What is "modality" in the context of Max?

You know I never saw it on those terms of having to “choose” between the two.

It is a choice, but a choice you don't necessarily make consciously. It is dictated by your lifestyle, your education, your musical aims, your perception of society and life ; first of all, your meaning of art. Is that purely a distraction without societal meaning ? Do you absolutely need to reach the heart of an audience by all means possibles ? Do you consider imposing your esthetic as a fight ? Do you need that fight, as much as you need to prove your worthiness ?

Then, are you self-taught ? If so, you might emphasis your inner views over academic technics. You might later come back on those academic technics, to realize they are not so bad, that they are history's heirloom, and as you are standing out of the academy you might realize you can chose which historical view you want to embrace. Some people seem to naturally slip through such questions, they are very rare and the only example that comes to mind right now is Moondog. His music seems out of time and of any conflict. He seems not bothered by any fighting need. Yet he stuck to his own very specific path all life long, never feeling the urge to find a compromise, whatever his life looked like. Maybe Eric Satie too, although he did crave for academic recognition, however he mgiht have despised it. Back to topic : as a self-taught, you might either try to reach by yourself academic standards in some system you do like, or you might despise it all, have a form of disproportioned rejection of anything it could bring. You might want immediately to try and find new ways. You might want to reach highly technical stuff by yourself.

Then, it depends what academy represents for you. Is that a noble, sacred institution resisting the centuries through sheer accumulated genius of great spirits ; or is it a tomb, blackhole of any creativity ? Is that a refuge for different, marginal, and - why not - higher spirits who dedicate their life to art, or is it more a prison, a mean to control said chaotic forces, to put them apart from society ? Is it where you can find your equals, or a place that will thwart your mind ?

It depends also how you think of yourself. Maybe nothing (ô blessed Man). Maybe a never-to-be-understood genius (and it is possible, the question will never get an answer of how many misunderstood genius remained never understood for an understood one), maybe an utter shit (this is very possible too ! the frontier between 'not understandable' and 'unbearable' is thin), maybe something in between ; but maybe you have ambitions and maybe you don't, maybe you think accumulated knowledge of thousands of recognized genius might overwhelm some of your personal opinions, maybe you want at any cost to be free from any other Man, maybe you just fear them and will do whatever they told you, maybe you fear them and think you are unworthy of their knowledge so just keep away from those treasures. It depends indeed on what you are and what you can - maybe you have the energy to escape everything, forever, maybe you think keeping energy for more useful stuff is better. Maybe your environement will provide some answers, maybe you meet the right persons who teach you what you needed, you might find the good school, or not. You might have good or bad luck, surroundings that encourage you to express, or which will show you beautiful examples to relate to, or which will obliterate your hope and wills.

Another point - do you relate art to the class warfare ? Maybe you think art can change society ? Then you have to pay careful attention to the tools you use, and the public you are reaching. Computers could be something of a more bourgeois society layer ; hence computer music is tainted with the power and the money. Or is it such a common consumer good nowadays, that keeping the instrument of the past is where lies the real conservatism and elitism. Making the music "of the future", which has maybe never been in recent history that disconnected from the big masses is, by trying to escape conservatism, the shortest way to elitism. A view in terms of duality is unsufficient here clearly. But then what : reaching the masses, does it necessarly mean adopt an old and sterile language, that everyone can understand ? Like Joseph Joubert said "there is no more pleasant music than variations of familiar tunes". How comes so few innovative things have reached wide audience since the 70's, where they seemed widespread ? Or maybe you don't care about class warfare, audience ; and the progress is more important, maybe you believe in some inherent aim to any form of art that we should try to reach, some kind of perfection, definite Truth, God, 42. Maybe you want to devote your art to that, whomever else can understand. And it's no important if the funding for that research comes from powerful institutions which just want to improve their prestige and don't really actually care about the art. This is a rather comfortable situation after all, and it's accountable : you do what you believe in, the centuries only will judge. Or maybe it's just comfortable !… that is possible too, everyone has to survive (I feel like sometimes i can relate to that), and sponsoring from the mightiest political historical figures is what has allowed for some of the most ahead-of-their-time genius to express themselves in masterpieces.

It could go on… for a long time… but i'm tired… and that's a lot of things to choose, which consequences will contradict, which can feel wrong, unnecessary, regrettables ; you might realize afterwards there was another option, you might often not realize you're choosing - well - it's life.

(TL;DR : OT)