sunghuh.weebly.com€¦ · Web viewIn a narrow sense, music criticism is defined as a genre of professional writing, typically created for prompt publication, involving “the intellectual

Running head: SAME MUSIC, SAME GENRE. SAME STANCE?

Same music, same genre. Same stance?:

Cross-linguistic analysis on music criticism

Sung Huh

May 7, 2014

SAME MUSIC, SAME GENRE. SAME STANCE?

Same music, same genre. Same stance? : Cross-linguistic analysis on music criticism

1. Introduction

1.1. The genre of music criticism

Prior to conducting cross-linguistic analysis, defining the scope and meaning of ‘music criticism’

should be preceded to better picture what this paper concerns. In a broad sense, music criticism can

take place everywhere and be done by anyone. For instance, members of an audience casually

exchange their feelings about a performance during an intermission. College students, as part of

their course assignment, write a reflection paper after attending the recital. Some enthusiastic

music-lovers post their critiques on the online board after purchasing a music CD. Music teachers

explicitly educate their pupils to pursue a certain style of interpretation. Paid critics write music

reviews in newspaper or other periodical publications. All of these various activities engage in

music-critical discourse through different modality, written, spoken, and e-discourse, through

varying degrees of professionalism, writing skills, and commitment.

In a narrow sense, music criticism is defined as a genre of professional writing, typically created

for prompt publication, involving “the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value

and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres” (The Oxford

Companion to Music) and commenting about the aesthetics, history, and evolution of music. What

is interesting here is the change of qualifications during the shift from the broad definition to the

narrow definition. This change is ratified through a phrase “a genre of professional writing.” The

two key concepts, ‘genre’ and ‘professional’ do separate critical thinking from random,

personalized, or spontaneous impulse. The notion of “genre” reveals that it is a relatively stable and

tangible form, referring to categories of written text representing ideal types that are predictable and

recognizable by the discourse community. The notion of “professional” signifies writers’ assumed


expertise through training and experiences, their membership in a musical community, and the

validity of their critical thoughts and knowledge about the music of that community. What is more,

as Swales (1990) noted that what turns a collection of communicative events into a genre is the

presence of the shared communicative purpose, the narrower definition becomes more solid through

the communal purpose among critics. That is “to establish a line of communication between artists

and the public” by offering robust analysis, commentary, and reportage as vital to the health of the

art form (Sadie 1980:44). It is important to note that this regularity of content, register, purpose, and

structure that the contemporary music criticism is upholding has been reshaped by preceding

participants and music communities, even in classical music field which is considered fairly

conservative and tradition-abiding.

1.2. Music criticism as an instance of social practice

In the western culture, which has an original and long history of music criticism, its historical

transformation becomes a sheer example of how the genre of music criticism has been reformed and

evolved by actively interacting with socio-cultural conventions of each era. In the 17th and 18th

century, when the criticism of music first gained serious hold, the criticism was characterized by an

obsessive interest in the rules of music, judging practice in the light of theory. At the turn of the

century, the age of academicism dissolved into the era of description. The leaders of the Romantic

era frequently saw the embodiment of some poetic or literary idea in music. During the second half

of the 19th century, the critical scene stressed the autonomy of music and its basic independence of

the other arts, and it encouraged a more analytical, less descriptive approach toward criticism. In the

20th century, critics continued the tradition from the 19th century. Scientific materialism created a

climate of rationalism even for the genre of music criticism. As a result, criticism itself was

criticized for its basic weakness to find the criteria for the evaluation of music. In the late 20th


century, this quest has dominated the work of serious critics ever since. (www.britannica.com). Yet,

the future of traditional music criticism in the 21st century is uncertain, due to several issues

including the proliferation of digital recordings on compact disc and the growing population of the

internet users. The profession of music critic is threatened by anonymous, non-professional

bloggers, and the power of critics seems much weaker than before

1.3. Research

From understanding the chronological development in the history of Western classical music

criticism above, it is found that within a culture, a genre can drastically change over time and is not

strictly identified with its structural properties, conventions, and even function. It is also clear that a

specific discourse community can wield a great deal of control over a genre adopted to represent

their knowledge, ideology, faith, or purpose. Then, I started wondering how other cultures, who

originally did not hold the European tradition of classical music, yet whose “western music”

community has been dominantly swayed by the Western music culture, have defined and acquired

the genre of music criticism. On one hand, they might be facing a more vigorous evolution,

conflicting and negotiating with their existing traditional norm of music aesthetics and their cultural

conventions of criticism. On the other hand, they might be even more motivated by its original

practice, thus sustaining prototype or archetype of the genre.

On the basis of this curiosity, this paper attempts to examine classical music discourse in music

reviews from two seemingly dichotomous cultures, Westerns and Non-Westerns. More precisely, it

will analyze two sets of discourse of music criticism from England and Korea, to see how each

discourse community linguistically presents a contemporary version of music criticism by looking

into rhetorical structure, linguistic features of discourse, and evaluative stance of critics as a social

practice. Thus, this paper will explore what common elements of the genre are shared and what


discursive variations, unique patterns, and interaction exist between these two cultures, eventually

probing what these variations mean/do in each discourse community. That is, in what way are

socio-cultural perspectives reflected, understanding each community’s specialized communicative

needs, power relation, and traditional philosophy.

2. Data

The data used for this paper is music reviews from two similar classical music magazines: February

2014 edition of “BBC Music Magazine” and March 2014 edition of “Music Journal.” They both are

leading music periodicals, specializing in classical music, and their targeted readers are somewhat

limited to musicians, musicians-to-be, and music-aficionados who attend recitals and listen to CDs

on a regular basis.

BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the BBC, was the original publisher of BBC

Music. The magazine reflects the broadcast output of BBC Radio 3 being devoted primarily to

classical music, though with sections on jazz and world music. BBC Music is passionate about the

world of classical music and provides an expert monthly guide to everything an enthusiast needs to

know, covering all aspects of live events, broadcast and recordings. Written by the expert critics of

BBC Music Magazine and with over a hundred new reviews added every month, “the archive dates

back to the magazine's launch in June of 1992 and now includes over 30,000 album reviews”.

(http://www.classical-music.com)

The first issue of Music Journal appeared in April of 1988. It declared the advent of new music

journalism which would deliver correct and factual information and maintain a sense of duty to

become a truthful chronicler that keeps everything that happened in music community and history.

The main contents of the magazine are covering all aspects of live events and musicians, both

domestic and international, proposing musical policies, informing the public of advanced musical


information, constructing professional criticism and organizing them, and analyzing historical

music stories and recording them (http://www.eumakjournal.co.kr).

The section of music reviews in both magazines is regularly and considerably allocated as one

of the most important and expected contents. However, there is an interesting divergence between

the two magazines. In the Korean magazine, a number of recital reviews are presented throughout

12 pages under the assigned section, while CD reviews are marginally introduced in terms of

allocation and level of analysis in a half page of the advertising section. This asymmetric

configuration and quality of criticism seem to be consistent with other publications. A sharp line of

public perception about the divide between CD reviews and recital reviews seems to exist in Korea.

In the English magazine, CD reviews are exclusively introduced throughout 29 pages along with

DVD and books (a total of 105 reviews), and no recital reviews are found. This tendency is

consistently discovered with other periodical publications. Instead, recital reviews are found in

newspaper music sections, personal blogs, and online discussion boards.

Due to the different nature of framework that each set of data bounds, they may look like two

different sub-genres; they are in fact comparable and parallel data in terms of face validity and

content validity. The setting that the magazines offer will delimit more controlled contexts, such as

the level of expertise of the participants (readers and critics), register regulated by the work of

professionals, and common goals of the publications.

3. Findings

The generic form, purpose, and essential contents may appear to be rather standard and

indistinguishable on both discourses, but once an underlying dynamic running through the whole

reviews is noticed, it becomes evident that the two sets of discourses do not construct the same

temperament of genre. On the initial impression, the English magazine critics appear to take a more


objective, professional stance through analytical and direct discourse, while the Korean critics take

a more subjective, emotional stance through indirect, figurative discourse. As a result, the critical

act in the English discourse appears to implement a more powerful force as an illocutionary speech

act. But on the deeper level, it tells a different story. The language use in the Korean magazine is

more teaching discourse to promote high standards of music criticism to the entire music

community, while that of the English magazine is evaluative discourse, driven by a strong motive in

advertising. Or it could also be looked at as advertising discourse masked in technical professional,

critical discourse. This different stance is constructed through their practice in rhetorical structure,

register, writing styles, manifestation of identity of participants, and implication of the critical act.

3.1. Rhetorical structure

A useful approach for comparing structure is the rhetorical move analysis pioneered by Swales,

which helps understand the functional role played by each move. It should be noted that moves are

not interpreted solely as text-structure representations. They, more importantly, are related to the

contextualized tasks that the author is attempting.

There are broad similarities in rhetorical structure of the two discourses: introduction- body

(global evaluation-specific evaluation) – closing. The introduction move provides background

information such as biographical information about a composer and/or performers, accounts of

instruments, orchestra, and description of previous performances. The body move is typically

divided into global evaluation and specific evaluation. It is very rare to open with a critical remark

in the global evaluation move; if they do, this tends to foreshadow a predominantly critical view

throughout the text. Negative Criticism is most commonly found in the specific evaluative move.

The clustering of criticism in the body move allows critics to soften the critique in the closing


move, thus ending on a positive note. In the closing move, critics provide global evaluation, often

praise.

However, there are marked patterns found in each discourse by inventing new moves or

modifying the generic role of existing moves. In Korean magazine, the structure is more extensive

and more developed, adding two more moves to the basic structure, right before the body move.

They could be described as a “signature move” and a “program move.” A program move routinely

includes temporal and spatial information of a recital. What’s more salient is the signature move,

typically in the very beginning, or sometimes located elsewhere. It provides writers with a

discursive space to elaborate their insights into fundamental aspects of music perception, virtues of

being a musician, or attitude, the trend of public opinion, questions, expectations, and concerns.

They are not directly related to performances or musicians under the scrutiny, but become an

overarching theme, or an educational message that holds the entire critique together as a whole. In

the following excerpt, the critic uses the signature move in the very beginning of his review, to

illuminate a profound notion of “breathing.” He connects this idea of “breathing” with a necessity

for life, a musical technique, and a medium for communicating with the world:

사람은 상대방과 함께 숨 쉬고 그의 호흡을 이해함으로 함께 존재한다. 호흡은 생명을 유지하는 본능적

역할 뿐 아니라 자신을 표현하는 기능적 역할을 하기도 한다. 생각을 표현하고 자신의 의지를 말하고

아름다운 노래를 부르는 도구로 사용되어진다. 성악을 포함한 모든 기악연주자에게도 호흡이 중요하다.

연주 전 호흡, 연주 중의 표현적인 호흡, 연주 종료의 호흡 등 들숨, 날숨의 다양한 호흡테크닉에 의해

음악이 표현되어 진다해도 과언이 아니다.

People exist “together” by breathing (keeping tune) with others and understanding other’s

breath. Breath plays an instinctive role to maintain life, but also plays a functional role of

expressing oneself. It is a tool to express thoughts, speak one’s will, and sing a beautiful song.


Breathing technique is important for not only vocalist but also instrumentalists. It is not an

exaggeration to say that music is expressed through various breathing techniques of inhaling and

exhaling, such as breathing prior to performance, expressive breathing during performance, and

breathing after completion (Music Journal).

The addition of the signature move habitually makes the introduction of reviews much lengthier

than the counterpart of the English magazine. It implies how culturally valuable and meaningful it is

for Korean critics to establish a conversational and educational floor for their readers.

In contrast, the English magazine does not develop a signature move. Its introduction move

is either very short or blended with the beginning of the global evaluation move, resulting in a big

portion of the specific evaluative move. This trend explains a get-to-the-point manner and the

predominance of the evaluative function for magazine readers, or potential CD buyers. The

advertising motive is again accentuated in the closing move, which serve a discursive space for

selling points. The closing move comprises a variety of advertising strategies such as the reviewer’s

recommendation of the record (ex. “in summary, the whole here is very much more than the sum of

its parts-worth acquiring,”), suggestions of related books or records that might help the audience

better appreciate the record, recognitions of the record’s contribution to the community (ex. “This,

his first solo disc, provides a particularly welcome introduction onto the world stage for an artist

matching, in ‘expression’ CPE Bach himself,”), and global evaluation (ex. “This is a magnificent

achievement for both composer and performer,”). Although critics’ explicit recommendation

gesture is rarely found, acting like the least important component of the review, the rest of the

components work together to appeal to prospective buyers. The reluctance of direct adverting

becomes a more effective strategy to maintain the allusion of critics’ unbiased attitude. It gives the

readers an impression that objective evaluation of music will allow them to make their own


purchasing decision, as in the following example, “If you want vigorous conducting, immaculate

but lean playing, and unfailingly springy tempos in the Beethoven, this set is for you.”

Each discourse seems to develop its own moves and the roles of the moves, thus recreating a

culturally responsive and distinctive rhetorical structure. The stability of the structure between the

two discourses is different. The structure of Korean criticism is less fixed, more personalized, and

more liberal across Korean critics, whereas that of the English criticism is more rigid. As Swales

(1990) points out, “the knowledge of the conventions of a genre and their rationale is likely to be

greater in those who routinely or professionally operate within that genre than those who become

involved in it only occasionally.” Strictly following literacy conventions of the systematic structure

in English discourse is another way to strengthen the profession of classical music journalism and to

keep their legitimate contribution to the “world’s bestselling classical music magazine.” This

regularity works for advertising discourse, achieving a shared goal, selling and buying, between the

participants. Even the readers who have a threshold level of possessing music discourse knowledge,

the rigid structure will readily guide them where to look at to meet their needs.

Contrarily, the Korean magazine is less rigid with their structures, allowing writers to take

artistic liberty with building their ways of communicating with the readers. Thus they easily change

their tones, shifting among different roles from commenters to mentors to evaluator to raters. In

brief, the variation in rhetorical structure offers each discourse a discursive space to unfold their

communicative goals, explicitly and implicitly.

3.2 Understanding what is evaluated, how it is evaluated through register

Both music reviews contain technical and music-related lexicons (ex. “tonal,” “fantasia,”

“readings”, “sforzando,” and “legato”). They are an indication of the requirement of both the writers

and the readers to be informed, educated, and trained to some level, thus suggesting a somewhat


selective group membership in an esoteric musical discourse community. This institutional register

does not solely define genre-construction in each discourse. It is non-technical everyday lexicons

that are situated in a respectively different, socio-cultural context and playing a critical role of

representing a fundamentally different stance on the conceptualization of art and the representation

of aesthetic perception, and ultimately the purpose and functions of criticism. Each set of reviews

goes beyond the generic boundaries of music discourse and shapes contrastive patterns that strongly

respond to its traditional culture, value, and philosophical orientation.

3.2.1. Register conceptualizing the notion of individualism vs. connectedness

The English discourse is deeply ingrained in individualism by emphasizing personal attributes and

recognizing personal color as a complete product in the music CD industry, as if convincing the

audience why this CD differs from the other. This trend is reflected in lexicons that enhances the

meaning of scarcity, rareness, or uniqueness of each record. Particularly, tone, interpretations, and

composition are often evaluated by qualitative adjectives (ex. “those qualities are not greatly in

evidence in this rather uncharacterized performance,” “His viola tone is different from… many of

today’s soloists,” “keys are distinctive and characterful,” and “she expressed…with original color

and story,”) and a phrase (“he also takes liberties with tempo and expression.”). They serve to

appreciate individual musical personality and encourage non-conformity to raise commercial value.

The prevailing use of possessives (ex. “his power and remarkable accuracy,” “his luminous, delicate

sound,” and “his phrasing,”) also reinforces the notion of individualism by underscoring the

ownership of the musical act. This implies that artists themselves are solely in charge of the process

of art-creation. If well-controlled, the product will turn out to be good. What critics evaluate is the

product, the possession of artists. The level of connectedness between musicians and audience is not

the critics’ interests. It is an individual consumer’s decision-making. Critics do not appear to feel


obligated to initiate a line of communication between artists and the public. Even in concerto and

orchestra recital, the role of soloist, an accompanist, or a conductor of an orchestra is played up

individually, and the frequency of lexical items that acknowledge their mutual musical

communication are significantly lower than those of the Korean magazine.

In contrast, the Korean criticism emphasizes the notion of connectedness, in association with

“collectivism.” Critics evaluate the sense of connectedness with others through music in several

contexts. For instance, the following excerpt display how musicians, in an ensemble setting, are

connected through music, (ex. “…이성창과 오상민이 조화로움을 바탕으로 한 상대와의 우아한 교감을

이루는 과정이나…고전시대를 넘어서 음악미에 이르고 있었다…/…reached the beauty of music through

graceful communion with his partner, which was based on harmony between Lee and Oh.”). In the

next excerpt, the critic criticizes the failure of making a communication between a musician and

audience, (ex. “그의 터치와 톤의 문제다…청중과의 소통또한 차단시켰다/That is an issue of his touch

and tone…this also blocked the communication with the audience.”). Finally, critics generalized

shared emotion and connection to music between listeners, (ex. “부드러우며 따듯한 소리성질을 지닌

비올라는 연주를 듣고 있는 것만으로도 정서적인 편안함을 제공해준다/Violas, which possess soft and

warm nature in sound, provide emotional comfort, only by listening to playing.”).

Interestingly, the emphasis on connectedness between musicians and audience resembles the

Korean traditional music philosophy which claims there is no wall between the stage and the seats.

It is not unusual in a traditional Korean music recital, to hear a member of the audience shout an

interjection or exclamation, 추임새, to a musician during the performance like,“얼쑤 잘한다,” “

절씨구,”“그러지,” “얼씨구,”“으이,”“좋지.” Audience’s exclamations are used to encourage

musicians to build a dramatic tension, release a tension, or add to the amusement. To give a

synergic and proper exclamation, the audience member should understand the music well enough to


know when to interject. Audience, participating and engaging, is an important part of the recital by

collectively making the music experience with musician. This sub-culture is strictly forbidden in

Western classical music recitals both Korea and other Western countries.

3.2.2. Register conceptualizing analytic vs holistic evaluation

English music criticism tends to break music down into small parts, evaluating basic units such as

skills, tonal quality, and interpretation as if they are the only prerequisites to produce a decent

quality of music. In opposition, Korean music criticism tends to evaluate music as a whole, aiming

to unify musical and non-musical components.

The majority of critical acts in the English magazine target at detailed evaluation of specific

aspects which could help readers, who face a vast range of choices, to make purchasing decisions.

Music critics are likely to become interested in demonstrating their professionalism and establishing

a personal reputation in the community through giving more analytic evaluation. For instance, the

appearance of attributive adjectives to explicitly evaluate and describe techniques, specific skills,

and tone is dominantly high (ex. “breathtaking dexterity,” “glimmering trills,” “sparkling staccato,”

“sustaining pedals,” “gorgeous and glitz-free tone,” “ a confident reading,” and “his dazzling

fingering.”). Overuse of attributive adjectives over predicate adjectives assures the quality of

permanence that CD music can offer. Also, English criticism very frequently uses a wider range of

adverbs as intensifiers with a hierarchy of degrees as if music must be measured, defined, and

proven “how good” or “how bad” (ex. “The Sonatas are remarkably varied,” “hauntingly poignant,”

“strikingly expressive,” “beautifully sonorous,” “refreshingly simple,” and “admirably clear.”).

This quantifying nature is also manifested through the use of the degree of comparison which

displays the relative value of the designated properties, (ex. “The difference between a good and a

truly outstanding performance…,” “His sometimes excessive restraint is less Mazartian,” and “The


same paring of pieces is more satisfactorily handled by the augmented Trio Wandere.”). Finally, it

leads to a discerning culture for the market, employing a black and white approach. So the

juxtaposition of pair words are is found (ex. “fail vs success,” “lack, absence vs. presence,”

“characterized vs uncharacterized,” or “refined, sensitive, subtle, keen, or sharp vs. dull.”).

This analytic act motivated by advertising drive is concluded with the star rating system and

price at the end of every review in which the quality of art is quantified to help potential CD buyers’

decisions. The five star rating is described as “outstanding,” four is “excellent,” three is “good,” two

is “disappointing,” and one is “poor.”

The Korean critics do evaluate musical aspects such as tone, readings, skills, and melody, but

not as commonly as the English critic. More saliently, they discuss non-musical aspects such as the

value of the program, personality/humanity, their attitude toward life, music philosophy, aesthetic

perception, and learning goals as a group. To them, music is a type of a tool to understand, learn,

and live. This holistic approach to music criticism echoes the aesthetic concepts of the Korean

traditional music and traditional values and virtues in general. The concepts are the notion of

moderation, the notion of harmony and balance, the notion of un-refinement, and the notion of

naturalness. Mirroring the traditionally inherent mentality, there are five categories of lexical items

that consistently recur throughout the texts, one of which often becomes a thematic message

corresponding to an individual critic’s instructional goal.

1.겸손, 겉멋을 내세우지 않는것: “자극적이거나 튀지는 않지만, …단지 겉으로 보여주는 것에

머무르지 않는 모습이었다/It was not stimulating or striking, but he was not pretentious either. In

short, this solo recital started off with humility…”

2.수수(plain and simple), 소박(simple), 담백(clean, candid, plain, simple), 진솔(frank), 소탈

(easygoing and informal):“한스그라프가 소박하고 진솔한 지휘자라는 첫인상도 갖게 되었다/ I


had under impression Hans was a simple and candid conductor”.

3. 따뜻 (warm), 온화함 (gentle, mild), 인간미 (humanity): “섬세하면서도 우아함과 따뜻함이 함께

하는 인간미 넘치는 말러를 들려주었다/ He played Mahler which was full of humanity along

with elegance and warmth”.

4.균형감(balance), 안정감(stability), 조화(harmony), 교감(communion) 상호보안

(interaction), 음악적 배려(musical consideration)호흡(breathing): “독주자와 반주자는

연주 내내 눈으로 귀로 오감을 총동원해서 함께 호흡을 맞춰야한다/ Soloists and accompanists

should work in harmony through eyes, ears, and the rest of the five senses”.

5. 편안 (comfortable), 느긋 (relaxed), 여유로운 (relaxed, easy going): “상대적으로 작품의

개성표현보다는 편안한 음가의 흐름과 정서적인 연주에 초점이 모아/ Focusing on comfortable

flow and emotional performance, rather than the unique expression of the piece”.

Placing more weight on humanistic and whole-rounded education is exactly how the

traditional artists used to discipline their students in the past. For instance, for the first couple of

months, sometimes years, students were assigned to do house chores and did not have a chance to

have an explicit instruction from a teacher, until after this period of personal growth. They were

learning to have a “beginner’s mind” by having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of

preconceptions, regardless of their actual level. If they happened to be around a lesson room in

which a senior student was having a lesson, they picked up music by ear outside of the room. By the

time they sat down with the teacher, students were already, to a great extent, immersed into the

world of music through their mind, ears, and attitude.

This observation is really imposing, considering that there has been a strong dichotomy, a

tension even, between the community of Korean musicians of Western music and the community of


musicians of traditional Korean music in terms of social status, teaching philosophy, and

conceptualization of music. For a long time, the two communities never seemed to share a mutual

communicative purpose with the public, thus creating their own audience. One is determined to

deliver the original European music tradition by keeping a legitimate way of interpreting and

performing music. The other is busy restoring the inherent culture neglected by Western-oriented

music education and unavoidable influence of popular music. It is stunning that critics, through the

genre of music criticism, create a common ground to bridge the two communities and two

audiences, particularly passing down the traditional values to young generation of music.

Another striking pattern is the blatant reference to the music in an “aesthetic sense,” through

the use of phrases (ex. “형식미,” “음악미,” “미감,” “미학,” “상호적 음악미”/ “beauty of form,” “

beauty of music,” “ sense of aesthetics,” and “ beauty of mutual music”). This focus on the beauty

and aesthetic appeal of music reveals the viewpoint that music, as a whole, is art. Its completion and

success is determined by its ability to express beauty.

In short, they are different types of evaluation. The English reviews perfectly reflect the

Western critical culture in which the most basic rule of thumb is to respect the individual, focus the

criticism on the behavior that needs to be changed and on what people actually do or say. The

Korean reviews reflect the traditional philosophy in which evaluation is an instructional act to

holistically achieve the goal of music as an art form.

3.3 Writing style (argumentative vs. expository)

Writing style refers to a manner in which an author chooses to write to his or her audience. A style

reveals both the writer's personality and voice, but it also shows how they perceive the audience.

The choice of a conceptual writing style molds the overall character of the work. Based on their


communicative purpose, the English critics choose a more argumentative writing style, while the

Korean critics choose a more expository style.

The English discourse alludes to a stronger critique in the argumentative writing style, which is

characterized by proving the validity of an idea, point of view, or by presenting sound reasoning,

discussion, and argument that thoroughly convince the reader. First, critics typically rely on

deductive reasoning on both the macro level and micro level. On the macro level, global evaluation,

with no exception, is shown in the beginning like a thesis statement, and then specific evaluations

are organized point by point. The points act like promotional aspects of a record. There is no need

to provide the readers with every single detail. Also, on the micro level, there is a claim that a critic

wants to make, followed by supporting details from the music. As a result, the words like

“evidently,” “sample,” “for instance,” or “in evidence,” and the use of semicolons are often

discovered to organize information more effectively, as in the following example:

(Argument) Despite the dizzying virtuosity, the playing is never heavy-handed: Pienaar

floats across the keyboard, realizing Bach’s fiddly passage work and intricate traceries with

exquisite finesse.

(Supporting details) Sample, for instance, the Preludes in G and B flat major from Book 1 or

the D minor from Book 2 for a taste of his breathtaking dexterity, while the B major Prelude

BWV 868 and the E major BWV 878 epitomize his luminous, delicate sound.

Secondly, more typically rhetorical devices such as connectives are used to produce an

effect of contrast and continuity of arguments. The contrastive connectives are used to mitigate the

negative criticism by the juxtaposition of praise, (ex. “there are some genuinely lovely moments,

but exuberance and playfulness are in short supply.”). The continuity connectives are used to


upgrade the intensity and the range of praise, (ex. “Rhythms dance and swing and an unbridled

energy permeate. Yet there is more here than mere pyrotechnics.”).

Thirdly, the English critics sometimes bring in other critics’ opinions, a well-known figure

in the industry, to enhance a product’s credibility, (ex. “ Dr. Charles Burney, visiting CPE Bach in

Hamburg, declared him ‘the best player that ever existed in point of expression.”). Appealing to

authority is one of the most popular strategies in advertising discourse.

On the other hand, the Korean discourse alludes to weaker critique in the expository writing

style which is characterized by providing information through analysis, explanation, or description.

Critics walk the reader through every piece of song included in the program in a chronological

manner, similar to how a teacher carefully guides their students. What is more important is the

comprehensive understanding of the program as whole, not just a few impressive parts to

remember. Secondly, some critics favor figurative language, but this does not hold true with the

English critics, (ex. “she expressed each movement with original color and story, as if leafing

through a picture book page by page.”). The use of metaphors and similes helps the readers, who

did not attend the recital, to visualize the sound and easily engage with critics’ comments. It is a

common tool to explain difficult concepts in a learning setting. Furthermore, drawing a comparison

with other forms of art in figurative language such as photography, picture books, movies, poetic

language, and operas, further emphasizes the Korean view that music is art.

3.4. Level of expertise through Indexicality and participant framework

The different disposition of the genre between two discourses is cued through how the critics index

themselves and participants in terms of the level of expertise and relationship with the

audience/readers. Here is where the ironic situation takes place. This genre, by its nature, cannot

avoid subjectivity. As the musicologist Winton Dean has suggested, music is probably the most


difficult of the arts to criticize (New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians).The language of

music does not specifically relate to human sensory experience. The absence of a clearly evolved or

consensual musical aesthetics has also tended to make music criticism a highly subjective issue.

However, the critics in the English magazine successfully accentuate their professional identity as a

rater/evaluator or a seller by playing up objectivity and playing down subjectivity, whereas the

critics in the Korean magazine slightly downplay their critical role and emphasize their teachers or

colleagues role, almost equally sustaining subjectivity and objectivity, thus shifting between

evaluator, commenter, mentor, and member of the community.

3.4.1 The way critics represents themselves is quite contrastive

The Korean critics expose their presence through two choices which appear to be an individual

critic’s personal preference of one over the other. Some choose to use an empty subject, which is

grammatically missing in a sentence, yet semantically present. It is a common phenomenon since

Korean is a topic-prominent and discourse-oriented language. Others take an overt subject “평자”

while keeping away from first person pronoun “I.” The word “평자,” which cannot be properly

translated into English, possesses interesting dynamics in usage. One usage is to refer to a

person who writes about

and expresses opinions about things

such as books, films, music,

or art. This definition is technically the same as the English word,

critic. The other usage is a context when a critic refers to oneself in his/her own writing. The latter

is the case here. Apparently, the critics in the Korean magazine use some level of effort to highlight

their objectivity by making a linguistic choice of using a third person perspective over a first person

person who write about and

express opinion about thing

such as book film music

or art


pronoun “I.” However, in comparison with the English magazine, in which the linguistic revelation

of the presence of writers is very rare, it can be concluded that the Korean critics display a more

subjective tone, while the English critics tend to maintain their detached and objective tone more

strategically as a rater. Additionally, the Korean critics use a collective pronoun “we” which

indicates that s/he is part of the audience as a member of the community who is likely to share the

agreed upon reaction. The status of critic as an expert is leveled down to the general public, which

is considered a typical teaching strategy, (ex. “특히 바순처럼 특수 악기의 경우 오케스트라르 제외하면

우리로서는 대하기 쉽지 않다는 점에서 그 의미는 남다르다고 할 수 있다/Particularly, with special

instruments like bassoons, which we don’t commonly encounter except in orchestras, the meaning

(of this program) is totally different.”).

In contrast, the English writers rarely expose their presence and thoroughly hold an

independent stance as a critic. And all of a sudden, at the very end, they reveal their true identity

through unexpected change of modality. They visibly use written and formal modality until the last

sentence and then switch to an informal and spoken modality, (ex. "Altogether, not a disappointing

performance," and "Less of this please-everything else is top-flight.”). It is an attempt to play up a

marketing friendly voice.

3.4.2. This pattern is reinforced through how the critics frame other participants.

The English participants are appreciated as limited, qualified connoisseurs by making musical

references without further explanation and background knowledge. They are framed as more

experienced, educated, knowledgeable readers. In the following excerpt, the critic assumes the

readers will discern the current playing from original interpretation of the song:


She conjures a Lisztian sparkle and crystalline clarity that sound exactly right. In the

transcriptions she finds beautiful colors and line (you won't hear Schubert's Der Muller und

der Bach played with more poignancy)...

Also, the critic presupposes that the readers already own many classical music CDs as in, "you need

more than one recording of this extraordinary Janus-headed work in your library, and this should be

among them.” In a way, it is similar to an advertising strategy, image-making. The presumption

implies that if you buy this, you become one of esoteric readers with sophisticated taste in music.

The Korean critics identify their participants in two contexts, first as general public readers

who are deemed a pedagogue or less informed readers. They often explain difficult music jargons as

in, “Attacaa, playing without pause from one movement to another…” Then, the critics recognize

the musician at hand and other musicians, thus marking their teaching tone as a mentor. This

articulates the fact that there are more frequent reviews of young musicians who have just

completed their study overseas and debuted as a legitimate performer. Interestingly, the social status

of critics in classical music community appears to be in between young musicians and professional,

experienced musicians. This is proved through the change of their tones and attitude. They

confidently provide more didactic feedback to young musicians, but they highlight learning points

from pro-musicians. For instance:

앞으로 연주자로서 삶이 정화수 같이 맑은 마음으로, 깊고 깊은 철학적 사고를 더 해 노력하는

음악가가 되기를 바란다/I hope she becomes a musician who continues to work hard through

cultivating philosophical thoughts, and that she lives a life as a performer with a clean mind,

like fresh pure water.

평생 음악과 함께 하는 것, 그리고 그 안에서 행복을 느끼는 삶 그것은 음악을 전공하고 음악을

사랑하는 사람들이 지향하는 삶이다. 평생 음악과 함께 하여 행복하였고, 그런 행복을 준 음악에세


감사를 표현한 바리톤 박수길의 음악회…/Being with music for the entire life, finding happiness

in that. That is a life that musicians and music students want to pursue. Baritone singer Park

who was happy with life time pursuit of music and who expressed his gratitude toward

music…

3.4.3. The different stance is reflected through how each discourse express level of

expertise when making a evaluative comment particularly a negative remark.

The English critics display assertiveness through the lack of adverbials or modals of low degrees of

certainty (simple present tense) for positive remarks and description. Also, no marking of the agent

of criticism also solidifies an impersonal and objective sense of text. With negative comments, they

continue to not compromise the high level of assertiveness by not using modals, implying their

claims are not arguable. Only some typical mitigation strategies of criticism are applied to specify

the objects of criticism. Their common mitigation methods are in pair of praise and criticism, (ex.

“He is less of a barker, more of a phrase than he once was, but his voice has no intrinsic beauty,”),

and hedging through adverbs of frequency and degree, (ex. “his tone is somewhat down-to-earth for

a piece,”), thus suggesting a more objective, impersonal stance. Having no wiggle room for doubts

or skepticism seems to fit the advertising discourse used for potential CD buyers.

In the Korean Magazine, the critics often acknowledge the possible subjectivity of their

claims with the use of modals for both praise and negative criticism on the music at hand, (ex. “이번

연주가 박종화의 전체 모습은 아닐 수 있다/This performance might not reflect the whole image of

Park.”). Also, their popular mitigation strategies, the use of personal attribution/responsibility,

support of the subjective and attached stance as an evaluator, (ex. “진행 중에 군데군데 이질감과

생소함이 조금씩 느껴진 것은 아마도 이를 미리 알고 있는 평자의 선입견 때문일지 모른다/The reason that I

sensed some unfamiliarity and difference may derive from my preconception of this song.”).


However, during the philosophical discussion (identified as a signature move), they shift their

identity from evaluator to mentor by changing the level of their expertise. The Korean critics

become the most assertive using “should,” “will,” “not exaggeration,” and simple present tense, as

if the claims are truth. Aiming at a wider readership, reader as a pedagogue rather than qualified

connoisseurs, the tone of the critic is lowered and the tone of a teacher is raised.

4. Implication from two discourses: putting pieces together (solely from the data)

The Korean discourse of Music Journal implies that music is a process in an art form. Thus, music

requires life-time practices, efforts, and fine tuning through music discourse within the music

community. Attuned to socio-cultural conventions, the varying degrees of critics’ tone indicate that

it creates a hierarchical system between musicians. The music of young musicians is typically

considered immature, so they are encourage to be learning, shaping, and training from more

experienced musicians, and become musically socialized to become a more legitimate member of

the community. More qualified musicians and seasoned critics have a sense of duty to educate

emerging musicians and the entire music community through various mediums such as music

critiques, lessons, and performances. Furthermore, soundly influenced by traditional values, the

concept that music is co-constructed by all of the participants, including the audience, known and

potential, is highlighted. The ultimate goal of being a musician or doing music is to reach the state

of genuine beauty for the music through balanced interaction and harmonized connection with other

and self-effacement. Therefore, music is one way of understanding oneself and others and living.

The English discourse of the BBC Music Magazine implies that music is a product for

entertaining. A musician creates a piece of music. He has an ownership and responsibility of that

product. Regardless of age, one can be musically mature as long as one is talented and has some

level of completion to their music which is verified and accepted by the music discourse


community, especially CD buyers. Musicians’ characterized, distinctive color is highly valued, but

to be an outstanding product, a musician should know a fine line of how much liberty they can take.

Therefore, activities engaged with music, listening, playing, or purchasing, is one way of showing

one’s lifestyle and taste.

5. Conclusion

Genre of music criticism in each culture has respectively evolved as a social act. The content and

purpose of music criticism from these two magazines, on the surface level, are recognizably

conventionalized and standard, thus establishing broad boundaries for construction of its particular

discourse, including overall structure, organization, lexicon-grammatical choices and more. But the

conventionalized nature of the genre also allows a floor in which creative, yet affordable, discursive

variations between the two discourses take place to effectively communicate their messages to their

own community, respectively. In a nutshell, the English criticism is evaluative discourse motivated

by advertising, implicitly from the point of view of the consumer. It focuses on discernment of taste,

namely, estimating the qualities and character of artwork. The Korean criticism is teaching

discourse to promote a high standard of criticism, based on the Korean traditional values and

philosophy, to its society.

It is ironic that the English critics’ attempt to discursively highlight their professional

identity as an expert is, in fact, the indication of the weaker power of their position in the

community. Their expertise is exploited to promote an advertising strategy, appealing to authority,

which is clearly identified by readers and buyers, even with an implicit gesture in the ending move.

The force of their speech act primarily influences the prospective CD buyers, not the musicians. The

space of CD reviews no longer serves a genuine forum for authentic discussion for music aesthetics,


but it is still creating a line of communication between artists and the public. But in a different

context; the genre of music criticism becomes the ecology of the music business.

In contrast, the Korean critics, who are assumed to be less professional due to the relatively

short history of the profession and the culture of indirectness, linguistically downplay their role of

raters and emphasize their role as educators. The act of education turns out to be a stronger force of

illocutionary act for both the musician under the scrutiny and the entire musical community.

Through their educational message, the genre of music criticism becomes a professional

communicative space in which the European classical music co-exists with the Korean traditional

values and cultures.


References

Concert Critiques. (2014, March).음악저널, 291, 98-106.

Meyer, F., & Ha, O. (2011). A Diachronic Study of Music Criticism: The Case of Record Reviews.

Crossed words criticism in scholarly writing (pp. 339-364). Bern: Peter Lang.

Music Reviews. (2014, February). BBC Music, 22, 77-98.

Oxford Music Online. (n.d.). The Oxford Companion to Music in. Retrieved May 6, 2014, from

http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/public/book/omo_t114

Oxford Music Online. (n.d.). Grove Music Online in. Retrieved May 6, 2014, from

http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/public/book/omo_gmo

Reviews. (n.d.). Classical-Music.com. Retrieved May 6, 2014, from http://www.classical-

music.com/album-reviews

Swales, J. M. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge

[England: Cambridge University Press.

Walker, A. (n.d.). Musical Criticism. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Retrieved May 6, 2014, from

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/399158/musical-criticism#toc64466

음악저널, (n.d.). 음악저널. Retrieved May 6, 2014, from http://www.eumakjournal.co.kr/

Documents

sunghuh.weebly.com€¦ · Web viewIn a narrow sense, music criticism is defined as a genre of professional writing, typically created for prompt publication, involving “the intellectual