Music of our time: let’s embrace experimental music once and for all

Published in The Conversation, 19 November, 2015

Uh Oh. Experimental music. Weird, challenging, complicated, ugly, silly, out of control, academic, or at best – conceptual. Is it even relevant?

Music presents a cultural complexity that is arguably unique in the arts. It is ubiquitous through a complex network that touches different people, cultures and purposes. We all engage with a range of music in some way or another, and it can play a pivotal role in our lives.

Our experience of music is very broad. From bumbling through the Australian anthem before school assembly, to a hymn at church or your footy team song; from TV jingles and Muzak, to stadium bands and orchestras, we live in a world of music.

The very broad appeal of and engagement with music is part of its power. As part of the arts, there is a place for a music that questions the very notion of what it can be. Visual art embraced innovation years ago – pushing abstraction, conceptual and performance art into the mainstream.....

Read the whole article here.