HOW GOOD IS YOUR TASTE?

New Zealand Listener, Volume 11, Issue 279, 27 October 1944, Page 8

HOW GOOD IS YOUR TASTE?

An Article For People Who Aren't Highbrows

Written for "The Listener"

by

DOROTHY

SCOTT

HE late "Fats" Waller, jazz of nro mean accomplishment, was once asked by a highbrow listener for his definition of "swing." "Lady," he replied, "if you gotter ask, you ain't got it," Good taste is similar to swing in this respect. If you have to ask what it is, you don’t possess it. It’s a negative thing, taste, apparent only when absent. Good taste is so inconspicuous as to pass without comment, bad taste draws the wrath of the highbrows so inevitably that destructive criticism has become an. accepted form of self-expression. What a welcome relief it would be if critics wrote a little more about what they like, and why, instead of what they execrate, and how! There are different meanings attached to the word "taste." There’s Good Taste versus Bad Taste, of which I shall speak later, confining my remarks to the field of music because that’s my pet subject; but my remarks hereon could apply with equal vigour to any of the kindred arts from sculpture to interior decoration. Then there’s "taste" meaning "preference." In the end, all criticism boils down to this-you like one thing, I like another. It’s simply a matter of taste. In that case, why the fuss and bother? Why discuss the matter at all? Why not be tolerant, and let the other man retain his preference, as you do yours? "All for Intolerance" It sounds easy, but seemingly a love of good music and an aptitude for toleration are qualities seldom found together in one musician, and never in one critic. When it’s a matter of Good Taste v. Bad Taste in music, toleration of the other man’s viewpoint is, in my opinion, neither possible nor desirable. I’m all for intolerance in this respect. I suggest that the apostles of good taste arm themselves with pen and poison, and sally forth to do battle by any means at their command, insidious or straightforward. That the apostles of bad taste will be trying at the same time to flood the world with their own particular cloying or raucous product, of course goes without saying. They are not tolerant; why should we be? (I take it, reader, that you are on my side in this battle, or you wouldn’t have bothered to read thus far.) Tm speaking rather as though the possessors of bad taste knew that they

possessed it and were proud of the fact. If this were so they couldn’t do much harm. Those who do most harm are the misguided people who think they know good music from bad, when in reality they know only one sort of music, the completely valueless. Let loose in a position where he can make his values known, even one such person may do a gréat deal of unwitting damage to receptive but uneducated ears. Two Hundred Years Behind Can that damage be undone? Do the people want to listen to the apostle of good taste? The trouble about mass education is that it’s such a long job. The majority of people lag behind the leading intelligences of their day by a time-lag of a couple of hundred years, on the average. In art, while the people who actually put brush to canvas have just about finished experimenting with Surrealism, the masses have just about got to the stage where they can understand Rembrandt. In literature; while modern poets perform their intellectual gymnastics, the average man is still thinking Dickens fs pretty good. In music I’m afraid the majority of listeners aren’t even as up- to-date as that. They’re still at the level of the jungle savage, whose frenzied thumping of his drum and mournful caterwauling represent the acme of musical expression, being the outpouring of his soul about the basic emotions of hunger, fear, and love. Till the majority appreciate Delius, how long, how long? 4 As I said, it wouldn’t matter in the least if we all kept our preferences to ourselves, and regarded it merely as a matter of taste. However, the average man’s reaction to anything he doesn’t

understand is the reaction of the savage. Confronted with music, art, or literature which is new, unfamiliar, and stimulating, he cries "Down with it!" and proceeds with the demolishing in a barbaric frenzy. He-slashes canvas, burns books, paints sculpture blue, throws tomatoes at the stage. In the face of this childish petulance, are we grown-ups to act with tolerant amusement, or are we to try a spot of quiet education? I vote for the latter, even if it doesn’t succeed. Epstein Said It In regard to this matter of taste or preference, Epstein in his Autobiography says a very profound thing. While the artistic world fights tooth and claw over his latest piece of sculpture, Epstein remains calm, but hurt and somewhat bewildered. Why are they arguing,he wants to know, and remarks that there are only four possible reactions to a new work of art. (1) I like it, but I don’t understand it. (2) I understand it, but I don’t like it. (3) I don’t understand it and I don’t like it, (4) I understand it and I like it. When you've decided which of these statements best expresses your reaction, you've said all there is to say, intrinsically, about any work of art. But, you notice, it’s not enough to say that you like a work, Until you also know it, you can’t say that it’s good. To acquire a knowledge of good and bad, you have to make the effort to understand what the artist, sculptor, author, or composer was trying to say to you. There is no place here for the woolly-minded yearner who tells you with an air of immense selfsatisfaction, "Of course I don’t understand anything about music, but I do know what’I like!" If he doesn’t know why he likes it, it is time his bogus attitude was exposed. Sugar-coating the Pill Does the average man want to develop an ability to appreciate, say, the best sort of music? Will he make the necessary effort? Can good taste be cultivated? It can, yes, if the will is there. I believe that in his heart the average man does want to know good music from bad. I expect he can’t help wondering, sometimes, just what it is that makes the devotees of good music into a set of willing slaves. Is there any way of letting him in on the secret? (continued on mext page)

(continued from previous page) Yes, but it’s got to be done without letting the recipient know he’s being giyen a dose of Culture. You can’t drag people to Musical Appreciation Classes by the scruff of the neck. If you did, they’d probably hate all music for the rest of their lives. Also you can’t ram a love of good music down the throats of the very young without disastrous results. I know, having taught music, Children have naturally bad taste. They like the worst variety of popular jazz, because it’s rhythmic and easy to remember. This doesn’t matter in the least. Left alone, they outgrow it. When they develop a technical ability to perform Beethoven, they don’t want to go back to playing "The Robin’s Return." Appreciation and’ technical mastery go side by side. Personally, I should be most suspicious of the young pupil who told me he liked Bach. I should wonder, first, what grown-up had been feeding him rich indigestible musical fare unsuited to his tender years; second, whether I as teacher might not be directly responsible for. grafting an artificial good taste on to a naturally ordinary mind. It usually happens that a child who has. been carefully schooled in "what to appreciate and why" will later return with unabated vigour to the cheap and nasty fhusic which appeals to children and to those adults' whose musical intelligences have not developed at the same pace as their bodies. This aptitude for bad taste should not be checked at all. Neither should it be encouraged. Ignored, it will be outgrown. ° Giving a Lead The adult who plays no instrument, and makes no effort to understand what he hears, is a more difficult proposition. He "is a stubborn creature and must be approached warily., If, for instance, you know that your audience is unmusical, and you play them a Beethoven sonata withqut any preliminary warning other than a twiddling of the piano-stool, you are courting disaster, Play them a short piece (the non-musical listener finds it difficult to concentrate on listening for more than seven minutes at a stretch) with a fanciful . title, say’ Ibert’s "Little White Donkey" or Debussy’s "Submerged Cathedral," and preface it by an explanation of what it’s all about, and the same audience will listen intently and enjoy every note. All they want is an explana- tion, some sort of lead, an inkling of what the composer is trying to tell them. (Singers have a happier time than instrumentalists in this respect, for they have words to carry their message.) The

field of abstract music is not for such audiences, and it is best introduced by means of the radio, where themes can be illustrated and formal plans unfolded in an atmosphere more intimate than that of the concert-hall. There are many small ways in which the lover of good music can further his cause. He can insist on switching his radio off when nothing of worthsis to be heard from dt. He can insist that the radio is not to be used in his home as a background for reading, children’s homework, or a game of cards. He can, if he is addicted to letter-writing, write to his tadio station, congratulating it on a good programme rather than reviling it because of a bad one. Hé can attend local concerts and urge others to do so. He can have his children taught some instrument and encourage. music-making in the home. He can support choirs and orchestras in his own city. He can, if he performs himself, perform in public only the best music, and try to "put it across" by explaining to his audience what it’s all about. This is all so obvious that it seems scarcely worth mentioning, but remember that unless the best is continually placed before the public, the public will continue to demand, and get, the worst, ~ % 1 BUT, says the average person, I’ve listéned with patience to what you have to say, and it’s very interesting — for musicians. But I’m just an: average listener and how do I know what’s in good taste and what isn’t? Haven’t. you a sort of guide, a signpost for the middlebrow? Well, in this connection I’ve thought out a few questions on the subject of taste, whereby you can test your own judgment. See how many you can answer, "GOOD TASTE IN MUSIC" QUIZ conte 1 (For Beginners): Is it considered good taste to use three of Grieg or Tchaikovski to fade in and out of a radio serial? 2. Is it considered good ‘taste to allow a brat of nine to occupy part of the Children’s Hour with a rendition of Sit Under the Apple Tree’’? 3. Is it considered good taste to present Schubert’s ‘‘Serenade"’ in common time, largo, scored for a band consisting mainly of drums and muted saxophones? 4. Is it considered ‘good taste to applaud be- — movements of a Symphony at a concert Section 2 (Fot Those of Medium Intelligence): 1. Which is in. better taste, Fats Waller at the piano or ‘‘Remembrance" as an organ solo? 2. Ditto, an Irish tenor singing "Danny Boy" or a-German tenor singing ‘‘The Last Rose of Summer’’? 3 Ditto, the Sentry’s Song from Jolanthe, or the Policeman’s Song from The Pirates of Penzance? 4. Ditto,. Beethoven’s Minuet in G, or Paderewski’s Minuet in G? Section 3 (For Musicians, excluding Highbrows): le Why is Schubert’s "Ave Maria" preferable to unod’s? 2. Which-is the better Mass, Palestrina or mace coe ip and why? Regarding roa do you prefer pertive or and Ailes Pthce these in order of ak reasons: Beethoven’s 5th, Shostakovitch’s hia Tchaikovski’s 5th. 5. Is the ‘Warsaw Concerto"’ to be ranked with any other concertos, and if so, which?