Listening Assignment

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a fan of New Age nor Avant Garde, so this assignment was somewhat painful. While I respect the expertise involved to create these two pieces, neither is the type of music I would sit and listen to for pleasure. Barry Truax' "River Run" sounded to me like something that could be used at the beginning or in the background of a song of another genre or as a sound effect in a movie. Morton Subotnick's "Jacobs Room" I actually listened to online at http://www.mortonsubotnick.com/gallery.html and found it extremely hard to listen to. Actually, I couldn't make it through the entire video. I realize that there are people that consider it "art" and maybe it is, but not art that appeals to my taste. If you tune out the soprano (which reminded me of Yoko Ono), the music itself sounded like it could serve as a foundation for a more elaborate piece.