I am behind on the next instalment in the French nuclear series (Part I, Part II). Forgive me for pushing it back a week. In the meantime, I really enjoyed this essay by
One question that it prompted: Is it possible to develop taste without learning a craft?
Of course, taste and physical ability with a craft vary to some degree independently but it’s also clear that knowing how to make music makes one a much better music critic. What do you think?
It is possible to be a very good critic of music without ever making it. The craft is in learning how to listen to music well. Being a musician usually makes one a good critic of music, because improvement in playing demands learning how to listen. But it can be learnt independently.
Sometimes a profession can suffer from group think. Critiquing from the outside can provide valuable insight. Some familiarity will be necessary, but not necessary full practice of a craft. After all, it was the home maker Jane Jacobs who opened our eyes to the flaws of modern urban planning.
Hmmm, maybe. I do think being a highly skilled/qualified critic of anything requires hours of study, testing, knowledge, ie, is a Craft in its own right. The top wine critics will have spent thousands of hours tasting thousands of wines without ever actually making wine; ditto music critics listening to a huge range of performances of the same music. Indeed, is there something lost when you actually know the mechanics, looking under the hood/behind the curtain to understand the nuts and bolts of how something is made? Don’t you lose some of the ‘magic’?
It is possible to be a very good critic of music without ever making it. The craft is in learning how to listen to music well. Being a musician usually makes one a good critic of music, because improvement in playing demands learning how to listen. But it can be learnt independently.
At least this makes sense to me.
How interesting! I'm on the camp that taste develops as we learn, whether it's directly with our hands or just theoretically.
Sometimes a profession can suffer from group think. Critiquing from the outside can provide valuable insight. Some familiarity will be necessary, but not necessary full practice of a craft. After all, it was the home maker Jane Jacobs who opened our eyes to the flaws of modern urban planning.
Hmmm, maybe. I do think being a highly skilled/qualified critic of anything requires hours of study, testing, knowledge, ie, is a Craft in its own right. The top wine critics will have spent thousands of hours tasting thousands of wines without ever actually making wine; ditto music critics listening to a huge range of performances of the same music. Indeed, is there something lost when you actually know the mechanics, looking under the hood/behind the curtain to understand the nuts and bolts of how something is made? Don’t you lose some of the ‘magic’?