11 Alper Making Sense Out of Postmodern Music

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Making sense out of postmodern music?Garth Alper aa Assistant Professor of Music, University of Louisiana, Lafayette

Online Publication Date: 01 December 2000

To cite this Article Alper, Garth(2000)'Making sense out of postmodern music?',Popular Music and Society,24:4,1 14To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/03007760008591782URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03007760008591782

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Making Sense Out of Postmodern Music?Garth Alper

The postmodern sensibility as expressed in music is reflective of thespirit of the late twentieth century. This Zeitgeist is largely shaped by thedomination of television, radio, and the Internet as primary informationsources. These media, while capable of disseminating tremendousamounts of information, often do so without offering context or a senseof depth. The term "postmodern" is used here to describe an aestheticseen in the arts from approximately 1960 to the present. The conspicu-ous use of genre mixing, irony, humor, and self-parody, and the explo-ration of the surface characteristics of an artwork, often identify thisaesthetic. The present essay will examine a sampling of music thatreflects this aesthetic.

Until now, many writers on postmodern music have approached thesubject from a largely subjective viewpoint. This practice seems to belinked with an apparent aversion to assign a fixed definition to the term"postmodern." The subjective approach has reshaped our critical think-ing about what is valuable in art and has yielded multiple readings ofsingle works of art. However, the present study suggests an alternateapproach to the study of postmodern musican approach that uses amore objective lens. I hope to show that by exploring the characteristicscommon to many works informed by the postmodern aesthetic, newlight can be shed on the aesthetic itself. This approach may also broadenthe base of listeners for this music and act as a gate through which theymay approach some of the other writings on the subject.

This essay will approach postmodern music from the standpoint ofgenre mixing, one of its prominent characteristics. Postmodern musicoften explores the confluence of genres previously thought incompatible.The boundaries between popular music (with many of its roots inAfrican and Latin American music) and what is commonly considered"art music" (with many of its roots in European culture) are often inten-tionally and unintentionally blurred, crossed, or obliterated. Even thoughEuropean music has reflected some mixing of cultures for hundreds ofyears, and some composers in the first half of the twentieth century havemade use of genre mixing, there are notable distinctions that set post-modern music apart from music that came before the 1960s. Technology

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Desiderio NavarroCentro Criterios

Desiderio NavarroCopyright

2 Popular Music and Society

has brought easy access to hundreds of styles of music from all aroundthe globe. While baroque, classical, romantic, and modern composersmay have had access to some music from outside their own ethnic expe-rience, such access cannot compare to the access that is presently avail-able through recordings, the airwaves, and the Internet. The multiplicityof styles that are available creates a different work environment for pre-sent day composers and has helped to nurture a postmodern sensibility intheir works. The survey of nine songs that comprises the bulk of thisstudy will demonstrate these points.

The tendency of composers to mix genres can be viewed from threedifferent angles: (1) as an attempt to reflect in their music the manner inwhich incongruous ideas and information are broadcast in the present-day media; (2) as a reflection of the increased integration of diversemusical practices; and (3) as a reflection of the fading distinctionbetween "high art" and popular culture. Through the study of genremixing, this research will examine a cross section of recent works thatexemplify these ideas.

One way in which composers mix dissimilar genres is through theuse of collage, a deliberate and repeated attempt to disrupt the narrativestructure of a song. In much the same way in which a channel-surfingtelevision viewer can see successive fleeting glimpses of a golf tourna-ment, a music video, the Teletubbies, graphic news coverage of a war,and a Spanish-language quiz show, a postmodern musical compositionmight successively (and perhaps even simultaneously) utilize elementsof rap, Viennese waltz, Gregorian chant, and Irish folk music.

Genre mixing often manifests itself through the use of multiculturalreferences. This may be a reflection of an increased awareness of multi-ple cultures brought about by television and rapidly changing radio for-mats. The present practice of mixing music that has a European pedigreewith rock, rap, jazz, and various world music styles continues to loosenthe hegemony that European music has held for hundreds of years.Music that exhibits a postmodern sensibility also tends to display histori-cally anomalous styles in individual works. Eighteenth-century fugaltechniques are conjoined with rock while cello quartets perform heavymetal. While there have been some earlier examples of works that com-bine varied cultural and historical references, there appears to be anotable increase in the number of such works since the 1960s.

In the modern aesthetic (before postmodernism), artistic creationwas often governed by idealistic principles. Lofty aspirations were seenin all of the art forms. Architects believed they could rid society of itsills through modern architecture while poets, writers, and visual artistsstrove to create art that could lead themselves and others to states of near

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Making Sense Out of Postmodern Music? 3ecstasy. But from the 1960s until now, these high-minded aspirationshave been gradually replaced by a growing expression of cynicism in thearts. In music, this trend has manifested itself with the movement awayfrom twelve-tone and serial techniques and toward the merging of variedmusical systems, genres, and historically disparate styles (includingmodern concepts) into single compositions.

Genre mixing is only one of several tendencies that help to identifymusic that exhibits a postmodern sensibility. A brief review of othercommon musical postmodern characteristics immediately follows.

The use of irony, humor, and self-parody: With the disillusion-ment of modernism came the urge to parody the modernists' perceivedself-importance and arrogance, which was crystallized by PierreBoulez's statement: "Every musician who has not feltwe do not sayunderstood, but indeed feltthe necessity of the serial language is USE-LESS!" (Schwartz and Godfrey 82). While Boulez may have been proneto the use of polemics, his statement does indicate at least the appear-ance of arrogance. Many modernists also appeared uninterested in draw-ing audiences to hear their works. The reaction to this extremeseriousness of purpose is often expressed in ironic, humorous, and self-parodying works. And while the postmodernists certainly didn't inventirony, humor, and self-parody in music, these are characteristics that arewidely seen in their compositions.

The return to tonality: Once the breakdown of tonality had beencompleted, there was seemingly no direction in which to travel but backto tonality. Linked to the postmodern composers' desire to eschew theperceived arrogance of the modern composers was their desire to attractan audience to their work. Garry Clarke notes: "The simplicity was oftendeceptive but was, nevertheless, a logical reaction to the overriding com-plexity that could make modern music such an agonizing experience formusicians and the public alike. Composers made communication animportant priority and did care if the audience listened" (Clarke 162).

The exploration of "surface": Postmodern visual artists are, as arule, less interested in underlying formal structure than are modernists,and more interested in the surface features of an artwork. Andy Warhol'smultiple-image silkscreens of Marilyn Monroe are commonly used as anexample of this concept. Not only is there a visual shallowness to thework, but the decision to use a pop icon as a subject is emblematic of thepostmodern consciousness. Likewise, a postmodern composer is oftenconcerned more with the exploration of sonic textures and color (sur-face) than with the traditional use of classical forms. This tendency hasbeen partially driven by (and drives) the new sonic possibilities allowed

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for by synthesizers, samplers, and the "discovery" of instruments fromnon-European cultures.

A Survey of Recent Postmodern Music That UsesGenre Mixing and Collage

Steve Reich endorsed the production of the CD Reich Remixed, inwhich various DJs use digital samples of his work as source material forhip-hop mixes. The DJ D*Note mixes genres in a strongly postmodernmanner through the sampling of the archetypal minimalist work "PianoPhase" for his dance mix "Phased and Konfused."

D*Note samples the opening melody of "Piano Phase" and, throughthe use of MIDI sequencing, adds varied sonic textures in the form ofcontrapuntal melodies and rhythms. The first sequenced additions to theoriginal melody pay homage to the minimalist aesthetic. "Phased andKonfused" begins with a highly consonant counterpoint of carefullychosen synthesized textures. These textures appear to have been chosen,in part, as a contrast to the sonic qualities of the sampled acoustic piano.New sequenced synthesized textures are gradually added to the mix, andsubsequently a booming bass and mechanized sequenced drumbeat com-monly associated with hip-hop music appear. The bass and drum pat-terns are altered, removed, and re-added several times throughout theremainder of the work. Instead of overpowering the other textures thathave been added to the original sample, this signature hip-hop soundbecomes yet another texture entwined around the ostinato. In addition tothe continual addition and subtraction of sonic material to the ostinato,the timbre of the ostinato itself changes numerous times.

Even though the sonic textures of hiphop and minimalism wouldseem to be at odds with each other, "Phased and Konfused" merges thesegenres in a way that finds much common ground. Hip-hop composers,concerned with marketing their music to DJs, make conspicuous use ofbass-heavy mixes and drum machines. Minimalists often aim for moredelicate sonic textures that allow for the emergence of slowly unfoldingchanges in the music. Yet the repetitious nature of both genres isexploited by D*Note in creating an aesthetically unified work.

Foes of minimalism have been critical of its lack of depth, harmonicinterest, and variation. A defender of postmodern technique would arguethat making classically based aesthetic judgments on contemporary artmakes no more sense than criticizing a Mozart piano sonata for lackingan urban twentieth-century sensibility. In sampling a minimalist work,D*Note skims and re-uses the surface of an already arguably shallowwork, a signpost of postmodernism. Postmodern music reflects our Zeit-geist in the same manner that Mozart's music reflected his. The study of

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Making Sense Out of Postmodern Music? 5surface features in the arts is part of current artistic practice and is pro-voking needed discussions about contemporary culture.

* * * * *

"2010," a work by Cornelius, fuses Bach's "Little Fugue in g minor"with techno, a contemporary dance form that relies primarily onsequencing and sampling. The work opens with a computerized voiceharmonizing the word "twenty-ten." A sample of an applauding audienceacts as a link between the opening statement and a sample of anannouncer's voice stating "maestro please." There is a historical discon-nection between the computerized voice and the staid sampledannouncement, which is suggestive of a 1950s radio program. This actsas foreshadowing for the greater historical disconnection between theconvergence of Bach and techno that follows.

Cornelius's sequencing of the "Little Fugue in g minor" is done in amanner that partially obfuscates the fugal nature of the work. The fusingof the fugue and techno masks the depth of Bach's work and appropri-ates the notes of the piece for use as sonic texture. The timbre chosen forthe fugue's opening is suggestive of a video game's internal synthesizer.The brisk speed at which the sequenced fugue is played back aids in itstransformation into a study of surface characteristics. The sixteenth-notepassages move closer to being a blur than a melody. This texture, com-bined with the texture of the sequenced drums, illuminates one way inwhich postmodern genre mixing can impact the original intent of a work.The depth of the Bach fugue is not destroyed, but is assigned a dimin-ished role in a new statement.

Cornelius's appropriation of Bach treads deeper into postmodern ter-ritory than Switched on Bach by Wendy Carlos did in the 1960s. InCarlos's work, a larger degree of restraint was visited upon Bach'smusic. The meaning of Bach's compositions remained largely intact inthe face of the radical new performance medium used. In Cornelius'spiece, the use of sequenced drums and other sound effects greatly dimin-ishes the purity of the fugue. Similar to Carlos, Cornelius uses the tech-nology of his time not only as a new way to hear Bach but also as way tocreate a sense of irony. The sampled applause at the end of the piece alsoputs numerous spins on the work. The audience obviously didn't hearthe work, and the work wasn't created in real time. Cornelius appears tobe mocking the seriousness with which Bach has been approached in thetraditional concert hall setting by splicing an adulatory reaction onto theend of this irreverent treatment of Bach, and simultaneously poking funat himself.

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In the previous piece, a baroque fugue was used as part of the rawmaterial for a popular, contemporary treatment. In an inversion of thatprocess, the group Apocalyptica has taken material from the heavy metalgroup Metallica, arranged it for four cellos, and brought a classical con-sciousness to it. The instrumentation of the piece "One" as originallyperformed by Metallica consists of drums, bass, two guitars, and vocals.Rock-ballad sections using distortionless guitar alternate with distortedpower chords throughout much of the piece.

Except for the shortening of some sections, the Apocalyptica versionis an exact transcription of Metallica's "One." The arrangement staystrue to the melodies, harmonies, and shifting time signatures. As a result,the listener's attention moves to the instrumentation and performancepractices of the group. The shift from standard heavy-metal instrumenta-tion to instruments strongly associated with classical chamber andorchestral music is enough to move Apocalyptica's version into therealm of postmodern genre mixing. One of the guitar parts on the origi-nal is played by pizzicato cello in the remake and the melody and bassare performed arco. When all four cellos enter using bows, the textureand performance practices suggest a classical string quartet. There is astrong historic and, at times, humorous disjunction between the sound ofthe group and the material.

The case for instrumentation as a sufficient condition to indicatepostmodern genre mixing becomes more compelling as the cellos areused to mimic the timbre of heavy-metal power chords. The cello quartetdoes a remarkable job of capturing the attitude and essence of heavy-metal music. Similarly, the cello soloing in its upper range is able to cap-ture the sonic characteristics and wailing energy of a heavy-metal guitarsolo.

* * * * *

Carla Bley's "Wolfgang Tango" deftly incorporates Argentine tangoand Viennese waltz into a collage housed in a slightly modified Euro-pean chamber-music instrumentation that uses jazz and twentieth-cen-tury-inspired harmony. Bley relies on the piano as the primaryaccompanying instrument. Numerous combinations of strings, winds,and electric bass alternate in the primary melody role as well as addi-tional accompanying roles. The harmonic movement throughout thework remains consistently angular while other musical characteristics

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Making Sense Out of Postmodern Music? 7vary. A drum set (an African-American invention) and the electric bassare subtly merged into the chamber-group texture.

The classically inspired orchestration is combined with contempo-rary jazz voicings on the piano and a harmonic motion suggestive of ajazz progression. The mixing of styles becomes most evident during theimprovised electric-bass solo. Jazz instrumentation, jazz concepts, clas-sical orchestration, and tango rhythms all merge in a natural manner.Immediately following the bass improvisation, Bley merges Viennesewaltz rhythms and textures with harmonies similar to those previouslyheard, before exploring nearly atonal harmonies with the strings andpiano. The mixture of these seemingly disparate elements creates subtle,humorous juxtapositions.

Even before Gunther Schuller coined the phrase "third stream" inthe late 1950s, a number of composers had been experimenting with theconfluence of jazz and classical music. However, very few of these mix-tures were created by composers who had a true grasp of both the classi-cal and jazz languages. Carla Bley not only demonstrates anunderstanding of both musical worlds, but also merges them in a waythat pokes fun at both the European classical tradition's self-reverenceand the Argentine Tango's sense of drama. "Wolfgang Tango" is per-formed with a subtly exaggerated sense of dynamics and dramaticpauses that go on a fraction of a second too long. This sly sarcasm, aswell as the humorous melodies, harmonies, and orchestration, help bringthis third-stream piece into the postmodern realm.

* * * * *

"Aquilarco #9" by Giovanni Sollima combines mbira, violins, elec-tric bass, and distorted electric guitar in an additive-rhythm, postclassicalmelange. An ostinato on mbira begins the work, followed by cello,violin, and viola. The strings enter in a time signature of 5/8 + 3/8 + 4/8,which was originally hinted at by the mbira. Once the time signature hasbeen securely established, the strings begin to take on a more syncopatedcharacter. Shortly after the increased syncopation, an acoustic bass isreplaced by an electric bass, which gives "Aquilarco #9" more of a popflavor. When the electric guitar enters, the melodic and rhythmic charac-ter is suggestive of a 1970s progressive rock piece, though the texturehere is decidedly more delicate.

There is a similarity in instrumentation between "Aquilarco #9" andCarla Bley's "Wolfgang Tango." Both Sollima and Bley start with classi-cal chamber-group instrumentation and add instruments from Americanjazz and rock idioms (in Bley's case, electric bass and drums, and in Sol-

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lima's, electric bass, electric guitar, and synthesizer). These pieces bothpose problems in categorization. The CD from which "Aquilarco #9comes is being marketed as a classical product. Yet, much of the musicon it contains a considerable amount of pop, rock, and world musicinfluence. As is the case with much new music, "Aquilarco #9" defiesany easy categorization. While this piece could be played on numerousradio formats, many classical stations might not find it suitable due tothe incorporation of a distorted electric guitar into its sonic texture. Like-wise, Bley's CD is being marketed as jazz, but it seems very unlikelythat the CD will find its way onto many jazz play lists. Its predominanttexture arises from its classical instrumentationnot from the use ofbass and drums or from the jazz-inspired harmony.

An in-depth study of the marketing quandaries that are posed bypostmodern genre mixing is beyond the scope of this essay. However,the trends taking place in music are largely a reaction to changes takingplace in radio and other media. The music that is reflective of thesetrends can sometimes be so eclectic that it has a difficult time finding itsway back into the media that helped spawn it. Assuming that postmodernmusic continues to flourish, and composers continue to write music thatis intended to find an audience, these issues of marketing will deservecareful attention in the future.

* * * * *

"I'll Be Missing You," a work by Sean "Puffy" Combs, a.k.a. PuffDaddy, couples Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings" with rap and thepop/rock hit "Every Breath You Take," by the Police. Rap music custom-arily relies on explosive, sequenced rhythm tracks as background forstrongly rhythmic wordplay. However, in the first section of "I'll BeMissing You," Combs uses Barber's "Adagio for Strings," a work withlittle rhythmic pulse, as a background for rap that's notable for its slow,rhythmless cadence. In the second portion of the piece, Combs uses alooped sample of the Police's "Every Breath You Take" as a backgroundfor rap wordplay with the rhythmic force more commonly associatedwith rap music.

Combs's rap music and the Police's pop/rock have much more incommon than Samuel Barber's work has with either of these two pieces.Both rap and rock are descendants of the blues. Barber (though an Amer-ican) wrote music which was more closely aligned with the Europeanclassical aesthetic. "Adagio for Strings" was written for performance inthe concert hall but ironically has itself become a piece of popular musicdue to its use in numerous movie soundtracks. Another level of irony

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Making Sense Out of Postmodern Music? 9arises from the fact that the piece is sometimes considered a neoromanticwork, one of the twentieth-century stepping stones toward postmod-ernism.

Combs's use of "Adagio for Strings" takes the work much furtherfrom its cultural origins. Rap originated in the South Bronx and its origi-nal success was due to its ability to convey the anger and frustration ofyoung urban African Americans. That Combs would choose to merge rapwith Barber speaks to how the linking of previously uncombined genreshas now become much more commonplace. The Combs piece is alsoemblematic of the blurring distinction between "high art" and popularculture. Samuel Barber can now be heard in Lincoln Center, in themovie Platoon, and on the booming car stereos of millions of youngadults.

A large portion of twentieth-century popular music performed andlistened to by whites has been based on African-American musicalinvention. By composing rap music that uses samples of music from thewhite classical tradition, Combs (an African American) has turned thistendency upside down, and in the process demonstrates one way inwhich irony can be produced from postmodern genre blending.

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"Com'U Ventu" by Agricantus combines MIDI-sequenced bass anddrums with traditional vocal chants and instruments performed bynomad musicians of Mali. The piece successfully merges staples ofEuro-American pop music with African culture to create a unified mix-ture in a work that gained a substantial level of popularity in Europe.

"Com'U Ventu" begins with a sequenced ostinato in a synthesizedtechno style. After a few measures (0.07), the chanting of the Malianmusicians enters and is quickly followed by a sequenced drum part(0.11) and hip-hop style bass (0.21). The melodic and rhythmic contentof the synthesized ostinato and bass mesh so convincingly with thechanting that it is easy to overlook the large historical and cultural gapbetween techno and Malian nomadic music. The seamlessness results, inpart, from the choice of the tonal center as defined by the synthesizedbass. When the chant is superimposed over the bass part, a new mode iscreated. Yet the resulting mode of this combination sounds completelybelievable.

The ostinato establishes the modal center as C and revolves aroundthe notes C, Db, Eb, and Bb. The beginning of the Malian chant uses thenotes Db, Eb, F, Gb, Ab, and Bb. Since the bass ostinato anchors thepiece in C, the resulting mode is C Locrian (C, Db, Eb, F, Gb, Ab, and

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Bb). In bar 17 (0.40), a wind instrument (or possibly a synthesizer) givesthe work a strong Arabic/North African flavor by using only the 1, b2,b3, and b7 of the mode. The use of these mode degrees in the synthe-sized bass creates a techno flavor. However, these same notes whenplayed a few octaves higher on an instrument with a decidedly Arabictimbre create a startlingly different ethnic reference. Shortly before afemale vocalist from Agricantus enters with the main theme of the piece,a new chant (0.55) utilizing the notes C, G, and Bb enters. While thesethree notes aren't enough to establish a new mode, the use of the G sig-nals a shift away from Locrian. The vocalist enters (1.04) and completesthe shift in modality from Locrian to Dorian (or Aeolianthere is nosixth in the new melody). Once the female vocalist enters, synthesizerparts drop out and reappear. The most prevalent texture (the Dorian sec-tion) is broken up with fairly short contrasting sections. The Maliansingers are intermittently featured singing background chants and some-times displayed in the foreground.

Unlike many of the works in this survey, the merging of genres in"Com'U Ventu" is not undertaken for the purpose of producing irony.Instead, it is representative of how interest in a growing number ofdiverse cultures has had an impact on contemporary music. In turn, suchwork is finding its way into popular culture, feeding the trend further.

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Ken Valitsky makes use of vivid collage techniques and genremixing in "Black Velvet Elvis and the 900 Foot Jesus." In describing thecomposition, Valitsky notes: "I decided to exploit some of the clichesnormally associated with the banjo. Very traditional and humorous banjolicks are placed within unusual contexts which give them a fresh per-spective" (liner notes).

The work begins with a recording (sample?) of an audience applaud-ing and a voice of a performer saying: "Thank you so much and howdy"(0:27). The greeting is followed by a noise that's a cross between ascream and a distorted electric guitar (0:29). After this introduction, abluesy, relaxed, down-home banjo (0:30) is accompanied by a verystrange mix of synthesized bass, unidentifiable percussion, and back-wards-sounding samples. This segment of the collage is followed by onesecond of fast bluegrass fiddle (1:26), followed by fast finger-pickingbanjo and accompanied by an atypical rock beat. Added to the texture iswhat sounds like a short loop of a sample of other instruments. Thebanjo's key and rhythm are completely unrelated to the sonic backdrop,creating a clash between the familiar (the banjo part) and the unfamiliar(a peculiar atonal and arhythmic background).

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Making Sense Out of Postmodern Music? 11The next portion of the collage (2:19) pits a slower banjo against

shifting backgrounds of backward samples and other unusual, unidentifi-able sound effects. These shifting backdrops continue until the banjobreaks into the theme from The Beverly Hillbillies (3:31) with a raucousaccompaniment of sequenced drums, samples, and sound effects. A syn-thesized explosion (4:17) ends the section and a texture reminiscent ofan earlier collage portion returns. A few disjunct pieces are inserted, therecorded applause returns (5:35), and a cliche" bluegrass ending (5:41) isfollowed by a sampled "thank you, thank you so much" (5:43).

Throughout the piece, the familiarity of the banjo is subjugated andabsorbed by the peculiar, shifting sonic backdrops. The banjo, as per-formed in this piece, is representative of America's southern andAppalachian cultures. With well-known banjo techniques framed inamorphous backgrounds, the banjo takes on multiple meanings: itremains a symbol of rural culture; it represents a caricature of that cul-ture (The Beverly Hillbillies theme); and it takes on a new role as one ofmany elements in a late twentieth-century work while simultaneouslyacting as a foil to the contemporary sonic backdrops. Thus "Black VelvetElvis and the 900 Foot Jesus" brings a postmodern attitude to mod-ernism, bluegrass, and the blues.

* * * * *

Most of the fragments contained in John Zorn's two-minute-and-fif-teen-second collage "Snagglepuss" have some degree of jazz influence.However, "Snagglepuss" lacks the gestalt of a jazz piece. The edgesbetween the thirty-seven sections of the short work are so jagged thatany attempt to place this piece in the jazz category is quickly defeated.The piece moves so quickly from one disjunct fragment to the next thatthe resulting work couldn't be thought of as jazz, but only postmodernpastiche. Virtually all styles of jazz have a set of performance practicesthat help to identify them as a particular form of jazz. Even free jazzpieces lacking a predetermined chord progression retain an organic unitythat "Snagglepuss" conspicuously lacks.

Much of the humor in the work comes from the construction of thecollage. The following chart describes the first 46 seconds of the piece.

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Seconds into work1-23-1010-141515.51617-1818-1919-2323-2728-3940-4142434445-46

Descriptionloud, honking free jazzsyncopated funk with synthesized clavinetgroup anarchyguitar slidepiano chordsaxophone mouthpiece squawkfast swing (drums only)electric bass solofast free jazzatonal solo pianoblues shuffledrum solostrummed bass guitar"wolf whistle" on guitarpiano glissandoNBC audio logo

The melodies, textures, and performance techniques within many ofthese individual cells are humorous by themselves. The connection ofthese notably disparate cells heightens the humorous effect. Despite thepiece's whimsical mood, there remains an underlying tension caused bythe believability of the jazz snippets. The seriousness of purpose illus-trated by the ensemble's grasp of numerous jazz styles is at odds withthe iconoclastic treatment that the music receives. The result is similar toquickly moving from one station to another on a radio that only receivesjazz programming. Thus, the bits of jazz in Zorn's work take on at leastthree meanings simultaneously: (1) as broken fragments of a musical artform, (2) as a music that has a subservient role in a new art form, and (3)as a representation of the fragmented manner in which information isoften disseminated in our present day media.

ConclusionsOne of the aims of this study is to examine postmodern music from

the standpoint of some of its prominent characteristics. I'm fairly certainthat some postmodern theorists would argue that the attempt to findobjective characteristics in postmodern art of any kind is a meaningless

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Making Sense Out of Postmodern Music? 13endeavor. But while theories can be extremely useful in explaining theworkings of societies, compositions, subatomic particles, and countlessother items, there are always limitations to what they can tell us. Post-modern theory is no different. This essay is indebted to the postmodernthinkers who have developed these theories. But to deny that these theo-ries can be combined with attempts at partial objectivity would be carry-ing them to their illogical extremes.

There have been lively and useful discussions in arts scholarship andcriticism outside of music that have used analyses similar to the onefound in this study. Some writers feel that the use of irony is wearingthin and that the purpose of recycling and recombining previously domi-nant genres is to cover up for a dearth of worthy new ideas. Other criticshave praised the inclusion of diverse cultures and historically disparategenres that create multiple codings in postmodern art.

Assuming that the postmodern sensibility continues to become morestrongly entrenched in the music world, we can expect to see the musiccriticism debate catch up with the dialogues taking place in other artmedia. At times, this debate itself is also informed by the postmodernsensibility. Some writings express a diverse set of opinions and oftenseek to express irony and even humor. Despite the protests of some post-modern theorists and those resistant to change in the conservatories andacademies, there is plenty of room for a multiplicity of opinions and fora multitude of ways in which to study the art and music of the postmod-ern era.

As for the music itself as seen in this survey, it is unarguably repre-sentative of a movement. One of Gunther Schuller's comments on third-stream music is remarkably applicable to the development ofpostmodern music:

The course of the music is not normally determined in the academies or byestablished institutions. Rather, the music develops at a grassroots level, is sub-ject to all manner of subtle sociological, economic, and even political pressures,and is often influenced by fads and fashions, by accidents of timing and fate,and by population shifts and other factors. In other words, these cross-fertiliza-tions do occur in free and unpredictable patterns whether anyone approves ofthem or not. (122)

Indeed, the use of genre mixing and collage that is found throughout thissurvey is reflective of the dominant means of communication since thelate twentieth century. And these communication media are intractablyconnected to the "sociological, economic and political pressures" thatare exerted upon musical composition. "(F)ads and fashions" play a

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notable role in this music, as popular-music trends blend with classical,jazz, and world music. Perhaps the part of Schuller's statement that isleast relevant to this discussion is the word "subtle." The developmentsthat have taken place in the Internet, television, radio, and other modesof contemporary communication make their influence felt in ways thatare anything but subtle. The large aesthetic distance between late modernand postmodern music is a reflection of the not-so-subtle influence thatthese media have had on our culture.

Works Cited

Clarke, Garry E. "Music." The Postmodern Moment: A Handbook of Contempo-rary Innovation in the Arts. Ed. Stanley Trachtenberg. Westport, CT:Greenwood P, 1985.

Schuller, Gunther. Musings: The Musical Worlds of Gunther Schuller. NewYork, Oxford: Oxford UP, 1986.

Schwartz, Elliot, and Daniel Godfrey. Music Since 1945: Issues, Materials andLiterature. New York: Schirmer Books, 1993.

Valitsky, Ken. Emergency Music Collection. Composers Recordings Inc., 1998.

Discography

Agricantus. Best of Agricantus. World Class Records, 11308-2 (1999).Apocalyptica. Inquisition Symphony. Mercury, 314 558 300-2 (1998).Bley, Carla. Fancy Chamber Music. WATT/ECM, WATT 28, 78118-23128-2

(1998).Cornelius. Fantasma. Matador Records, OLE 300-2 (1998).D*Note. Reich Remixed. Nonesuch, 79552-2 (1999).Metallica. . . . And Justice For All. Elektra, 9 60812-2 (1988).Puff Daddy and the Family. No Way Out. Bad Boy Records, 78612-73012-2

(1997).Sollima, Giovanni. Aquilarco. Point Music, Polygram, 289 462 546-2 (1997).Valitsky, Ken. Emergency Music Collection. Composers Recording Inc., CD770

(1998).Zorn, John. Naked City. Elektra/Nonesuch, 979238-2 (1989).

Garth Alper is an Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Louisiana,Lafayette, where he coordinates the Music Media program and teaches jazzpiano. His most recent piano trio CD, Inroads, is on the Musicians ShowcaseRecording label.

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11 Alper Making Sense Out of Postmodern Music