Pre Class 9/12 Jencks

  "The Emergent Rules" uses architecture, post modern architecture and its relationship to other styles, as a way of explaining the structure of Post Modernist art and its relation to other movements. Eleven canons are described, "a few of the more outstanding canons that lie behind the new art and architecture"(281). "These canons are not universally held by postmodernist and some are contingent upon the momentary historical situation arising after Modernism. They thus contrast with the older notion of classical rules in being understood as relative rather than absolute, responses to a worlds of fragmentation, pluralism and inflation rather than formulae to be applied indiscriminately"(281-282).
  From what I get Post-Modernism is a progression from the formulaic past that was held together by rules and dogma from past writers and thinkers into the modern and post modern information and cultural explosion. With the explosion of technology people in the world are much more connected; people of a wide variety of beliefs and ideas. Therefore, it would be necessary to progress from the ethnocentric systems that existed before into a much more fluid and evolving frame.
  The 'rules' outlined by Jencks are very much a set of rules that seeks openness and incorporation of a wide range of experience. Dissonant Beauty spoke to me, since dissonance is a part of musical theory. A dissonant note is a note that technically is not part of the scale or chord in a musical progression. The dissonant note's frequency collides with the others to create a vibration that is in itself a new note. I once told a friend, "You know, music is not always about playing the right note, or most harmonically melodious note... A dissonant note, a 'wrong note' is what will catch the persons attention and also define you as unique and original artist."

  Jazz, to me, must be Post-Modern. It rejects old rules and instead is a living and breathing organism. It uses unconventional progressions, riffs, and chords. It uses dissonance and improv because the world is not perfect, there must be a wide range of textures and voices to choose from and not limiting yourself by rules and conventions. Jazz has enemies--people who do not like the complex and free-form phrasings. Some see it as wild formless noise and some do not see it as music at all, because it breaks so many classical rules of music in the sense of form and structure.
 It's hard to predict what comes next with Jazz music because of its spontaneity and freedom. Much in the same way how could one describe the world, or life. The world is spontaneous and quite unpredictable; it is an organism that is ever changing. Writings and rules from the past, however great some are, do not represent an experience in the contemporary world. We must have progression of thought that is able to encapsulate the contemporary and future worlds with experiences, as of yet, unknown.