To sum up my previous point I may simply say that too many people, especially in positions of cultural authority, take sides in so many divisions rather than attempting a true reconciliation of opposing views. While this idea of reconciliation may just seem like an easy way out of actually dealing with two sides of a debate, the way I envision it actually involves a much more personal journey into each opposing side of the division. It is not simply taking the moderate political viewpoint because one has not dedicated the energy to understand both sides; It could better be described as coming to cure a schizophrenic through the use of dogmatic reason. To truly live comfortably in both sides of a situation, not as an outside observer, but as one who has vested personal interests in multiplicity.
The first example I will give is Brian Eno. With an extensive discography in both classical and popular worlds, underground and mainstream genres, as musician and producer, he epitomizes the whole concept of the dialectic. Two worlds constantly in dialogue; Eno fits just as well producing top hits in the pop music industry as he does sitting alone in the studio experimenting with spliced tape. Even more admirable, he has managed to sell these sound experiments to the same crowds that are buying U2. He did not have to tell the audience that he made "Music For Airports" by splicing together reel-to-reel fragments of varying duration, yet the sounds he produced were naturally accessible to his audience because one could recognize the quality that he put into it as uniquely Eno. There is no gimmick or bridge between the "intellectual" world of experimental music and the "sensual" world of popular music; It all exists as quality, limitless art.
The key concept I hope to stress is that art has always been limitless. The rules and traditions that we place on the music of the past come after the fact, and the reality is many of the artists society has come to view (on a very general level) as somehow stuffy or boring were radicals in their time. J.S. Bach was creating art as a prelude to rational, enlightened thought. The philosophy of the time taught the enlightened individual to apply reason and logic to his or her daily life in an effort to bring order to the world. Yet while we typically learn of him as a solely rational composer who laid the foundation for our Western tradition (in terms of our understanding of its technical elements such as harmony and form) we miss those little details about his work which stand as exceptions to our conventional understanding of him. Key concepts in this case include being skilled as both a sacred and secular composer, AND conveying the importance of the affect in both worlds. It is this way of extremely pursuing emotion to brink of chaos, which gave his music such an energetic, unrestrained quality. The harpsichord solo in the fifth Brandenburg Concerto stands as a perfect example of our failure, as a supposed tradition, to come to terms with Bach's perfectly synthetic resolution of multiplicity. Basically, the music reaches everybody because it focuses on quality and not dogma.
Focusing on these two examples of Bach and Eno we begin to see the true importance of the Western tradition, aside from the myth of cultural "progress"; that being one of quality and synthesis of binary oppositions. Open-mindedness and dedication. Understanding why we actually care about the past allows us to approach the present in a fresh way. Of course, acceptance of this new understanding and the importance of diversity which it entails does seem to break down the conventional dialogue surrounding culture, but that has always been pretty boring anyway. Listen to Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier" in its entirety, then listen to Eno's "Music For Airports." If you can get yourself to experience these two works on a purely aesthetic level, away from musical analysis or compositional understanding then you will get that much closer to understanding what I think is really missing from our culture in every sense. Yet you would then only be halfway there. Next comes form, compositional techniques, harmonic structures, tape-splicing, electronic music, and the fugal subject.
I think that's where we have always been as a culture and society. Halfway there.
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