Challenge Questions

In the first chapter of Heartland Excursions, Bruno Nettl describes the workings of American music conservatory culture. "Why do the denizens of the Music Building," he asks in conclusion, "love so well a kind of music that grows from principles they would probably dismiss as characteristic of an unkind society?" Addressing a musical culture with which you have experience, examine the relationship between the political structure of that culture and the views of its members toward the structuring of power in general. To what degree is the political structure of the culture explicitly discussed by its members?

In the same chapter, Nettl examines the myths surrounding Beethoven and Mozart, and what they suggest about the values of Western classical music. Do the same with a specific musical tradition of your choosing - consider the mythology surrounding one or more of its prominent members, and what this mythology suggests about the values inherent in the tradition.