Snack Attack! Charles Ives and Bite-Sized Transcendentalism

My professor enjoyed the introduction I wrote up for this paper, so I thought I would share it here. I am currently revising it, in hopes of using it for doctoral apps and possibly a publication somewhere. If you are interested in reading more, leave a comment.

In the March 2007 issue of Wired Magazine, writers Nancy Miller and Steven Johnson presented an impressive exposé on the development of prepackaged Pop Culture in American society. This article, cleverly titled “Snack Attack!” compares the American innovations in simplification and quick consumption to the multiple facets of popular multimedia. Miller states that it all started in 1991 when Nabisco unveiled the Mini Oreo; this influential downsizing of an “iconic treat” not only cemented Oreo’s place at the top of the cookie market, it sparked a major phenomenon. Replace Nabisco with Apple, and the Mini Oreo with the iPod Nano, and you have what Miller calls “snack-o-tainment.”

When I first read this article I was impressed by the colorful notion of boiling down aspects of society and popular culture into easily digestible chunks. What I find particularly striking is how applicable this idea is to music; for example, suites and overtures often take large-scale works and sum up their musical components in under ten minutes. Quotation, collage, and quodlibets all rely on fragments of available and well-known musical material to support an intended program or narrative. As a result, while I read this quick-and-dirty exposé on prepackaged chunks of Pop Culture one composer came to mind; replace Nabisco with Charles Ives, and the Mini Oreo with the Concord Sonata, and you have what I like to call “bite-sized Transcendentalism.”