西方音樂的未來

從一開始到現在，吸收其他音樂並創造新的融合的能力一直是西方傳統的決定性特徵，它使西方音樂有別於許多其他音樂傳統。

但這種吸收影響的能力是西方傳統所有分支的核心，從教會音樂到古典音樂會音樂再到爵士樂、流行音樂和嘻哈音樂。我們很可能會想知道，當西方文化已傳播到世界各地，並且一些最熟練的演奏家和有趣的新作曲家來自中國、日本和韓國時，「西方音樂」一詞是否仍然合適。鑑於其全球影響力，現在可能是重新命名這一傳統的時候了，但儘管它已經變得不拘一格和多樣化，但它的根源仍然是西方文化，可以追溯到歐洲、到古希臘。

時至今天，在所有形式的音樂之間，都存在著持續的緊張關係，要尋找能夠持久支持的忠實聽眾來獲得更廣泛的聽眾。現在，每個人都認識的作品很少；也許國歌和大片的配樂最能提供過去似乎更常見的共享音樂體驗。古典音樂中的貝多芬、歌劇中的威爾第、爵士樂中的艾靈頓公爵、流行音樂中的披頭四所取得的巨大成功似乎已不再可能，因為觀眾的意見分歧如此之大，不可能取得如此一致的意見。

然而，相對缺乏巨頭也許是件好事。過去的和全世界的音樂，現在比以往任何時候都更容易獲得。由於廣播、錄音、網路和行銷，如今聽到音樂的人數比作曲家生前聽到的人數還要多。當有這麼多的多樣性可供欣賞時，我們沒有必要將興趣集中在少數偉大的作曲家身上。我們對聆聽或演奏音樂的選擇幾乎是無限的。新音樂的可能性也是如此。借助新的電腦軟體以及從藝術音樂到嘻哈音樂等傳統中發現的採樣和合成技術，現在擁有技術的人們可以製作自己的音樂，而無需進行表演培訓。在某些方面，我們周圍的音樂比我們所能消費的還要多。但也許我們也在回歸類似很久以前的音樂實踐，當時每個歌手都唱自己的歌曲。

[取材來源：西方音樂史 〔第九版〕 〔美〕唐納德•傑•格勞特： 克勞德•帕利斯卡 余志剛 譯]

The Future of Western Music

The ability to absorb other musics and create new blends has been a defining characteristic of the Western tradition from its beginnings to now, and it sets Western music apart from many other musical traditions.

But this capability to absorb influences is at the very core of the Western tradition in all of its branches, from church music to classical concert music to jazz, pop, and hip hop. We may well wonder whether the term "Western music" is still appropriate when Western culture has spread around the world, and some of the most practiced performers and interesting new composers come from China, Japan, and Korea. Given its global reach, it may be time to rename this tradition, but as eclectic and diverse as it has become, its roots are still in Western culture reaching back through Europe to ancient Greece.

Trends change too quickly to give a balanced or complete overview of recent music. But it seems clear that there is a continuing tension in all forms of music between finding a niche of committed listeners whose support will endure and finding a wide audience. There are few pieces that everyone knows; perhaps national anthems and scores for blockbuster films come closest to providing the shared musical experiences that seem to have been more common in the past. The great success enjoyed by Beethoven in classical music, Verdi in opera, Duke Ellington in jazz, or the Beatles in popular music seems no longer possible, because the audience is so divided that such unanimity of opinion is unlikely to be achieved.

Yet perhaps the relative lack of giants may be a good thing. Music of the past and of the entire world is more available now than ever. Thanks to radio, recordings, the Internet, and marketing, most of the music is heard by more people each year today than heard it during the composer's lifetime. There is no need to focus our interest on a few great composers when there is so much variety to enjoy. The choices we have for music to listen to or perform have become almost limitless. So too are the possibilities for new music. With new computer software and techniques of sampling and synthesis found in traditions from art music to hip hop, it is now possible for people with access to technology to make their own music, without training in performance. In some respects, we are surrounded by more music than we can ever consume. But perhaps we are also returning to something akin to the practice of music long ago, when every singer sang his or her own song.

[Source: J. Peter Burkholder, Donald Jay Grout, Claude V. Palisca - A History of Western Music-W. W. Norton & Company (2014) - 9th Edition pp. 1008-1009]