John Blacking Quotes

4 Sourced Quotes

We may be able to prove conclusively that all men are born with potentially brilliant intellects...and that the source of cultural creativity is the consciousness that springs from social cooperation and loving interaction...the majority of us live far below our potential, because of the oppressive nature of most societies.

John Blacking

The ultimate aim of dancing is to be able to move without thinking, to be danced.

John Blacking

We must ask why apparently general musical abilities should be restricted to a chosen few in societies supposed to be culturally more advanced. Does cultural development represent a real advance in human sensitivity, or is it chiefly a diversion for elites and a weapon of class exploitation?

John Blacking

Thus, if a composer wants to produce music that is relevant to his contemporaries, his chief problem is not really musical, though it may seem to him to be so; it is a problem of attitude to contemporary society and culture in relation to the basic human problem of learning to be human.

John Blacking

John Blacking

John Blacking

Born: 1928

Died: 1990 (aged 62)

Bio: John Anthony Randoll Blacking was a British ethnomusicologist and social anthropologist.

Known for:

How Musical Is Man? (1970)
Music, culture, & experience
Venda children's songs (1967)
'A Commonsense View of All Music' (1987)
Venda Music (1990)

John Blacking on Wikipedia

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