To say that the understanding of music is ambiguous would be an understatement. Music has meaning that is emotionally, culturally, and intellectually diverse. In his essay, "Music", Alan Bloom attacks modern rock music as a non-intellectual but purely sexual expression. "Body and Soul: The Musical Miseducation of Youth", written by Martha Bayles, contrasts Blooms views by nitpicking through his ideas and labeling them as vast generalizations. In one generalization in particular, Bloom claims that art in music has died since the decline of classical music. Bayles on the other hand, disagrees by declaring that that void has been filled.
Bayles quotes music critic Henry Pleasants, "Western music has undergone an idiomatic shift every time its creative center has shifted geographically" (Bayles, 25). He explains that the early part of the twentieth century could be what Pleasants labels "the Afro-American epoch." The influence of black Americans on music in the twentieth century is filled with creativity and art. However, Bloom insists that "rock music has risen to its current heights in the education of the young on the ashes of classical music" (Bloom 50). This is where Bayles chooses to focus on the fact that there is a gap in musical history, which she fills with Pleasant's theories. .
Perhaps there is simply a misunderstanding in the role of twentieth century music. Bloom never addresses Afro-American music as a whole, and since Bayles is responding to Bloom's article, Bloom is not given the chance to respond to Bayles" proposition. Especially when she poses the question, "He finds rock barbarous, but does that apply to the rest of the idiom?" It would be interesting, had he been given the chance, to see Blooms response. For had he continued to argue that Afro-American music was also lacking intellectual and artistic rigor, he might draw a good point over the lack of modern art in twentieth century music.
