A NEW MUSICAL DICTIONARY by Martin Davidson This has been
written over many years of intense involvement with music. It
was originally compiled a few years ago and sent to a supposedly
radical music magazine who obviously found it too radical to
publish. It is continually being updated as new items arise.
ABSTRACT MUSIC: A useless term that gets used to describe
certain areas of music - usually ones that the describer does
not like. One can argue that all music is essentially abstract,
except for the relatively small amount that is onomatopoeic.
However, if one accepts the somewhat controversial concept that
the substance of music is its emotional content, then a
different conclusion is reached. In Jazz and other part-
improvised musics, the emotional content is primarily realised
by the improvisers. However, this realisation is considerably
restricted by the pre-determined structures that confine the
improvisations. In totally composed music, composers are able to
give free reign to their emotions. Unfortunat