The mere fact that it took me longer to think of a title of this blog than actually write this post should mean that the title holds some drop of meaning, right?

I'm not sure, yet. I stumbled upon the name I used for the url while reading the blog Hellmouth, written by minimalist composer John Adams, one of my favorite living composers. http://www.earbox.com/posts/107 He was speaking about how life moves so quickly now, with ever progressing technology and busy lives, that it takes such a giant and pivotal moment in music to truly stop a person, or listener, in their tracks.

Today we discussed how all of us, both as musicians but also on the larger scale as "citizens of the world" (or some other grand synonym), bring experiences and expectations to everything we do. In music, when something defies our pre conceived notions, we experience a sensation of shock as well as recognition, then we are able to weave this new material in with the old and make connections.

Perhaps something that is considered 'Avant Garde', (that being art, film, music, culture, etc.) will contribute to a growing set of expectations for a particular person. If this person begins to immerse themselves in say, Avant Garde music, will their new perspective change their personal definition of Avant Garde? If Avant Garde represents a "pushing of boundaries of what is accepted as the norm" as Wikipedia so vaguely explains, isn't this individual have a new set of boundaries?
It would then be impossible to define Avant Garde, as there is a necessity and assumption of a set of norms, which would fluctuate far too often. On the other side of this exists the 'norm' of music, which we haven't applied a large scale definition to. Classical is too broad, but does "Traditional" leave too much to be assumed (Sure, Mozart is traditional, but are we really going to put him in the same category as Mahler?). I think subconsciously we're realized, thankfully, that it's nearly impossible to fit 4+centuries of music into a single overarching term. Just as Avant Garde changes constantly as expectations change, the rest must change as well.

As for experimental music, the definitions that attempt to contrast it against its Avant Garde siblings are diverse. I much prefer Cage's ideas, which explain experimental music as "music with no foreseeable outcome"; but in this case, I prefer the name 'music of chance'. Using this name more commonly, I feel, would clarify it from the electronic, minimalist, improvisatory, etc. genres which are associated with it. To group 'chance music' and minimalist music in the same arc would assume that Minimalist composers had no thought in mind to the result and outcome of their pieces, which is certainly not true. Does Adams, as seen in this video, look like he's leaving anything in his piece up to 'chance'?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCfPkMAZ4jk&feature=related

Often nomenclature of music can get in our way; forcing genres and sub-genres of music, like experimental and Avant Garde, into camps in which they are not meant to be thrown into. At the end of the day, I don't care what I call it, I just want to listen.