It's no longer hard work making music nowadays ...

[Logrinn]

... a good thing the world still is full of guitarists doing everything by hand :rock-on:

(By the way: I love Darrin Bell and Theron Heir)

 

[Glimmer]

We had dinner with some friends recently, and they asked my teenage daughter what she might be interested in studying in college and later doing for a living. She mentioned that one area of interest was movie soundtracks. She thought it could be fascinating to select the songs that would be played at different moments in a given film, how they might underscore or reflect the mood of the scene in question, add a moment of irony, etc. Wanting to be encouraging, the friends – classical music lovers – said that they really liked some film composers' work, its beauty, orchestration, etc. My daughter replied that she was interested in soundtracks, not background music. I was intrigued by the distinction.

FWIW and on a related note, I still experience a moment of surprise when there are real musicians at weddings, dances, etc., then remember that not all that long ago, that was the norm.

 

[aarontunes]

We had dinner with some friends recently, and they asked my teenage daughter what she might be interested in studying in college and later doing for a living. She mentioned that one area of interest was movie soundtracks. She thought it could be fascinating to select the songs that would be played at different moments in a given film, how they might underscore or reflect the mood of the scene in question, add a moment of irony, etc. Wanting to be encouraging, the friends – classical music lovers – said that they really liked some film composers' work, its beauty, orchestration, etc. My daughter replied that she was interested in soundtracks, not background music. I was intrigued by the distinction.

FWIW and on a related note, I still experience a moment of surprise when there are real musicians at weddings, dances, etc., then remember that not all that long ago, that was the norm.

In all of human history, except for the last hundred years or so, if you wanted to hear music you had to make it yourself, or be physically present when someone else was making it. Once the notes had vanished in the air the performance ceased to exist forever.

 

[Glimmer]

Mighty true. Derek Bailey makes that point (about free improve) in his book Improvisations.

Makes you think about the many composers who wrote pieces that were never performed during their lifetime. Even they didn't hear ’em.

 

[GilgaFrank]

Everyone's a musician these days. But there's still the same amount of good music as there ever was.

Make of that what you will.

Edit: I used to be a web developer, now I can't even close tags properly.

 

[Logrinn]

... She mentioned that one area of interest was movie soundtracks. She thought it could be fascinating to select the songs that would be played at different moments in a given film, how they might underscore or reflect the mood of the scene in question, add a moment of irony, etc...

Nice to hear she has such interests as this. Besides playing guitar - and listening to music one listens to when playing guitar - I myself actually listen a lot to soundtracks. My favourite internet radio station is www.streamingsoundtracks.com.

FWIW and on a related note, I still experience a moment of surprise when there are real musicians at weddings, dances, etc., then remember that not all that long ago, that was the norm.

So true.
And so saddening to think that so much of today's music is made without the aid of musicians.
Or perhaps it's saddening to think about how many people enjoy music without ... music. I mean notes. Or verses and choruses and ...
Or maybe I'm just getting old and grumpy ... 

 

[aarontunes]

"As long as the human spirit thrives on this planet, music will accompany it in some living form, to sustain it, and give it expressive meaning." - Aaron Copland

Fear not. Music hasn't "become" something.

Music is eternally "becoming".

 

[Logrinn]

"As long as the human spirit thrives on this planet, music will accompany it in some living form, to sustain it, and give it expressive meaning." - Aaron Copland

Fear not. Music hasn't "become" something.

Music is eternally "becoming".

Phew, now I feel better. Not so old and grumpy anymore.

Well said!

 

[Glimmer]

I'm not sad or disappointed from all of these developments, just bemused.

I myself still enjoy playing guitar and listening to music of all kinds – experimental, classical, jazz, rock, blues, electronic, Indian and Arabic classical, Indonesian pop, et al. And I'm thrilled at how omnipresent it all is, all the time, on youtube and elsewhere on the internet. If I were a kid and this was a candy store, I'd have no teeth.

I'm so thankful there was no internet when I was 17. If there had been, I'd still be living in my old bedroom in my mom's house, listening to the umpteenth outtake from the 23rd alternate version of some Beatles tune from a bootleg I'd just discovered. I'd never come out of my room, never take off my headphones. One day they'd find my skeleton, my bony fingers still at the keyboard, music streaming with autoplay on.

 

[Nightclub Dwight]

In all of human history, except for the last hundred years or so, if you wanted to hear music you had to make it yourself, or be physically present when someone else was making it. Once the notes had vanished in the air the performance ceased to exist forever.

I once read something that Frank Zappa said, that music is like a fleeting sculpture of sound waves in the air that exists only as long as the music lasts.  So yes, in that respect a musician has to be there physically.  Recordings are nice, but not the same.