Classical music is a special taste like Greek language or pre-Columbian archeology, not a common culture of reciprocal communication and psychological shorthand.
Interpretation
Classical music is an acquired taste that requires deeper understanding rather than being universally appreciated.
Allan Bloom's quote highlights the notion that classical music is akin to complex subjects like Greek language or pre-Columbian archeologyβit is not easily accessible or understood by everyone. Instead, it represents a specialized appreciation that goes beyond mainstream culture and casual conversation, indicating that true understanding of such art forms requires significant effort and insight.
In practice
During a music appreciation course, I quoted Bloom to emphasize the depth of understanding required to truly enjoy classical music.
The humanities are like the great old Paris Flea Market where, amidst masses of junk, people with a good eye found cast away treasures...They are like a refugee camp where all the geniuses driven out of their jobs and countries by unfriendly regimes are idling.
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Reason transformed into prejudice is the worst form of prejudice, because reason is the only instrument for liberation from prejudice.
There is no real education that does not respond to felt need; anything else acquired is trifling display.
Students now arrive at the university ignorant and cynical about our political heritage, lacking the wherewithal to be either inspired by it or seriously critical of it.
We are like ignorant shepherds living on a site where great civilizations once flourished. The shepherds play with the fragments that pop up to the surface, having no notion of the beautiful structures of which they were once a part.
I have piles of poetry books in the bathroom, on the stairs, everywhere. The only way to write poetry is to read it.
I find the greatest songs in the world come out of pain, and I don't like it! Here's what it does: It strips away all of your facade. It makes you so honest. It's cleansing.
No one can be a painter unless he cares for painting above all else.
When I was doing ensemble theater and comedy work, I felt I had some talents. But when I started doing my shows in Berkeley and found that I could be funny on my own, I was shocked.
That's the thing: There are so many art songs in jazz. It's a much more rich experience for the singer than people think.
I began drawing as a very young child and had a grandfather who experimented with photography, so those things constituted my first exposure to art.
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