|
Well certainly, a page with notes on it isn't sound just like this isn't sound, and you've made some good points in that argument. The difference is, a Beethoven score uses a widely accepted form of notation whereas this does not. Again, traditional notes aren't the only way to write music, but anything that isn't written in the widely accepted/familiar notation style should come with instructions or in some way be obvious what each of the markings means. I'll reiterate my argument that sheet music should be instructions that are very apparent and understandable, even if the direction is "be very abstract." This picture simply fails to deliver any intruction.
Let's superimpose this argument onto something else: if I gave you a book but instead of english I used, say, pieces of maccaroni, and told you to read it, could you? No, no you could not, because it's maccaroni. However, if, with that book, I somehow conveyed what the maccaroni meant - if it points left it's an E, if it's red it's a Q, etc. - then you could read the book, even though it's very clearly abstract and unconventional. Otherwise, the maccaroni may suggest some sort of meaning, but without the instructions to translate "maccaroni" into "written language," what I've produced is simply a piece of art and nothing more. Just like this picture. It's art, sure, and it may inspire some emotion or even suggest some musical idea, but it isn't actually music. Just like, while maccaroni glued onto pages might suggest "murder mystery" to someone, well, that doesn't mean I've actually written a murder mystery does it?
I think what it's come to is that we both agree that this is ridiculously abstract and not really musical, but may inspire musical ideas, and the difference is you're willing to call it sheet music anyway and I'm not.
|