acquiring taste

[Wombat]

Are there still Heavy Metal magazines?

Yep. And they're loaded.

[Flyingcursor]

BTW, Cran...
Good taste (or bad taste for that matter, depending on which trend-set you beling to ) in anything, music, wine, food, clothing, literature, etc. comes from broad life experiences; if you're not out there experiencing a broad number of situations and variables you certainly won't develop any sense good taste, that's for sure.
You want good taste in music? Sample extensively from all genres, even ones you consider base or crude. If you don't experience "bad" music, how on earth will you know what "good" music is, you get my drift (using good and bad in quotations, because good and bad, in a musical sense, can get to be a little on the relative side once you eliminate qualifiers like talent, style, etc)? While sampling all these bits from the veritable smorgasborg available (it takes time, a lifetime, for that matter IMHO) you must be honest with yourself in what you consider to be "good" music, because I promise you that there will be at least one example from a genre you propbably really dislike that you will be able to like.
(I know I'm gonna get flamed for this, but what the hell) If all you listen to is ITM or gospel, for example, and don't sample from other genres there is absolutely no way you'll develop a good sense of musical taste. You'll have great taste in ITM or Gospel music, but, IMHO, that's where it ends. There are people who stick religiously to one genre who feel they have very good musical taste (this is where I'll probably be nailed); one can see several examples of this here in the forums... (please don't shoot me)
Broaden your horizons as far as you can, and be honest with yourself about what truly makes up "good" music and you should find yourself with, at the very least, very informed taste in music.
[/soapbox]

Dang good point Tyler and I concur. Aren't you glad? You can sleep well now.

My objection with the popular notion of "taste" is the judgement people pass on others because they don't like the same thing. One who has less "taste" is inherently inferior as a person. For example the person who likes Travis Tritt has less taste than the person who likes Rossini. The person who likes Stephen King has less taste than one who likes Emerson.
I guess my point is sometimes "taste" is just an excuse for snobbery.

Taste depends on what you're doing and where you are when you do it. Cran's outfit may be bad taste for a funeral but perfect for a drag competition.

Playing Chopin at a IRTrad session is in bad taste but busting out with Flogging the Whistler while sitting in the orchestra at a Chopin concert would also be in bad taste.

I, of course, am free of such prejudice.

[Tyler]

I, of course, am free of such prejudice.

sh*t!

[Jack]

I, of course, am free of such prejudice.

sh*t!

Horses hit what?

[amar]

an acquired taste.

[Martin Milner]

I think the guys have nailed it Cran.

When you come to London (or Edinburgh) we'll take you to a few art galleries (they're free). I'm sure you and I will like and dislike different things, but for equally valid reasons.

[Jack]

I think the guys have nailed it Cran.

When you come to London (or Edinburgh) we'll take you to a few art galleries (they're free). I'm sure you and I will like and dislike different things, but for equally valid reasons.

I've been to art galleries before (we have one on campus here, actually). I like everything.

[Martin Milner]

I think the guys have nailed it Cran.

When you come to London (or Edinburgh) we'll take you to a few art galleries (they're free). I'm sure you and I will like and dislike different things, but for equally valid reasons.

I've been to art galleries before (we have one on campus here, actually). I like everything.

Then you have very catholic tastes!

[Jack]

I think the guys have nailed it Cran.

When you come to London (or Edinburgh) we'll take you to a few art galleries (they're free). I'm sure you and I will like and dislike different things, but for equally valid reasons.

I've been to art galleries before (we have one on campus here, actually). I like everything.

Then you have very catholic tastes!

[Sister] Wendy Beckett has always been one of my favorites!

[Nanohedron]

"Good" and "bad" taste, like manners, can also reflect one's cultural or subcultural norms; slurping yer noodles and belching at the table are good examples. A matador painted on black velvet as opposed to a Jackson Pollock? Who's to say? It's Pollock for me, but then I've been accused of bad taste.

[jim stone]

If one has "no taste" in matters such as art or music, how does one go about attaining it?

Furthermore, if it is impossible to acquire said taste, what is the point in telling people they have none of it?

Find people whom people experienced in art or music think
have good taste, and ask them what's good and why.
There may be classes in art and music appreciation where
you study. After awhile you understand why the masters
are the masters.

[Jack]

If one has "no taste" in matters such as art or music, how does one go about attaining it?

Furthermore, if it is impossible to acquire said taste, what is the point in telling people they have none of it?

Find people whom people experienced in art or music think
have good taste, and ask them what's good and why.
There may be classes in art and music appreciation where
you study. After awhile you understand why the masters
are the masters.

I'm taking such a class right now. I know all the "reasons" and I get good grades, I just think it's hogwash.

[rebl_rn]

Picasso once said "Good taste is the enemy to great art".

Just sayin'.

Maybe good taste isn't all it's cracked up to be.

[Tyler]

If one has "no taste" in matters such as art or music, how does one go about attaining it?

Furthermore, if it is impossible to acquire said taste, what is the point in telling people they have none of it?

Find people whom people experienced in art or music think
have good taste, and ask them what's good and why.
There may be classes in art and music appreciation where
you study. After awhile you understand why the masters
are the masters.

I'm taking such a class right now. I know all the "reasons" and I get good grades, I just think it's hogwash.

quick lesson from my college days...
most of what college teachers will teach you reagarding any degree of "taste" is going to be highly biased by their opinion.
Remember, these are college teachers, and unless you're at a prestigious college or university, they're certainly not getting paid to be an art critic, if you catch my drift....your opinion on art is just as valid (to a degree) as the opinion they're teaching.
And also keep in mind that, depending on the level of your college or university, the instructors they hire to teach certain subjects, like art, may not be as proficient as they'd like to be considered as being.
Quick example...(getting my own horn out polishing it up, getting ready to toot...)...
I know many ASE certified mechanics that are dumber than doorposts and need help with simple things like belt changes. I have no idea on earth how they ever got their certification, because it's not exactly easy. Locally, in order to be ASE certified, you have to pass a battery of college and vocational level courses on certain types of mechanical engineering. They're not exactly what I'd call easy. There's a lot of memorization and a good deal of conversion math and physics, geomitry, etc. Even if you're good at book learning, it's tough. I consider myself (toot toot ) to be at least moderately talented, at least in the 80th percentile, of local mechanics, but I only passed my exams with a C.
Another quick example...Whilst I was earning my associates degree in Photography at the community college I was forced to take an entire gamut of classes for which I had already learned the course material in bygone years. Some of my instructors were fantastic, others made me want to throwup. I had one instructor teaching an advanced class that honestly thought she was the next Ansel Adams, and she let every student know at every available juncture. She graded work like she thought she was a pro, but the fact of the matter is that she was terrible; her copmposure, exposure, darkroom technique, among other things, were hardly above the caliber of those of the beginning level students she was instructing. At this point in time I was making as much with my photography business as she was as a college instructor...
Every year at the Utah Arts Festival she has a booth selling her work (there are about 15 to 25 photographers who show up to sell their works every year, many are extremely good, if anyone's ever in town for the festival I highly reccomend checking them out!). She'd always comment to us how it was a waste of time getting a booth at the festival, because she'd never even make back her rental money (not even the yuppie-trash buy her work), but I know at least one photographer who makes some serious bank at the festival...
So, I suppose the moral is just because someone has earned a degree doesn't neccisarily mean that they've put any effort into "learning" their field, and this is most applicable to "art" teachers, IMHO, who teach cliche and opinion instead of fact and technique.

[Denny]

Picasso once said "Good taste is the enemy to great art".

Helps keep the artists eating though.