MODERN MUSIC
Sir,-L.D.A. says he would like to be dictator of music long enough to sweep modern music and jazz out of existence. Isn’t that sheer Hitlerism? Isn’t such intolerance what we are all fighting against? Because L.D.A. detests jazz he wants to prevent those who like it from ever hearing it. It would not, I think, be incorrect to say that 95% of those who like music of any sort do not find jazz unpleasant. Surely jazz appeals to some instinct in our nature more fundamental than any feeling for classical music. Did not jazz originate in early tribal percussion rhythms while classical music is comparatively modern and except in a few cases an acquired taste? In his detestation of jazz L.D.A, would appear to reveal a defect similar to colour blindness or tone deafness, and the suggestion that all jazz should be swept away reminds one irresistibly of Aesop’s fox without a tail. Whenever there is a classical programme to be found I listen in to it and cut off everything in preference for it, but nevertheless I do not find jazz in small doses unpleasant. With regard to serious modern music I feel more in sympathy with L.D.A. Much of it seems to be definitely sadistic, that is it is intended to give pain
for the sake of exquisite moments of relief. If this is not its meaning then I
cannot find one.
PARSNIP
(Kati-
kati).
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 78, 20 December 1940, Page 15
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239MODERN MUSIC New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 78, 20 December 1940, Page 15
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