Unit 1

Lesson 1.2

What is good music?

One of the most frequently heard laments in music education today is the cry for better music. Teachers dedicated to quality repertoire and comprehensive musicianship for their students bemoan the seeming lack of commitment from publishers or retailers to maintain a high standard of compositional integrity in the music they put forth. Publishers and retailers in their turn counter with, "Well, that's what teachers are buying."

The solution for what seems like a chicken-versus the-egg problem falls squarely on the shoulders of the music teachers. We need to be vigilant in examining the music we choose to study with our students and push ourselves to seek out the best music we can find.

It seems sometimes that directors in small schools or with smaller programs feel like the great masterworks are the property of large school programs only. In fact, great music is great music, regardless of its technical demands or difficulty. No matter what level or ability or size of the ensemble, there is good music available. Just as there are simple unison choruses that deserve study, so too there are complex and difficult ones that lack musical substance and real depth.

How to tell the difference? This takes time and a little practical analysis. Here are some thoughts to guide you in the process of examining potential repertoire.

1. Something Different

A good composition has something ingenious that holds out attention, makes us remember it vividly and want to "relive" that special moment in that piece that makes it memorable. There is something novel in the piece that makes it innovative or strange and sets it apart. A question I would ask student composers is "What does this piece say better (or at least differently) than any other piece similar to it?" Does it stand alone as an unique artistic expression? What is inventive or new about the piece? Does it avoid cliche and triviality?

2. Form

Good form usually means the proper balance between these two key principles: repetition and contrast. Too much repetition of the same ideas creates monotony, whereas too much contrast gives the ear nothing to latch on to, recall or identity. Both are needed, but either in extreme create a kind of formlessness.

3. Design

Good compositions reflect the conscious design of their composer. All good pieces are a series of musical "events". Has the composer paced these events in an effective way? Do the climaxes happen at the most strategic points? Is the transitional material logical and does it help the flow between "events?"

4. Unpredictability

Does the piece have enough surprises? Does it contain enough harmonic twists, melodic variation or rhythmic development to keep the listener sufficiently off-guard enough to stay interested? If a musical idea is repeated twice, the third time should delight the ear with the unexpected. A good composition reveals a striving toward a musical goal - the best pieces have unusual musical goals that are reached in a somewhat indirect way. A very predictable musical goal reached by the quickest, most obvious or most direct route (or not reached at all) will be less effective.

5. Depth

Does the piece bear repeated hearings? In fact, if the ear can grasp most everything on the first hearing, this is probably not a worthy piece. Truly great music demands several hearings to understand and probe its layers of meaning. This is probably the simplest difference between classical and popular music. One is meant to make an immediate impression; the other offers new riches even after the hundredth listening. This does not necessarily mean the music need be more difficult or complex. A solo Bach melody like "Bist de beir mir" continually reveals the genius of its construction and the force of its expressive power, though it may be sung by children.

6. Consistent Quality

Are all the sections of the piece consistent in quality? Profound moments should not be followed by trivial ones.

7. Consistent Style

Does the piece sound like everything belongs together? Anything that seems "out of place" in the piece should have a good reason for being there. A combination of styles in a single piece should only exist if this is part of the composer's artistic intention, not because of carelessness, incompetence or accident.

8. Good Orchestration/Voicing

Does the piece use various colors and textures effectively? Does the composer show knowledge of voices or instruments? Is there good craftsmanship in the way the parts are handles? If there are strange choices of voicing or texture they should be based on an artistic concept.

9. Good Text

Does the piece use a worthy text? Is this a text that will provoke discussion or insight on its own, apart from its musical setting?

10. Good Use of Text

Does the composer show an understanding of the text? Is it a "happy marriage" of text and music? Is the composer sensitive to the structure and poetic devices of the text? Does the music add anything to the text or further simplify its expressive power?

(From Wisconsin's Comprehensive Musicianship Through Performance Workshop Materials.)