• • •   INDUSTRY OF CULTURE, SNOBBERY AND AVANT-GARDE: THE NEW AVATARS OF CONTEMPORARY MUSICAL CREATION  • • •

INDUSTRY OF CULTURE, SNOBBERY AND AVANT-GARDE:

THE NEW AVATARS OF CONTEMPORARY MUSICAL CREATION
(A TRANSDISCIPLINAR MEETING)

October 16th, 17th and 18th, 2014


Summary

To think music composition today, we must take into account the drawbacks of the business logic, without ignoring that mass culture is a historical reality on which we must act critically. To what extent an aesthetics, that has advocated aristocratic values inside a society of low consumption, can meet the challenges of a mass society? Or to what extent the rationalization of culture, held by the historical avant-garde, eliminates the artistic process of knowledge – like unique experience in time and space –, replacing it by the abstract knowledge of a scientific nature, divorced from the quality of lived experience and introducing the supremacy of the product on the artistic process. Finally, how to found a Brazilian thought against the cultural choices out of context, traditionally made by the snobbery of the consular ruling class, product of the colonization process?


Topics of the Meeting

Considering that the logic of trade threat all independent production, and competition doesn’t diversify but homogenizes; and that the pursuit of omnibus product – that tends to disseminate, preferably at the same moment, the same type of product for maximum profit and minimum costs, the diffusion commanding production "(Bourdieu, 2001, p.77-78) –, we see that for the industry of culture, the independent creation has little or no importance; the snobbery of concert halls prevents the circulation of certain contemporary works; and the hegemony of the avant-garde dogmas don't give spaces for non-aligned creative works.

According to Georgina Born, “in the aftermath of the Second World War, aided by Schoenberg’s substantial influence and pedagogic writings, it was the serialist lineage of musical modernism that became dominant in the institutions and the teaching of new music. The earlier modernist (or proto-postmodernist) experiments with representations of others – whether exotic, nationalistic, or populist – gave way to an increasingly abstract, scientistic, and rationalist formalism based still on the near or total negation of tonality” (BORN & HESMONDALGH, 2000, p.15).

The aesthetics of Adorno, seeking to found a philosophy of contemporary music, brings together a political ethics that rejects the intrusion, in music, of business logic, thus making it very rigorous on the commercial musical practices, leading sometimes to confusion the readers who seek in the Frankfurt School an emancipatory philosophy that accompany the evolution of his musical taste (FRANCFORT, 2008).

As an "experience of crowd, relatively new in history" (GULLAR, 1978, p.114), we must identify in mass culture what cultural action is possible for enabling the mass media transmit cultural values (ECO, 2004, p. 50). If "the aristocratic art of the past corresponded to a low consumption society", to what extent should we justify at any price the permanence of an aristocratic aesthetic vision within a mass society? (GULLAR, 1978, pp.115 and 106-107).

As Tia DeNora says, “in Adorno, the culture industry is too quickly written off as a monolithic force, its products dismissed a priori as undifferentiated, equally worthless (…).. That projection blinded Adorno to the heterogeneity present within the various enclaves of what he referred to, perhaps simplistically, as ‘the music industry’ – middle-range sectors, networks, individuals, groups, and rivalries through which production occurred. To take but one example, Adorno’s conceptual apparatus did not permit him to consider how the record industry was multi-textured, composed of a mixture of small, independent companies and larger conglomerates, and how the interaction between these sectors might have implications for the type of work produced” (DENORA, 2003 p.23).

According to Nicholas Cook, “modern music flourishes mainly on the fringes of State subsidy and academia (see MENGER, 2001, 2002 and 2009), and sometimes also of the entertainment industry (as in soundtracks for horror movies), but the point is that in those areas it does flourish. It is a niche product, certainly – but then you could say the same about the Beethoven/Brahms tradition” (COOK , 1998, p.46). It is not wrong to say that the music industry “has successfully repositioned classical music as a largely profitable niche product – a major niche product – in contemporary consumer culture, which leads us to conclude that it is not the classical music is in crisis, but the way to think of it” (ibidem, p.47).

The plurality of re-appropriations under which musics are exposed today, through time, location, genre and style, suggests that its aesthetic value is not divorced from its symbolic value. Without any sociological reductionism, much less trying to dismiss an alleged "aura" of the musical work, it is seen that individual actions and strategies of contemporary composers fall into the social struggle for representation and classification in the collective practice, in the reputational market and the pyramid of notoriety (MENGER, 2002).

Despite being aware of this plurality, “each type of music comes with its own way of thinking about music, as if it were the only way of thinking about music (and the only music to think about). In particular, the way of thinking about music that is built into schools and universities – and most books about music, for that matter – reflects the way music was in nineteenth-century Europe rather than the way it is today, anywhere. The result is a kind of credibility gap between music and how we think about it”. Far from being something that just happens, music is one that we do and what we do of it, remembering that any musicological approach should engage text and context, without forgetting that "writing about music is like dancing about architecture" (COOK, 1998, pp.vii-x).

From the point of view of an "emerging" country like Brazil, one of the consequences of any colonization process is the emergence, in the colonies, of a consular ruling class whose feature, among others, is the cultural snobbery. This snobbery is expressed mainly in cultural choices out of context, ignoring the local manifestations or including them in the set of strategies of urgency in participating in a alleged metropolitan cultural universalism.

A critique of the industry of culture, of snobbery and of the avant-garde’s dogmas finds its first hurdle in their own field, due to the refusal of its actors to engage in a critical reflection that will challenge privileges, immediate interests of domination, and advantages not just symbolic.

The Music Department of the University of São Paulo (USP) in Ribeirão Preto, the Center of Performance Sciences (NAP-CIPEM) and the Laboratory of Musicology (LAMUS), invite composers, performers and researchers from every different areas of knowledge, in October, 16th, 17th and 18th, 2014, in the campus of Ribeirão Preto (SP) of the University of São Paulo, to discuss together about the musical spaces of creation, circulation and reception, in order to a transdisciplinary contribution, pointing to a renewal of contemporary musical creation, since culture industry, historical avant-garde and snobbery have been the background for the "transformations during the course of the very brief period that comprises its whole existence" (STRAVINSKY, 1940, p.94).


References

BOURDIEU, Pierre. Contre-feux. Paris, Éditions Raisons d’Agir, 2001

BORN, Georgina e HESMONDALGH, David. Western music and its others. Los Angeles, University of California Press, 2000

FRANCFORT, Didier. « La musique savante manque à notre désir » (Rimbaud, Illuminations) Musiques populaires et musiques savantes : une distinction inopérante? [document de travail, diffusion restreinte]. Comunication présentée au Colloque fondateur de l'International Society for Cultural History à Gand (Gent, Belgique) en août 2008. http://www.abdn.ac.uk

GULLAR, Ferreira. Vanguarda e subdesenvolvimento. Rio de Janeiro, Editora Civilização Brasileira, 1978

ECO, Umberto. Apocalípticos e integrados. 6ª ed. São Paulo, Ed. Perspectiva, 2004

DENORA, Tia. After Adorno. Rethinking Music Sociology. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 2003

MENGER, Pierre-Michel. Le paradoxe du musicien. Le compositeur, le mélomane et l’État dans la societé contemporaine. Paris, L’Harmattan, 2001

MENGER, Pierre-Michel. Le travail créateur. S’accomplir dans l’incertain. Paris, Seuil/ Gallimard, 2009

MENGER, Pierre-Michel. Portrait de l’artiste en travailleur. Métamorphoses du capitalisme. Paris, Éditions du Seuil et La République des Idées, 2002

COOK, Nicholas. Music: A Very Short Introduction. New York, Oxford University Press Inc., 1998

STRAVINSKY, Igor. Poetics of music. Cambridge, Harvard Press University, 1970


Organizing Committee

• Lucas Eduardo da Silva Galon (ECA/USP)
• Marcos Câmara de Castro (FFCLRP/USP) – president
• Silvia Maria Pires Cabrera Berg (FFCLRP/USP)


Scientific Committee

• Anaïs Fléchet (Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines)
• Didier Francfort (Université de Lorraine)
• Fernando Crespo Corvisier (FFCLRP/USP)
• Flávia Toni (IEB/USP)
• Isabel Nogueira (UFRGS)
• Luciano Zanatta (UFRGS)
• Marcos Câmara de Castro (FFCLRP/USP)
• Marisa Fonterrada (UNESP)
• Panagiota Anagnostou (IEP Bordeaux)
• Pedro Paulo Funari (UNICAMP)
• Rose Hikiji (FFLCH/USP)


Keynote speakers

• Anaïs Fléchet (Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines)
• Didier Francfort (Université de Lorraine)
• Isabel Nogueira (UFRGS)
• Marisa Fonterrada (UNESP)
• Panagiota Anagnostou (IEP Bordeaux)
• Pedro Paulo Funari (UNICAMP)
• Rubens Russomano Ricciardi (FFCLRP/USP)


Support team

• André Estevão
• Célia Meireles
• Cristiano Ferrari
• Tiago Araújo
• Waldyr Fervença


Languages of the event

• Português
• Français
• English
• Español


Submitting papers

This call for papers is aimed at scholars as well as researchers from various disciplines. Papers around various countries and cultural areas are welcome, as well as those addressing the topics in a comparative perspective. Proposals may be submitted in Portuguese, English,Spanish or French. Each proposal shall contain the following:

• Author(s)
• Institution(s)
• E-mail
• Title of the paper
• Summary (between 3000 and 4000 characters spaces included)
• Key references


Deadlines

Proposals should be sent in Word format before June, 30, 2014 to the following address: musicologia@usp.br.
This is also the contact address for any query about proposals, paper submission or general questions.
Answers after peer review by August, 15, 2014.
Deadline for sending the final version of accepted papers: September, 10, 2014



INDÚSTRIA DA CULTURA, ESNOBISMO E VANGUARDA:

OS NOVOS AVATARES DA COMPOSIÇÃO MUSICAL CONTEMPORÂNEA
(UM ENCONTRO TRANSDISCIPLINAR)

Dias 16, 17 e 18 de outubro de 2014

Para pensar a composição musical hoje, é preciso ter em conta os empecilhos da lógica comercial, sem perder de vista que a cultura de massa é uma realidade histórica sobre a qual devemos atuar criticamente. Até que ponto uma estética que defenda valores aristocráticos para uma sociedade de baixo consumo pode fazer frente aos desafios de uma sociedade de consumo em massa? Ou até que ponto a racionalização da cultura realizada pela vanguarda histórica, elimina o processo artístico de conhecimento – como experiência única no tempo e no espaço – substituindo-o pelo conhecimento abstrato de cunho científico, divorciado da qualidade da experiência vivida e introduzindo a supremacia da obra sobre o processo artístico? Por fim, como fundar um pensamento brasileiro face às importações de escolhas culturais fora de contexto, realizadas tradicionalmente pelo esnobismo das classes dominantes consulares, nascidas do processo de colonização?

Saiba mais

La Musique Savante Manque a Notre Désir (Rimbaud, Illuminations)
Músicas Populares e Músicas Eruditas: Uma Distinção Inoperante? (Parte 01) - por Didier Francfort

Num ambiente acadêmico onde ainda ecoam as sagradas escrituras da Escola de Frankfurt, uma abordagem do fenômeno musical numa sociedade de massas pela história cultural traz novos ares para o dogmatismo que tem dominado o ensino superior de música, tanto nos conservatórios quanto nos departamentos de música das universidades pelo mundo, graças à militância germânica que remonta a II Escola de Viena, ou mesmo antes, com Hanslick e Schenker. Sem, é claro, querer resolver todos os problemas, mas dando uma nova luz ao que antes encontrava-se "debaixo do tapete", varrido sumariamente por aqueles que, ao invés de tentar compreender e redimensionar a compreensão da situação, têm preferido ignorar o fenômeno da cultura de massas e tentar forçar a aplicação de uma filosofia da música de índole aristocrática, baseada numa sociedade de baixo consumo, no seio de uma sociedade pós-industrial.

Saiba mais

Normose, a doença da "normalidade" no mundo acadêmico

A música erudita no mercado fonográfico brasileiro atual: mitos e realidades

Faixa NEOJIBA entrevista: Claudia Toni

Orquestras sinfônicas no Brasil: em busca de um novo modelo


Cartaz do VI Encontro de Musicologia de Ribeirão Preto



Comitê organizador

Lucas Eduardo da Silva Galon
(ECA/USP)
Marcos Câmara de Castro (presidente)
(Departamento de Música/FFCLRP/USP)
Silvia Maria Pires Cabrera Berg
(Departamento de Música/FFCLRP/USP)

Equipe de apoio

André Estevão
(Departamento de Música/FFCLRP/USP)
Célia Meireles
(Departamento de Música/FFCLRP/USP)
Cristiano Ferrari
(Departamento de Música/FFCLRP/USP)
Tiago Araújo
(Departamento de Música/FFCLRP/USP)
Waldyr Fervença
(Departamento de Música/FFCLRP/USP)

Comitê científico

Anaïs Fléchet
(Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines)
Didier Francfort
(Université de Lorraine)
Fernando Crespo Corvisier
(Departamento de Música/FFCLRP/USP)
Flávia Toni
(IEB/USP)
Isabel Nogueira
(UFRGS)
Luciano Zanatta
(UFRGS)
Marcos Câmara de Castro
(Departamento de Música/FFCLRP/USP)
Marisa Fonterrada
(UNESP)
Panagiota Anagnostou
(IEP Bordeaux)
Pedro Paulo Funari
(UNICAMP)
Rose Hikiji
(FFLCH/USP)
Rubens Russomanno Ricciardi
(Departamento de Música/FFCLRP/USP)

Realização


Apoio