Opinion

Mindless

"There is too much noise", my guru Pandit Dilip Chandra Vedi said on his deathbed. And it only got worse over the past decades. People buy machines for doing things and then they have to put those machines to work. Grass mowers, hole drillers, electric saws, hedge trimmers. They love noise. Ghetto blasters and car-radios with power woofers. There is too much mindlessness. People do things before they think about it. They say things before they think about it. They don't think. They are mindless, most of the time. Perhaps [...]

Mindless2021-05-22T10:36:45+02:00

Against Facebook

I joined Facebook soon after it started, back in 2004. It seemed like a wonderful idea, setting up a community, communicating easily with friends and colleagues. Less work than a blog, more charming than email or text messages. In 2008 I left. It is not so easy to get out of that cobweb. But I managed. And some of my friends and colleagues did the same. I forgot about it, didn't need it for anything. Then recently it became clear that facebook isn't just annoying and useless but it is [...]

Against Facebook2020-06-22T08:58:06+02:00

On classifying music

Why do people want to classify anything at all and in particular music? On the one hand because classifying is the human need to understand and control. On the other because it's practical. For instance, if you have lots of music in a shop, in your record, cassette, cd or digital library, classification can help you find something you're looking for more quickly. Unless you have put the music in the wrong bin, then you'll never find it again. That's the downside of classifying. In a way, this relates directly [...]

On classifying music2018-02-25T22:14:49+02:00

De bestudering van de etnische muziek volgens Vincent Meelberg

Op het eind van zijn boekje (2010) over muziekwetenschappelijk onderzoek wijdt Vincent Meelberg enkele pagina’s (152-155) aan wat hij etnische (o jee) muziek noemt. Hij heeft schijnbaar geen notie van de implicaties van dit woordgebruik. Etnische muziek is inmiddels een zeer gedateerde term, die in Nederland in de jaren zestig werd gebruikt om de muziek van allochtone minderheden aan te duiden. Uit welke stoffige la Meelberg de term heeft opgeduikeld is onduidelijk. Misschien speelt deze discussie zich te ver voor het bestaan van Meelberg af. Voor iemand die wetenschapsfilosofie doceert [...]

De bestudering van de etnische muziek volgens Vincent Meelberg2018-02-25T22:14:18+02:00
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