RTV Theory and Practice - Special Issue

is given most approximately accuratelv by sociologists of the musical arts, for it mav be argued that it is primarily a sociological phenomenon in the musical arts and not a phenomenon of the theorv of music as an art, and there is less chance of еггог if it is appraised from the standpoint of sociology rather than aesthetics. The foilowing concepts may be used to give a simplified definition of public taste - as a phenomenon of the sociologv of the musical arts: public taste is a continuous process; it is expressed in dialectical relation with the cultural traditions, cultural habits and cultural opportunities of a social milieu - according to the predilections of societv to change them and subordinate them to its progress; it grozvs out of cultural traditions, is embodied in cultural habits, is created by cultural opportunities, shaped bv the principles of a societv’s ideo-political orientations. Conceived as the dialectical product of these relations, public taste is expressed as a reality in the musical life of a given social milieu. This reaUtv is composed of the musical life of people, which subsumes a conception of musical life encompassing all forms of activity through which people have direct ог indirect contact with music; starting from learning music in the overall educational system and, further, creative musical work, concerts of serious ог popular music, amateiu pursuits, radio and television, music in restaurants, disco clubs and the like, the production and sale of gramophone records, workers’ and people’s universities, publishing activities, the press, etc. Living the musical life of a given mileu, the people exhibit a very wide spectrum of all the characteristics marking-public taste. Thus public taste concentrates and sublimates within itself all the idiosvncracies and characteristics marking the state in musical life, defining its own quality in this way. Accordinglv, if we wish to ascertain the quality of public taste, we will find its truest picture in the state of musical life, in the