Book Quotes

Clichés

~From Roots of the Classicalby Peter Van der Merwe, pages 139-140:

... clichés are an inescapable part of the evolutionary process. Before a musical pattern can be elaborated, it must first become familiar; and this, in practice, means mechanical repetition, ready-made emotion, and cheap effects generally. If the word had existed in the fifteenth century, critics would no doubt have complained about the irritating new cliché of preceding the tonic chord with the dominant.

People should love clichés because it's cliché to hate clichés.

But, seriously, many composers vehemently reject musical clichés whilst trying to create new ones. I personally do not think they are inherently bad... in fact, they're quite vital! Without them, no film music at all would work. It's kind of a shame a 'cliché' is most often used as a negative word nowadays. I think clichés can come and go without any forced opposition. ("Forced opposition" being the choice to reject a cliché for mere sake of its being cliché instead of for some more natural reason, like honest cliché-caused displeasure.)

Labels: Roots of the Classical

posted by Sean Hannifin @ 1:04 AM