Saturday, July 3, 1971 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Poge
Sticky Fingers': Sticky questions

e Nine

By RICHARD LEHFELDT
James Waring, the choreogra-
pher, defines dance as a motion
or series of movements which
the meaningless. The definition
would obviously be met with a
certain degree of mistrust and
,lisapproval by some. We all
know that the Artist (bless its
pointed little head) is as sensi-
tive as an elephant is strong,
as tricky as a circus magician,

Once recognized, the Artist has
upon his shoulders the task of
delivering as regularly as pos-
sible the fruit of his perceptions.
This he owes to the ignorant
masses, and should he fail to
deliver a delectable product, his
public has the right to turn up-
on him, cast him aside as a false
prophet, or even to re-evaluate
the entire body of his work and
strip him of the title of Artist.

, ... Images

message. (Lawrence Durrell, in
a lecture a few years ago in New
York City, noted that education
was evolving to the point where
it would be possible to digest a
symphony by a measure-to-mea-
sure musical analysis and there-
by do away with the burden of
having to listen to the thing).
If a non-verbal art form does
in fact "communicate" any-
thing, its mesage goes beyond
the realm of a verbal analysis.
This is not to say that struc-
tural analysis of a work of art
is futile or unrewarding but
one obviously loses a lot in at-
tempting to reduce the intan-
gible to the understandable.
If rock and roll has accom-
plished anything, it has been
the minimization of the impor-
tance of lyrics in a song.
Music itself does not commu-
nicate (in the general sense of
the word); it is meaningless.
And a song is by no means equi-
valent to the noetic meaning of
its lyrics. Yet, time and time
again, we are confronted with
critical analyses of a musician's
work on the basis of his lyrics.
We continue to hear terms like
"counterrevolutionary m u s i c"
and "sexist music" when these
terms could in no conceivable
way be used to analyse a musical
product. Could one justify by
analogy the use of such terms
as "a-tonal politics" or "poly
rhythmic chauvinism?"'
I believe the origins of these
f u n d amentally misconceived
phrases lie in the stereotypic de-
finitions of the Artists which
were described earlier. For if the
Artist is looked upon as the di-
vinely-inspired mesage-giver of

his public, that public will be-
come very wary of just what he
choses to communicate, how he
chooses to live, etc. He becomes
a leader and a representative;
his faults become magnified and
intolerable to his idolizers. And
all of this despite the fact that,
in music, one is dealing with a
medium which is beyond "agree"
o r "disagree," "r i g h t" or
"wrong".
Let us hypothesize that a Bri-
tish rock and roll band that has
been together for nearly ten
years releases a new album. Let
us add as background informa-
tion that the group has been
immensely popular for nearly
all the time it has been playing,
that it has produced a large
volume of perhaps the finest

music in the field, that it is in
fact in the vanguard of what
might in a moment of weakness
be called "progressive rock," and
that the record is the first new
material released in nearly two
years. Let us add as a final bit
of evidence that the record is
musically superior in every way
and that everybody in fact loves
it to pieces although many do-
not like to admit the fact. Were
such a situation to in fact oc-
cur (and the chances are high
that just such a situation is tak-
ing place at this very moment),
wouldn't it be in one's best in-
terests to away with one's moral
stoicism just for a while and en-
joy this record to the hilt?
USE DAILY CLASSIFIEDS

> DIY45F Y *37Y4E.Y* c0
'1V
TONIGHT! 9:30-1:30 a.m.
featuring
o My Friends
no increase in price
50c cover
OPEN: SunJuy4,630p.m.-230a 1<
Mon., July 5, 12:00-2:30 a.m.
208 W. Huron
o .
'4OYEY* 4IDYSSY. ODY514yt

as perceptive as Superman with It amounts to a fairly precarious
his X-Ray vision turned up full existence.
~last. The Artist, we are often In talking about poetic forms
old, sees through 'the social of communication, we fortu-
blindspots with which the mere nately are unable to go much
mortal struggles throughout his further than the written word.
lifetime; he comunicates his It is the word, and in most sit-
perceptions via the rubric of his uations nothing else, which is
medium. These perceptions iso- synonymous with communica-
late him from his fellow man, tion in this society. One would
et him apart from and above hope that the arts at their best
im. (Take a look at Sigmund do not communicate more effi-
Baudelaire s eThe Albatross' ciently where words fail, but ra-
for a concise-and poetic-ex- ther refuse to "communicate" at
pression of these banalities.) all, hence the rather harsh de-
Extending this theory, one finition of dance as meaning-
might postulate a sort of pro- less. One does not, hopefully,
ducer-consumer relationship be- listen to a piece of orchestral
ween the Artist and his public. music in order to strain out a
EUROPE $200
SPONSORED BY UAC
Flt. Adm.
Car. Seats Plane No. Routing Dep. Ret. Cost Chg. Total*
WAR 40 B-707 097 WIN/LON/WIN 7/17 8/15 $210 $29 $239
CAL 126 B-707 021 DET/LON/DET 8/1 8/20 $195 $24 $219
CAP 150 DC-8 051 DET/LON/DET 8/2 9/1 $190 $29 $219
ONE WAYS
CAL 60 B-707 020 LON/NY 8/12 $100 $20 $120
CAL 186 B-707 103 LON/DET 8/29 $105 $25 $130
DON 140 B-707 092 DET/LON 9/11 $90 $30 $120
YOUTH FARE
Peak Low
KLM DC-8 NY/AMS/NY any date $220 $200
KLM DC-8 CHI/AMS/CHI any date $285 $265
*Pro rata costs subject to increase or decrease depending on the
number of participants.
Contact: UAC TRAVEL
2nd floor-Student Union
763-2147 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
Open only to UM students, faculty, staff, and immediate families
Administrative services by STUDENTS INTERNATIONAL

we forgot to order our subscription to
Don't Mae the Same Mist ke.
Keep up with all the important news, whether it's from
Pnom Penh, Lansing, Washington, or Angell Hall; Dis-
cover the reasons behind the events; Be informed!
Call our Circulation Dept. and
order your subscription
764-0558
HOURS: MON.-FRI. 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 am.

Quality Sound Through
Quality Equipment

I

McIntosh, Kenwood, KLH, Teac, Bose, PE,
Tandberg, Advent, Sony, Dual Koss, Shure,
Craig, Sherwood, Plus More at:
HI-Fl BUS
ANN ARBOR-EAST LANSING
/7( 618 S. Main 769-4700
Comprehensive Repair Service Available