well you done made me log in damn you
numbersixspeaks:
moffs:
numbersixspeaks:
I wonder if part of the “death of musicianship” is due to media oversaturation. All these dumb kids roll into freshman year of college with fantasies of Pop Idol and their favourite candy-pop records and have spent years imitating their Mariah Careys, Madonnas, Rihannas, Beyonces, D’Angelos, Nickelbacks, Coldplays (no offence to fans of these guys, but it’s mostly if not always done by rote and there’s no there there) whereas long ago a piece would come to you without any recording to follow it, allowing you (the musician) to interpret variances, melismatic passages, hell, even the allegros and andantes to your liking, or particular performance style. Musicians today, however, mostly spend their time matching note for note, phrase for phrase, the vocal idiosyncracies and characteristics of their particular hero, thereby losing the ability to break from the shell of the ear and actually make music.
Only my opinion. Thoughts?
I suspect the “death of musicianship” is due in part to oversaturation, but more in the sense of Sturgeon’s law coming into play and the simple fact being that if 80-some percent of everything is crap, and then the total dramatically increases, that 80-some percent looks a lot bigger. And the 20 or so percent of noncrap, conversely, looks much more rare.
That said, Western culture on balance is embracing the ear with arms wide open, and mostly not feeling compelled to break away from it. We’re also in the midst of a celebration of the amateur, for better or worse, because of new media’s leveling effect—and people being people, there must be a huge inclination to get famous/paid for producing a quick-’n’-dirty knockoff, instead of treating that kind of copying as an apprenticeship and waiting until you’ve mastered a craft to release anything.
Okay, point taken. But, I counter-argue that most “pop” music is crap. What I’m getting at here is that supposed “serious” students of music refuse to break the reliance on the ear, just as they refuse to engage their studies on anything more than a seemingly superficial level. It’s frustrating and annoying to try to help them understand that it’s not the goal of the teacher nor the student to “sound like” anyone but themselves. It’s as if there’s almost an identity crisis because such lame-ass lukewarm milquetoast nonsense is what apparently drives success, when really if your goal in life is to be “successful” in the most widely-used definition then go to fucking business school or medical school and get the hell out of my studio. You will starve, you will be poor, you will probably have to even (GASP) teach, but at least you’ll have some semblance of dignity and self rather than just being another carbon-copy knockoff of the current flavour of the week.
Jesus, sorry, Moffs — not only did I stray from the topic but I also got my ladder and found the tallest horse ever.
an interesting conversation to be sure; two things to note.
1) students entering music programs thinking they will be the next pop-star sensation are actually quite rare, perhaps one in ten to twenty students. and more often than not, these students don’t even last a year in a four-year music program. (students hoping to be the next broadway smash are another story; there is at least some slight distinction between these two key demos.)
2) there’s a sort of catch-22 in asking students to know what their “personal voice” sounds like; you are really only able to teach from your own personal angle. some students will actually have a voice coming in. those students don’t really need you as a teacher, truth be told; you’re just an interesting signpost and/or reminder to practice along the way. the rest will hang on your words, will learn to think about music and the production thereof much as you do, and will be confused briefly when they meet their next teacher and are told in no uncertain terms not to do things x, y, or z that you were so adamant they should be doing. you cannot teach a student to “find their voice.” it’s either there or it’s not, and usually, those who know know early. before they get to you, for damned certain.
teaching is an industry and, like many industries, there is an almost staggering amount of waste.
this semantics issue alone is almost enough for me to reject the platform wholesale.
seriously, is blog / thread commenting now patented by facebook or something?
“reblogging” is the hobby of people who anachronistically roleplay as internet citizens of the confederacy.
numbersixspeaks:
lossfizzle:
so i take it it’s not possible or easily possible to comment on others’ posts then
Why would you want to comment on something so inane, especially when you can steal the original content and call it reblogging?
so i take it it’s not possible or easily possible to comment on others’ posts then
