Melodic Malfunction

Katie Macdonald

Opinion Essay

Melodic Malfunction

Music—it is indefinable by words alone. In the way that some are devoted to a religion or an ideal, I marvel at the mulish temple of melodies (and occasionally alliteration) and will do everything within my power to make others feel the same affection for them that I do. Music is a foundation for the prevalent world. It is a drug ingested via the ears; different kinds of music have different effects, and some kinds are enjoyed more than others. For instance, there are only so many times that listening to a Jonas Brothers’ song is tolerable, and when the play count reaches over seventeen in just two hours, a line must be drawn. But I suppose having floor-mates who relish in the noise that is modern day music makes that line difficult to draw. And with the overwhelming conglomeration of genres such as rap, pop, and techno breeching the top song lists everywhere, the line is nearly non-existent. Indeed, one of the problems with society today is this erosion of the general span of music as we know it, and while some consider this decay “progressive change”, I simply see it as a disservice to one of the bedrocks of our existence.

To be blunt, it is extremely unfortunate that people settle for superficial mediocrity while real artists are ignored. Never before in the history of Western music has popular culture dictated people’s conception, definition and taste of music to such a disproportionate extent. Although there has always been a distinction between music for the masses (“popular music”) and a more sophisticated music for an elite (“art music”), popular music has not been able to fully shove art music to the cultural margins the way it does nowadays, and now that “50 cent” is the new Bach, classical music is dying a slow and silent death in a didactic ghetto. But the demise doesn’t stop at classical music—other forms are suffering as well. For much of the population, however, these forms merely exist as a museum piece; seen only if they happen upon it and are exposed to it in some way outside their intent and control.

Popular music and art music, though, cannot be compared. The individual genres and subsets that span from them are uniquely their own kind of music. The pop view of music says that music is made for entertainment; it does not serve any higher purpose. A piece's worth is measured by how catchy the melody is, how danceable the beat is, how many scantily clad women there are in the music video; et cetera. In some cases, the value of the music might be provided simply by a good performance. The "art" view of music says that music exists for its own sake: it should be appreciated not as entertainment, but as a work of natural beauty. Art musicians seek out some higher aesthetic goal. Often, they are simply exploring the possibilities of what music can be. Writing with unusual amounts of dissonance, or complex time signatures, or unconventional playing techniques, are all examples of this type of exploration.

Most music falls between these two extremes, and while I prefer a great jazzy rendition of a classic hit as opposed to a synthesized rap song, I can’t quite argue that the commercial music of the age lacks some pretense of trying to create art. Also, the musical genres do fall more purposefully under their own stereotypical ambiences; after all, it would be rather difficult to start a mosh pit to Frank Sinatra crooning “Fly Me to the Moon”. It can be said as well that it isn’t necessarily pop, rap, or techno music that is driving other, non-appreciated forms of music into the ground, but more the programming situation in general. For example, jazz today is caught in a vicious cycle in which radio and recordings have programmed a simple-minded music to appeal to a mass market—the lowest common denominator. In so doing, they have cultivated an audience that is prejudiced against and largely incapable of comprehending anything more substantial than that which is regularly programmed for it. Commercial radio won't play jazz because the audience doesn't like it; the audience doesn't like it because it hasn't been exposed to it enough to begin to understand it. Now, replace “jazz” with anything from musicals to contemporary… excluding pop.

This tragedy can’t really be helped, and unfortunately it makes my dreams of the general population breaking into coordinated song and dance even less of a reality. The melodic and harmonic invention, musical variety, structural and formal richness, intricate counterpoint and intellectual and emotional profoundness that the underdogs of the musical world hold will essentially always fall short in the midst of a new itunes hit. Herein lays my frustration: most kids listen to these top hits for superficial features, such as “a nice beat”, a sing-able tune or a lifestyle feeling that is expressed in the music. Listening is perhaps the wrong term here, for most pop music isn’t even actively listened to, it is merely passively consumed. Since pop music is so omnipresent, many people nowadays regard music as nothing but auditory wallpaper: something nice one can relax to and which doesn’t require a lot of attention. This apathy is what causes even more cookie-cutter, dance-beat, electronically-enhanced songs to be written; people don’t want to have to think about the depth artists create in their lyrics, nor the convoluted diameter of a melody. Hence the under-appreciation of song writers whose names should appear in the top lists throughout the world but don’t quite make it.

However, just because I see it as a cataclysm and just because a song isn’t as complex contrapuntally, or doesn't contain as grandiose chord structures as the later romantics doesn't mean that it is base. Music is merely a vehicle for words, ideas to be transmitted. If the writer managed to transmit those words or ideas in the correct emotional context, then it's an art, regardless of whether or not I personally like it. Alas, I will forever have to consolidate pop music and others, because with the Jonas Brothers and Flo Rida coming out with new top singles every month, it’s not something I can really escape from.