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Musical Quality and Musical Taste
Outline content of course

The notion that some musical works are better than others has been challenged among academics in recent years. The canon of Western art music, built up over 300 years into a Euro-Gallery of masterpieces, has been denounced as a cultural construction, and techniques of musical analysis and criticism as similarly narrow in their focus and range, existing only to maintain the status quo. Academics seem to face an unpalatable choice between propping up the old regime or destroying it. Yet most musicians and music lovers (including academics) continue to be clear that they prefer certain works or composers, and have no hesitation in saying that a work they admire is "better" than one they do not. Until musicology made such attitudes indefensible it was routine to demonstrate the soundness of one's preferences through musical analysis. But how may they be defended now? Are they a residue of generations of indoctrination, or is the new relativism a sham?

While it remains distinctly possible that musical quality is perceived to a considerable extent through "hard-wiring" in the brain, working independently of aculturation, music psychology is nowhere near being able to test that hypothesis for musical works, though it has made much progress testing it for performances. Consequently, for the moment we can only refine our understanding of the way we perceive artistic worth in compositions by rigorously exposing the extent to which our tastes are culture- and period-specific. The danger in this at undergraduate level is that it undermines the most crucial motivation for most of our students - their love of music.

This course, therefore, begins from the premise that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with having musical preferences. But from there it attempts to examine those preferences in as much detail as possible. A number of approaches are taken. The formation of the canon of Western art music is followed through writings on music and a study of the development of forms of musical production and consumption.

The development of musical analysis, and its underlying assumptions, are examined in a survey and through case studies. Music criticism is considered especially for its treatment of new works and its ability to test them against the existing canon. The potential for performance to influence perceptions of quality is examined. The ways in which taste has changed over the last 100 years (for which recorded performance provides additional and vivid documentation) are considered.

Finally, but crucially, the perspective gained from these different angles on the subject is used to view our personal judgements and tastes. This brings us back to the central question of the course: what does it mean that, supposing musical judgement to be a culturally-determined illusion, we still think that some works are better than (not just preferable to) others? It should now be possible to give it a considerably more sophisticated - if still a very partial - answer.

1. Introduction to concepts and issues
2. Formation of the canon
3. Value judgments in academic writings on music since 1800
4. Uses of musical analysis since 1900
5. Analysis: case studies
6. Criteria for assessment in reviews of new scores and first performances
7. "Bad" performances of "good" pieces, "good" performances of "poor" pieces.
8. Period taste
9. Case studies of personal taste
10. Case studies of personal taste

Weekly schedule

Reading list

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