The Hunger Games: heralding the Avant Garde

So I picked up the Gann to read chapter 10 and literally groaned out loud at the prospect of reading 30 pages about electronic music. Then I caught myself in quite the hypocritical situation. The self-proclaimed patron of new music is scoffing at a huge major genre of Avant Garde music? What a travesty. So I took it to my friends, like I have been.

They, surprisingly, didn't mind it. They convulse at the sign of Meredith Monk and heave at the first measures of Milton Babbitt. However, they didn't mind a little bit of Subotnick. I then put on some Laurie Spiegel... which really set them off. All of a sudden, I was sitting amongst 12 year old fangirlz:
"THIS IS FROM THE HUNGER GAMES! OMG OMG! THIS IS FROM THE SCENE WHERE SHE..."
blah, blah, blah.

A disclaimer: I'm sure the Hunger Games are a delightful and well written book series and film. It's just not my thing, nor do I have the time to spend reading the books.

Okay, so why does this certainly Avant Garde music strike them as okay? It wasn't Laurie Spiegel that did this, it was the massive, billion dollar film industry.
Think of the scores Philip Glass has written for films, such as the Hours or the Illusionist. These scores have certainly reached out to an audience that would never consider listening to Glass' music.

So, I listened to all of Spiegel's work "Sediment" (the one featured in the film) and actually quite enjoyed it, and I continued to listen to different parts of the movie soundtrack. It is quite electronic in many pieces, and I think for those who pay attention, and are obsessed with the movie like many are, this situation can be a stepping stone for electronic music.



Personally, I am currently in Electroacoustic music class and have been able to appreciate electronic music because I understand the means in which it is made. Similar to a non-musician who cannot appreciate a difficult violin concerto because they have no concept of technique or knowledge of classical music. As I've come to discover, anything that can promote classical or avant garde music, especially music that perhaps may hold a stigma such as electronic music, is good in my book. Good job, "Hunger Games".