omfg this is a bluegrass song about 20th century atonal composers and I love it so fucking much

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzodB0Sp6ZI

"emotion is for simple folk, art should be arcane" Schoenberg and Stravinsky just got fuckign called OUT

the atonal movement is interesting, and I respect the point that the tonality we grow up with can restrict the range of music we can make -- but god damn, 12-tone rows are fucking unlistenable.

Y'all know that the beauty of the note ratios we use most in music comes from math, not just choice? Crunchy notes don't just sound bad because of culture, they negatively interfere.

And also also, the 12-tone scale is just as much a western creation as our sense of tonality.

there is lots of genuinely good music that rejects traditional tonality -- check out Judith Weirs' "Airs from Another Planet"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJIyzDTWmp8 Deliberately avoiding tonality for an artistic reason is super valid.

but 12 tone rows ain't it, chief. It's just being crunchy for the sake of not being tonal, and then being an elitist shithead when people don't like your thoughtlessly-composed mess.

ViHart did 12-tone rows and criticism of tonality / the effects of culture on creativity better than all those old ass white dudes, in a 30 minute youtube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4niz8TfY794