Testing Testing

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

At the EMP music seminar last year dubdobdee presented a paper in which he contrasted - or promised to contrast - the "test of time" and the "test of space" when analysing (not just pop) music. I can't remember exactly what the "test of space" is in this schema but ANYWAY I wanted to ask the question (for a P4K column most likely) of why an artform where instancy is apparently such a big element attracts so much 'test of time' rhetoric, and also which OTHER tests one might apply.

Comments

[koganbot]

But anyway, claiming "instancy" for popular music is to refuse to examine the motives for and the consequences of one's "instantaneous" musical choices, while invoking the "test of time" is to claim consequence without saying what the consequences are. "Test of time" is like an appeal to authority - such as "science has shown that we like music that we are familiar with from our childhood"; "time has shown that you can't spend a dollar if you don't have it," etc. But as I've been saying, someone's claiming either "instancy" or "test of time" takes place in an overall context that is uncertain of the status of "school" and "criticism."