Ideas and action...

I read something today... something that made me think of music.

"An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea. "*

If one makes music and develops it from feeling, I feel the music has purpose - whether or not it fits popular acceptance or if it fits in the boundaries of conventional wisdom.


*Attributed to the Buddha. Although I am not a Buddhist, I do enjoy reading the writings of peaceful people.

Tempest In a Teacup

A recent announcement (or, at least, recent to me...) indicates that there is a mashup release of many hit Beatles' tunes - which is authorized by the surviving Beatles and the widows of the departed ones.

There is a great deal of furor and noise over this... even CNN picked up the story.

One point of view is that the mashup does wonders to reinterpret and refresh the Beatles' timeless sounds.

The other point of view is that the original Beatles' tunes are as they should be, and shouldn't be tinkered with. This point of view indicates that the mashup diverges from the original point of view of the tunes.

I think it is interesting, conceptually. Perhaps McCartney and Starr (and Ono and Harrison) would have been upset if they thought it wasn't a good idea?

Mogging and other things...

I stumbled upon (no, literally StumbleUpon) a site I hadn't heard about.

This site is musically-oriented, and shows the music to which people listen. It's really quite awesome, actually. The people seem to be pretty neat, too.

Stop by and mog out for a while! Mog. While you're there stop by my page and see what I've been listening to, too. Jimmy Bear's (fairly simple) Mog.

Progressive music new to the 21st century...

Progressive music… where are today's Yes, Alan Parsons Project, Pink Floyd?

There are a great many awesome and wonderful musicians out there today. A large many of them are making their music in obscurity, because (my opinion) labels and record companies are averse to too much risk right now.

But, where are the Yes, Alan Parsons Project, Blue Oyster Cult, and Pink Floyd bands of the 21st century? What does that mean? It means, "who's shaking up the musical world and making great stuff that isn't mainstream?" There are many who come close...

As we were watching Disney's "Cars" movie, I was having a blast listening to the fabulous music in the movie's soundtrack. James Taylor really makes you love "home town", Sheryl Crow really makes your feet stomp when she's singing about being "real gone", and Rascal Flatts sounds absolutely phenomenal doing a rendition about life being "a highway." All of these tunes really crank up the enjoy-o-meter, particularly with their flawless recording quality, excellent rendition, and the (et. al) musician's excellence. But… none of the music is progressive. It's wonderful, it's excellent, but not progressive. DON'T read into this that I don't think fun, well-made, thoughtful, and entertaining music isn't valuable – that couldn't be further from the truth… The focus of this missive is the idea of progressive music.

Truly progressive music typically doesn't quite make it to radio (and now video) mainstream. Would Herbie Hancock have made it to today’s media mainstream? Would "Schindleria Praematurus" (The Fish – Yessongs) have ever made it to the charts or on video? Would Hendrix's "Machine Gun" have ever seen the light of day if presented to today's execs? I wonder. Maybe? I don't really know…

There is a metric ton of great music out there RIGHT NOW… sometimes you've got to dig around to find it. There must be progressive gems in there somewhere…

I'm still looking…

P.S. Sheryl, hang in there! All the Bears are sending positive vibes your way!!!

And proud of it!

My music has been both lauded and criticized. I'm actually happy to hear of both. Musicians tend to grow with encouragement and occasional derision.

My music is raw, home-recorded, sometimes a little off-tune, sometimes a little off-beat. But every single note is from the gut and heart, and was recorded while I was feeling something important.

And proud of it...

Multiplicity: Style, Technique, Expression, and the number 42

Multiplicity: Style, Technique, Expression

I read articles, expos, blogs, trade rags, and other news/story related things quite often – in addition to listening to musician interviews on radio (particularly NPR – they seem to care about what musicians think). Since I am very interested in music, I tend to pay close attention to stories and news about music in general. I have a particular interest in reading the (written) thoughts of musicians I admire. I’ve had the pleasure of reading the musical opines of David Gilmour, Stevie Ray Vaughan, B.B. King, and (literally) hundreds of other modern music icons.

I think the reading I have done (and will continue to do) furthers my own musical understanding, techniques, music historical contexts, and point of view. I have found wonderful nuggets o’ knowledge, excellent technical tricks, and insight into the professional musician’s world. However, the most important thing I’ve picked up from reading the thoughts of other musicians is encouragement. The true musical greats (present and past) are those that not only give us the gifts of their music, but also are personable and care about interacting with/working with other musicians. As I’ve said before (on these very pages), great musicians are those that understand the value of growing music in cooperation with other musicians or other cooperative alliances. Musical artists who sit on their island/sit in their ivory tower have very little appeal to me, or to many of the musicians I know.

So, what is more important: style; technique; or expression? This question gets asked (directly or indirectly) in nearly all the artist interviews I have read or heard. The answer gets a broad variety of viewpoints, of course. Not surprisingly, the heartfelt answers from great musicians tend to fall into a few general groupings, though.

VERY FEW great musicians seem to feel that technique is an end unto itself. While practically all will acknowledge that great technique is very important to one’s ability to express oneself musically, only a tiny few think that technique is the be-all and end-all (Can I play 6 minutes of 8,000,000-a-bar notes until my guitar regurgitates? How fast can I get semi-hemi-demi quavers crammed into a small space in time? Can I play faster than {some unknown super-skilled YouTube artisan who practices shredding for 14 hours a day to the exclusion of all else}?). Technique is vital to music. It is a cornerstone of good music. But, it is not an end unto itself – it is a tool for the journey.

MANY great musicians have expressed that style is an important vehicle for expressing music. It’s very often said that there is no better means to express life’s trials than to play the blues. It’s equally often said that angst and chaos can be well-expressed with various forms of metal or music from the Hip Hop mind. So, style is important, and is also a cornerstone to great music***.

ALMOST ALL great musicians point to expression as the grail of good music. Almost without exception, great musicians point out other great musicians who express themselves in a profound or “reaching” way. I’ve read many times that B.B. King can express more in one vibrato’d note than bucketloads of musicians can express in a whole album. There are also many references to the greats of the past, and the savants of the present – all references indicating things like “it’s not about notes-per-measure, it’s about meaningful expression.”

Personally, I think musicians need at least well-practiced technique, along with fervent study of MANY DIFFERENT styles – don’t forget to forget your boundaries – don’t forget to change and redefine yourself. I am solid in my belief that expression is the largest part of great music. The process of learning to make expressive music is a never-ending (thankfully!) journey and an evolution process that spans a lifetime. I also feel that the road to expressive music is paved with technique, style, and good-sized splashes of experimentation and imagination. (Don't forget to share what you learn!)

What’s the short answer to the question? "Yes." (Or 42 if you don’t want to panic.)

***Note: this is a generalization. Lots of great music does not fit into a style, and lots of great music blurs style boundaries, and lots of great music incorporates many styles.