Music

Music Music To say that the understanding of music is ambiguous would be an understatement. Music has meaning that is emotionally, culturally, and intellectually diverse. In his essay, “Music”, Alan Bloom attacks modern rock music as a non-intellectual but purely sexual expression. “Body and Soul: The Musical Miseducation of Youth”, written by Martha Bayles, contrasts Blooms views by nitpicking through his ideas and labeling them as vast generalizations. In one generalization in particular, Bloom claims that art in music has died since the decline of classical music. Bayles on the other hand, disagrees by declaring that that void has been filled. Bayles quotes music critic Henry Pleasants, “Western music has undergone an idiomatic shift every time its creative center has shifted geographically” (Bayles, 25). He explains that the early part of the twentieth century could be what Pleasants labels “the Afro-American epoch.” The influence of black Americans on music in the twentieth century is filled with creativity and art. music, bloom, bayles, twentieth, century, rock, art, afro-american, since, pleasants, musical, modern, given, filled, classical, chance, blooms, been, youth, young, written, whole, western, void, views, vast, understatement, understanding, undergone, time, through, theories, soul, simply, shifted