock groupscan du- upset when Joe Cocker performedthe Beatles' "With plicate theirrecordings in live performance.For a Little Help from my Friends"in a way that was not that matter,other groups sometimes can sound, in the least suggested by the original recording.... down to the smallest detail, uncannily like the What the body recognizes may not lend itself to nota- originalrecordings made by others. (Youngrock tion or formalization,and it is unlikely that a more ad- players often learn their trade by trying as hard equate form of notation could capture these "mater- as they can to sound just like those they emu- ial" qualities. (p. 27) late.) Also, the absence of a notational system need not be a barrierto the faithful preservation And again: "Classical music and technique do over decades or longer of complex, extended lend themselves to formalization,and to a cer- works. This is apparentin the gamelan music of tain extent a classical musician's performance, Central Java and the early church traditionsof however bravuraor subtle or nuanced, is still Gregorianand Ambrosian chant, for instance.In going to be judged by the score."'7 sum, there is no direct connection between the Baugh takes his position furtherwith the sug- absence of notationand the performer'sfreedom gestion thatplaying the rightnotes is far less im- in renderingthe given music. portantin rock than in classical music. On the otherhand, no notationspecifies every aspect of performance.As instructionsissued to Neither Clapton nor Hendrix, nor any good rock in- performers,scores underdeterminemany of the strumentalist,takes an intellectualized approach to concrete details of an accurate performance.19 music. Both play with an intensity that still connects Interpretiveniceties always remainthe preroga- directly with the body, and ... both are often not that tive of the performerwho worksfrom a notation. good technically; they take chances and they make The difference between an adequateand a great mistakes. Which is why they are unpredictableand classical performanceoften depends on fine dis- exciting in a way that flawless musicians are not. tinctions in shades of timbre, attack and decay, Even when they hit the wrong notes, they do so in in- phrasingand rhythmicarticulation, balance be- teresting and even exciting ways, creating a tension tween parts, pitch wobbles. These are not no- Davies Rock versus Classical Music 199 tated; neither could they be achieved by a for- If a piece is specified by a notation,it is often mulaic approachto the score's rendition. apparentwhether it is thick or thin. For thick Also, it should be recalled that notationsmust works, lots of details are indicated and the per- be interpretedin conjunction with the perfor- formance practice treats these as work-determi- mance practices they assume. Baugh writes of native.22For thin pieces, many of the details of rock music: "Good rhythm cannot be achieved performanceare not specified and there may be through simple formulas.... It is a less a matter instructions indicating that the performeris to of tempo than of timing, of knowing whetherto improvise within given parametersor stylistic play on the beat, or slightly aheadof it or behind constraints.If a piece is communicated,instead, it.... It cannot be captured or explained by any via a model instance, as is the case in oral tradi- stateable principle" (p. 26). Though he takes tions, that instance will be thick with properties. himself to be characterizinga distinctive feature Which of these belong to the work and which of rock performance, it seems to me that he to the particularinterpretation is evident only might as well be talkinghere of the performance against the backgroundpractice in the treatment of classical music.20 For instance, in the Vien- of relevant pieces. The piece might be thick or nese waltz the second beat of the measureshould thin. Which it is, is governed by standardsac- be "early."This is not apparentin the notationif cepted within the appropriateperformance tradi- it is read literally and naively, but of course the tion as determiningwhat counts for accuracyin notationshould not be readthis way and is not so performances. interpretedby a musician at home with the ap- As a song, the Beatles'"With a LittleHelp from propriate performance tradition. Notations of my Friends"is ratherthin in work-constitutive rock music, when read by those who know what properties.Joe Cocker'srecorded versions are in to do with them, are no less adequateto the sub- a differentstyle and featurean introductionand tleties of the performance practice than is an coda, along with a great deal of elaboration,that equivalentnotation of a classical piece. are not present in the Beatles' recording,but, in I hazardthat Baugh should be discussing on- the main section, the words, the melody, and the tology ratherthan notation.Though he does not basic harmonic structurepreserve what is con- mention the nature of musical works, what he stitutive of this song. It is appropriatethat "no seems to have in mind is that the rock musician one got too upset"by Cocker'sversion, since, in has more freedom than her classical counterpart my view, it instancedthe song he purportedto be because of differencesin the types of works they performing.This does not show thatquestions of play. "faithfulness"to the music never arise in cases Some musical pieces are thick with constitu- of this kind. It reveals, instead, that rock songs tive properties,while others are thinner.Any at- are ontologically of the thin variety.23 tempt to instance the piece should aim to repro- In light of the above, I find it difficult to fol- duce its constitutive properties. If the work is low Baugh's claim that wrong notes do not mat- thick, much of the performance is specified, ter in rock music, as they do in classical music. though countless other details remain to be If he means that we are not concernedthat Hen- added by the performerin realizing the work. drix departs from Dylan's recording of "All Accurate interpretationswill differ in many re- Along the Watchtower"because we are more in- spects, but also will possess much that is com- terestedin what Hendrixdoes with the song than mon. If the piece is thin, more of the perfor- with his mimicking the original recording,then mance's details are interpretiveand fewer are of course he is correct. But that does not show work-constitutive.Inevitably, where pieces are that what we value are "wrong"notes, because it very thin, performers are valued above com- does not show that the notes are wrong. Alterna- posers and the focus of attentionis more on the tively, if he thinks that, within passages impro- performancethan the work.21Jazz standardsare vised as part of the song's rendition, notes that examples of thin works. For these, the piece are stylistically inappropriateare welcomed, I might consist only of a melody and basic chord am skeptical.When the guitarist'shand slips, the sequence. Many, but not all, classical works are result might sometimes be interesting, but this thick. For them, the work is likely to be as inter- happy accident surely is the exception rather esting as its performance. than the rule. Bum notes are just that, and rock 200 The Journalof Aesthetics and Art Criticism musicians try as hard as any others to avoid then these works are very thick with properties. those notes or chords that are deemed clangers Every aspectof the soundcaptured by the record- within the style they adopt.24Finally, Baugh's ing technologyis constitutiveof the work.A piece point could be that rock audiences tolerate of this kind is not for performing,it is for play- wrong notes because they recognize the pres- back, thoughperforming might be involved in its sures of live performance.They sometimes es- initial creation.26On this account, rock will be teem a performancefor its enterpriseand verve, quitedistinct from classical music, whichremains despite its containing wrong notes. This last mainly for performance,though performances claim applies as readilyto performancesof clas- can be transmittedby recordings.While the clas- sical as to those of rock music, however. Schn- sical traditionaccepts electronic works within its abel's recorded performances of Beethoven's purview, these form a minority,rather than the piano sonatas contain many wrong notes, while mainstream.The primaryworks in rock music being respectedas great interpretations. will be ontologically very different from most So far I have criticized Baugh for the way in classical works, then, and this will be because which he sets up the point he intends to make. rock pieces depend essentially on the electronic He presents what should be a claim about onto- medium for their creationand dissemination. logical types-namely, thatrock songs are onto- Baugh argues that, in rock as distinct from logically thinnerthan most classical works-as classical music, performancesrather than works one about the role of notations and about the are the focus of aesthetic attention.He writes of kind of musicianshipthat is involved in execut- rock as if it always involves live performance. ing them. But even if he makes his point poorly, To pick just one instance,he says: "Theeffect of is he not correct, after all, to insist that rock the music on the body is of primeimportance for music differs from classical in allowing more rock music and its antecedents(blues, jazz), so freedom to the performer,and that, as a result, that the music is regulatedby the dancers:musi- performancesrather than songs are properlyof cians will vary beat, rhythm and tempo until it more interestto the rock aficionado?Though he feels good to dance to" (p. 26). He does not ac- unduly denigrates the creative contribution knowledge the fact thatrock is much more often made by the performerof classical music, along presented as, and transmittedvia, recordings, with the audience'sinterest in this, is he not fun- and that its effects on the body, when heard damentallycorrect in his insistence that the ap- throughspeakers or headphones,is very differ- preciation of rock music is more performance- ent from those when it is heardlive. If Gracykis based than is so for classical music? correctabout the natureof rock, Baugh must be What one makes of this question will depend importantlymistaken. It could still be true that on what one takes the primarytext of rock to be. rock emphasizesthe "materialaspects of sound" If it is the song, Baugh may be right afterall. But more than classical music does, but it could not are songs the only musical works on view in be that this is a function of the manner of live rock music? There is reason to think not. performance,which is a claim thatBaugh makes TheodoreA. Gracykhas arguedthat what dis- centralto his argument.Moreover, our interestin tinguishes rock, construed as a broad musical rock would primarily be an interest in works type, is thatthe primarywork is the recording.25 (that is, recordings),not in performances. One could say thatthere are two works here, the song and the recording. Or, alternatively,one IV. MUSICIANSHIP might maintain that one work, the recording, manifests (without thereby instancing) another, Earlier I observed that Baugh regards classical the song. But, however one counts the numberof and rock musicianship as differing. He argues works that are on display, Gracyk is insistent that these types of music requiredifferent tech- that, in rock music, the piece on which the focus niques of performance,so thatit is inappropriate falls is the recording.His argumentis plausible, to view rock as employing a crude version of though I cannot review its details here. Suppose classical technique. I believe that he is right in that he is correctin his analysis.What are its im- this observation.Many of the claims he makes in plications for Baugh's position? arguingfor it strike me as dubious, however. In If the primaryworks in rock are recordings, particular,he is wrong to equate classical tech- Davies Rock versus Classical Music 201 nique with mechanical,heartless efficiency, and of "natural"or "innate"potential and theremight aso mistaken in characterizingmusicianship in be aspectsof musicianshipthat cannot be taught, rock music as "natural" and "innate." except perhaps by example. But if this is true, I have already quoted passages in which this truthapplies as much to classical as to rock Baugh implies that techniquein classical perfor- performers.In either case, the realizationof in- mance is mainly a matter of following a score nate potential is likely to depend on hours of with automatic, literal-minded precision and practice. I suspect that there are as many rock with only a cursory nod toward expressiveness musicianswho are inseparablefrom their guitars and the like. That attitude is present when he and who practice constantly as thfiereare violin- writes: "Theperformance standards for rock vo- ists who are similar.28It is not so that the perfor- calists have little to do with the virtuosity of an mance techniques are more formalizablein the opera singer or with an ability to hit the note in- one kind of music than the other.In both, many dicated in the composition at the time indicated" basic aspects of playing can be taught,while oth- (p. 27). Though he describes great rock singers ers, ones that distinguish gifted masters from (p. 27) and guitarists (p. 28) as lacking in tech- those who are merely competent, cannot easily nique, obviously he means that they lack the be acquiredsolely by trainingand practice. kind of techniquethat is appropriatefor classical There is a furtherrespect in which the tech- music, and that thfeirmusic is the more exciting niques of rock music might be regardedas "nat- and powerful for this. Rock music has its own, ural"by contrast with those of classical music; different standardsof virtuosity-"a virtuosity namely,in the sense of "natural"that is opposed ... that connects directly with the body, provok- to "artificial"or "contrived."(Baugh does not ing a visceral response"(p. 27). He develops his make the claim explicitly, but it is heard often position this way: enough.) It might be thought that, unlike rock musicians, classical musicians need years of The standardsof rock music are not formalizableinto training, since they must master sound produc- a science but are a knack or an art that is learnedby tion of a kind that is inherentlyunnatural. practice. ... The techniques necessary for good rock My interest in and exposure to non-Western music can sometimes be mastered through a simple musics makes me very skepticalof claims of this combinationof exposure to the idiom and raw, inborn sort.The singing in classical operais highly styl- talent.... The acquisitionof "proper"technique serves ized, I accept, but the same is true in Chinese only to obscure and distort a technique that has been folk music or Australianaboriginal song-cycles. acquired "naturally,"which is to say, by a combina- Whatsounds natural depends on the conventions tion of innate gifts and lucky circumstances.... They of performancepractice that have been absorbed are often not the sorts of techniquesthat could be for- by the listener. For instance, in the recent malized in such a way as to be taught. ... The differ- African-American popular repertoire (and in ence between formalizable and non-formalizable much white rock besides), the tessiturafor male technique comes from the differenttraditions behind singers is consistently and spectacularlyhigh. rock and classical music.27 Baritones and basses are as common among males in this group as they are in others, I as- As regardswhat passes for virtuosityand mu- sume, but one would gain no inkling of this from sicianship in classical music, I think Baugh is listening to most popular male vocalists. Also, simply uninformed. He implies that the ideal when rock appearedin Britain, singers adopted classical performancewould be one that might an Americanaccent. Later,the first use of a Liv- be generatedon a synthesizer,and nothingcould erpuddlianinflection was regardedas gimmicky, be furtherfrom the truth;nothing is denigrated but soon was accepted (and copied). If rock more in classical music than a performance at singers sound natural,they do so only in relation is judged to be mechanicaland "unmusical."As to the mutablenorms established for such music. I have already indicated, classical music de- Further,rock music has its standardriffs and ex- pends for its successful performanceon inflec- pressive protocols, as it must, given that it dis- tions and articulationsthat are controlledby the plays a recognizable style. performer,even if she is following the score as The musicianshipof rock performersis not to she plays. Raw musical talent might be a matter be distinguishedfrom other kinds in terms of its 202 The Journalof Aesthetics andArt Criticism naturalness.The difference is better described theirrecordings but in live performance.This in- with reference to the sonic ideals to which the evitably raises doubts about their musicianship. performersaspire; that is, it is a matterof differ- Even if the players themselves lay down the ma- ences in musical styles and idioms. Generalizing terialthat lateris sampled,we all know thattheir wildly, rock prefers "dirty"timbres and "bent" efforts can be modified and reconstructedin the pitches more often than classical music does. editing process, so that what one hears is by no Also, there are techniques that are distinctive to means transparentto what was done. Studio ma- the instrumentsassociated with rock music, for nipulation, rather than musicianship, might be instance, that of creating special timbral quali- what is on display,even in the case of "live"per- ties on the electric guitar through the exploita- formance. tion of volume and feedback. I take it that these It could be suggested that the move to knobs- are the kinds of things Baugh has in mind when on, ratherthan hands-on, sound generationleads he claims thatrock concerns itself with the "ma- to a new kind of musicianshipand virtuosity.30 teriality"of sound, though I do not find his ter- Many rock musicians take an active role in the minology especially appealing because I see studio methodsthat lead to theirrecordings or to these as arbitraryaspects of style that are not the electronic material that is incorporatedinto more musically elemental or engaging than the theirperformances. Even if this idea is accepted, many alternativespromoted in othermusical id- it offers little supportfor Baugh's approachto iolects. I agree, though, that achieving the sonic the distinctionbetween rock and classical music, ideals of rock in a convincing fashion requires with its emphasis on the idea that rock is perfor- virtuosity,because I thinkthat almost all musical mance based in a fashion that allows for a mu- styles make demandson the performer. tual interactionbetween the performerand the There is a hint in Baugh's paperthat he would audience. take the argumenta step further.He mentions that Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix "have been V. IS THERE A DISTINCTIVE AESTHETICS OF guilty of virtuosityfor its own sake on many oc- ROCK MUSIC? casions" (p. 27). It may be that he thinks classi- cal music values virtuosityfor its own sake in a Does rock music require a different aesthetics fashion that rock does (or should) not.29In rock from that appropriateto classical music? What music, virtuosity should be the means to other you answer might depend on the level at which ends, such as expressiveness. But again, this in- you take the questionto be pitched. If you take it dicates how limited is Baugh's view of the clas- as low level, as asking if we attend to different sical tradition.Some types of classical music-in featuresin appreciatingand evaluatingrock and particular,the concerto-feature the instrumen- classical music, the answer might be "yes." If talist's mastery of her medium, but even in this you take it as high level, as asking if the princi- music "mere" virtuosity is condemned. Most ples of evaluationand appreciationare radically kinds of classical music call for virtuositynot in different for these two kinds of music, the an- orderto highlight it but to achieve other effects, swer might be "no." such as expressive ones, that depend upon it. Consideredat the low level, our aesthetic in- So far I have been agreeing with Baugh that terests tend to be specific to genres, periods, and rock music involves a kind of virtuosity, the styles. In considering a particularwork, we at- standardsof which differ from those of classical tend to subtle differences in relevantproperties. music, though I have suggested that this is a In works of anothergenre, period,or style, those function both of the particularsonic goals at propertiesmight not be aestheticallyappropriate which the performersaim and of the different or important,and it is others that are relevant. kinds of instrumentsthey play. I conclude this (Compare listening to baroque pedagogical partof the discussion by registeringa caveat that fugues and romanticopera, or Schubert'ssongs draws attention, as I did before, to the crucial and Bruckner'ssymphonies.) The aesthetics of role of recordingtechnology in the productionof different genres, periods, and styles vary to the rock music. extent that the propertiesrelevant to an aesthetic Increasingly,rock musicians make extensive interest in, and evaluation of, their member use of sampling and of synthesizers,not only in works differ. Davies Rock versus Classical Music 203

Considered at a higher level, an aesthetic in- between certain types of classical music. In terest does not vary from genre to genre. Many about 1600, its concentrationon new, rough tim- aestheticallyimportant properties-such as nar- bres, rhythmic vitality, and loudness was rational, representational,and expressive ones, thoughtto separatethe newly emerging operatic or others such as unity in diversity-are com- style from othermusic of the day. Earlythis cen- mon to many genres, periods, or styles (though tury, Stravinsky's ballets were distinguished they might dependon low-level featuresthat dif- from their predecessorsin virtue of the central- fer according to the particular work's type). ity they accordedto these same features. Moreover, in all genres, periods, or styles, our I think that propertiesas specific as the ones concern is with what Kendall Waltonhas called Baugh points to fail to capture a difference be- "variable"properties.31 That is, we focus on a tween rock and classical music construed as subset of the work's properties (those that are broad kinds, for they apply only to much more most likely to be varied) and consider what is fine-grained types. And if there are differences done with these in the given work. Viewed at an between the broadcategories, I suspect they are abstractlevel, we concentrateon the same thing, rathertrivial. At the relevantlevel of generality, on the set of variable properties, even if the I doubt that one will find contrastsdeep or dis- members of this set vary between genres, peri- tinctive enough to provide the basis for an aes- ods, or styles. thetics.32 Baugh aims his question at the low level, pre- sumably, for it is here that it most obviously STEPHEN DAVIES makes sense to maintainthat rock and classical Departmentof Philosophy music require different aesthetics. But at that University of Auckland level, the relevantdistinctions are those of genre, PrivateBag 92019, Auckland period, and style, which is a much more fine- New Zealand grained level of categorizationthan the one he considers. Rock, as a broad classification, en- INTERNET: SJ.DAVIES @AUCKLAND.AC.NZ compasses many genres and styles-pop, art, progressive, alternative, and experimental; 1. Bruce Baugh, "Prolegomenato Any Aesthetics of Rock blues, metal, punk, techno, ballads, rock and Music," The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 51 roll, rhythm and blues, industrial, reggae, (1993): 23-29. In subsequentreferences, page numbersare grunge, hip-hop, and so on. It seems to me that given in parentheses. 2. See Richard Meltzer, The Aesthetics of Rock Music the appreciationof blues requiresa differentaes- (New York: Something Else Press, 1970); Susan McClary thetics from hip-hop, for instance.And while ex- and RobertWalser, "Start Making Sense! Musicology Wres- pressive tone, loudness, and rhythm might be tles with Rock," in On Record: Rock, Pop, and the Written crucial for heavy metal, it is far from obvious Word,eds. Simon Frith et al. (London: Routledge, 1990); thatthey are similarlyimportant in songs such as Robert Palmer, Rock and Roll: An Unruly History (New York:Harmony Books, 1995); and Allan Bloom, The Clos- "She'sLeaving Home" and "StrawberryFields," ing of the AmericanMind (New York:Simon and Schuster, which are among the examples of rock offered 1987). by Baugh. Similarly, classical music covers 3. James 0. Young, "Between Rock and a Harp Place," many kinds-sonata, concerto, quartet, sym- The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 53 (1995): 78-81. phony, madrigal,Lieder, mass, overture,ballet, 4. Ibid., p. 81. opera. It also has distinctive styles or periods- 5. Bruce Baugh, "Music for the Young at Heart," The late-nineteenth-centuryromantic symphonies are Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism53 (1995): 81-83. quite distinct from late-eighteenth-centuryclas- 6. Ibid., p. 82. sical symphonies, and seria, buffa, Singspiel, 7. Ibid., p. 81. Baugh goes on to interpretYoung's conclu- sion to the effect thatrock must be evaluatedby the standards grand, and verismo are very different kinds of that apply to all music as suggesting that rock "canappropri- operas. At the low level, each of these requires ately be assessed by formalist criteria"(p. 81). Presumably its own aesthetics. Baugh takes Young to be saying that all music must be as- In this connection,it is strikingto note thatthe sessed in both formalist and nonformalistterms, whereas a features listed as rock more charitablereading would have Youngclaiming that the by Baugh distinguishing evaluation of music is sometimes one, sometimes the other, from classical music have, in the past, been iden- and, where appropriate,both. tified explicitly as marking crucial differences 8. Ibid., p. 83. 204 The Journalof Aesthetics and Art Criticism

9. Young, pp. 78-79. scores that mark dynamics, phrasings, and fingerings, and 10. Some music might not be patterned-for instance, that write out cadenzas and decorations.Unless properlyin- John Cage's 4'33", or works all aspects of which are gener- terpreted,such notationscould give the impressionthat the ated by chance procedures.But, though these pose a chal- work is thickerthan in fact it is. lenge for what I say, that can provide no comfort for Baugh's 23. Alternatively,we could regardCocker's version as a position. transcriptionof the Beatles' song. In that case, it is pertinent 11. Baugh seems to think that form in rock is so highly to observe, as Young does (p. 80), that classical composers standardizedthat it is not a worthwhileobject of aestheticat- often have producedvariations on others' themes and tran- tention. Ted Gracyk has suggested to me that Baugh's dis- scriptions of others' pieces, many of which departradically missal of art rock ignores the fact that, in this genre, basic from the original. So there would be nothinghere distinctive forms sometimes are treated as jumping off points for ex- to rock music. tended improvisations by groups such as Pink Floyd and 24. Allan Beever tells me Eric Clapton said that playing King Crimson. That is, Baugh does not appreciatethat the wrong notes ruinedconcerts for him. lack of formal restraintin this music provides for a different 25. TheodoreGracyk, Rhythm and Noise: An Aestheticsof listening experience from that affordedby most rock music. Rock Music (Duke UniversityPress, 1996). I should add that 12. Moreover,in some cases, it can be the expressive char- Gracyk does not completely neglect the role of live perfor- acter of the materialthat provides the key to an appreciation mance in rock. of details of its formal structure,or so Gregory Karl and 26. An illustrative analogy can be drawn here with Jenefer Robinson have argued in "Shostakovitch'sTenth movies. A movie is not for acting, but for screening, though Symphonyand the Musical Expressionof Cognitively Com- acting might go into its creationas a work. plex Emotions,"The Journal of Aesthetic and Art Criticism 27. Baugh, "Music for the Young at Heart,"p. 82. 53 (1995): 401415. 28. In Runningwith the Devil: Power, Gender;and Mad- 13. See chapter6, "UnderstandingMusic," in my Musical ness in Heavy Metal Music (Wesleyan University Press, Meaning and Expression(Cornell University Press, 1994). 1993), Robert Walser devotes a chapterto the connections 14. Young, p. 80. between classical music and heavy metal. He recordsclassi- 15. Baugh, "Music for the Young at Heart,"p. 82. cal influences on the guitartechniques used by performersof 16. One could argue that rock performanceusually is a heavy metal (pp. 63-75) and notes that both kinds of music theatricalevent in which the personalities,dress, actions, and esteem similar kinds of virtuosity (pp. 76-102). He quotes make-upof the performersare crucial elements, whereas, in vocalist RobertHalford as saying: "I don't think thatplaying the performanceof instrumentalclassical music, such cross- heavy metal is that far removed from classical music. To do media displays are suppressed.Whatever we should make of either, you have to spend many years developing your style this idea, it is not one to which Baugh appeals and neither and your art. ... It's very much a matterof dedication"(p. will it separaterock from classical opera and ballet. 106). 17. Baugh, "Music for the Young at Heart,"p. 82. There 29. I think that there are respects in which rock virtuosity are "notationists"in fields such as rock, jazz, and flamenco, is not very different from the classical variety. Some rock though. Frank Zappa scored "The Grand Wazoo" of 1972 musicians-Zappa, Clapton, and Van Halen-make mani- and from the early 1980s most of his pieces were notated. festly difficult-to-playmusic sound fluent and they are re- Some others who do not use notations require the band to spected and admiredfor doing so, as well as for whatever memorize their partsand do not allow deviations from their else they achieve. Baugh, as quoted previously, holds that instructions.One such was CaptainBeefheart. Clapton and Hendrix are poor in techniques and, anyway, 18. Baugh, "Music for the Young at Heart,"p. 82. that virtuosity is never admired for its own sake in rock 19. For furtherdiscussion, see my "Authenticityin Musi- music. I believe he is wrong on both counts. cal Performance," The British Journal of Aesthetics 27 30. TheodoreA. Gracyk makes the point in "Listeningto (1987): 39-50. Music: Performancesand Recordings,"The Journal of Aes- 20. An anonymous referee makes these claims: Rock thetics and Art Criticism55 (1997): 139-150. As he recog- music is much more locked-in rhythmicallythan classical nizes, it applies also, though in a slightly different way, to music. Orchestrasand chamber groups are notoriously im- recordingsof classical music. Classical musiciansexploit the precise and take great liberties with the pulse. The impor- advantagesof recordingtechnology, but they are expected to tance of the drumset and the ongoing, always presentrhyth- be able to play live the works they record. mic template beneath all of rock music is its signatureand 31. Kendall Walton, "Categoriesof Art," Philosophical most defining feature. Review 79 (1970): 334-367. 21. See my "Authenticityin Musical Performance"and 32. I have benefited considerablyfrom discussing the is- also "The Ontology of Musical Works and the Authenticity sues raised here with my students. For their helpful com- of their Performances,"Nous 25 (1991): 2141. ments on drafts of this essay, I thank Allan Beever, Stan 22. Scores can contain notational elements that serve as Godlovitch, and Ted Gracyk.Also, two anonymousreferees interpretationalrecommendations without being work-deter- for this journalprovided many useful suggestions. minative. I take this to be the case in eighteenth-century