Re: Is it "Live" or "Memorex"

["Jonathan Yandel" <jonathanyandel@msn.com>]

 

Good analogy, but one needs to be careful when discussing this subject matter, because, like the art world, the distinction between what isn't art and what is gets really fuzzy, if you follow me.  For the sake of good argument (and do not take this personally), I will take your reasoning to the next level: instead of using Coltrane, let's use a keyboard player--any one will do.  Now, let's say that the keyboardist "creates" a piece of music out of silence, which would, by your reasoning, qualify the player as a musician.  However, with many keyboards out there (and yes, this does betray my lack of enthusiasm for the instruments), one is not directly "creating" the sounds: the keyboard's sounds are actually made up of many samples of "real" instruments.  So is it the player or the machine that is the real player?  Is it the player, because he/she actually pressed the fight buttons/keys?  Or the machine, which is ultimately doing most of the work "creating" the quality of sound?  Add sequencers and hard-disk recorders and soft synths and effects processors and the distinction on who is "actually" creating the music disappears...

Might I offer a suggestion?  (Now putting my Zen hat on)  The whole argument is faulty, because we are assuming one thing: that music is an object that is made by a musician.  However, music is in actuality an event, or process (which is why live music is much more exciting to witness).  The musician, regardless of the instrument played, is not the "creator" of that process, but part of it.  (For excellent examples of this I suggest some of the later Miles Davis quintets, such as My Funny Valentine or the Plugged Nickel--the entire group was actually one large organism.  There was no egoism involved.)

Again, just offering an opinion for the sake of an intelligent discussion...

best,

Jonathan

----- Original Message -----

From: Jimmy Fowler

Sent: Wednesday, July 10, 2002 7:53 PM

To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com

Subject: Re: Is it "Live" or "Memorex"

 

ok...gotta jump in on this one...

 

i wouldn't say that dj spooky or whomever is on the same level as, say, yoyo ma.  not even close.  and virtuosity doesn't make one any more or less of a musician.  creating something out of nothing makes you an artist or a creator.  regarding music, creating sound out of silence makes you a musician, silence being the total absense of what one will ultimately go on to create...as in: the song isn't written yet, so it isn't music...or something like that.

 

may i offer an analogy: john coltrane vs. dj spooky

 

coltrane would be painting on a blank canvas with only the colors within his technical range available.  so he paints a picture.  dj spooky comes along and cuts the painting into tiny and not-so-tiny pieces (along with multiple other paintings, as suits his fancy).  he then reassembles them to make a "new" creation.  key word: reassembles.  he's not taking nothing and making something...rather, he's just taking what's already there and rearranging it.  if you take the frame of your '88 toyota and put a honda hood, chevy doors, and a vw engine in/on it, you haven't built a totally new car.  you've just taken parts of pre-existing cars and mushed them together so that perhaps it looks new, drives differently, and gets better gas mileage but the parts still belonged to cars that were already in existence.

 

sorry, it's a touchy subject for me.  i'd be pretty angry if i wrote a song and a dj cut it up and remixed it just to have them say "look at this new song that i wrote"

 

as well, i'm a fan of dj spooky and john coltrane.  but i can't agree that they are capable of existing on the same musical plane.

 

-jim

---

Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com