ProportionalityOfEffortAndOutcome

Quora Answer : Does the knowledge of the amount of work that goes into making a song change how you feel about your favourite genre of music?

Jun 4, 2020

No. But maybe yes.

I have a more general aesthetic model which is that what is most "pleasing" in art is when the effort and outcome feel more or less "balanced" in some way.

I very much like the aesthetic of things that look a little bit spontaneous and carefree. Even slapdash. Or even in the direction that the Japanese call wabi-sabi ... accepting of their imperfections.

Something that took a lot of work to make something truly spectacular is fine.

Something that took no work and looks it, is fine.

In fact, things that feel like they took no effort, and did take no effort, but are simply sparkling "gestures" of creativity are some of the nicest.

The worst thing in music is something that looks too much like the composer spent a huge amount of effort and suffering to follow every rule and perfect every last detail, and then came out with something so bland that it wasn't worth saying in the first place.

I suppose a piece that genuinely took no effort but feels like it did would be OK. But is also a vanishingly rare.