Re: Or, the occasionally opaque veil of opinion

["S.P. Goodman" <spgoodman@earthlight.net>]

Nah, Mon,

I'm not on the defensive.  It isn't the expression of "classically-trained"
at times, but the attempted impression based upon same that puts me in such
a state. :)  I came to terms with my non-perochial a-conformist tendency to
learn anyway some time ago.

I don't believe however that technology should "add" to my music, instead
that it be as transparent as possible to my hoped-for/intended result
(depending on whether I'm composing or just playing of course).  You're not
off-kilter in expressing such an idea -- At times I find myself hearing the
most awful stuff in the universe courtesy of the gym I go to, horrible 4/4
banging stuff with singers' voices corrected so obviously you wonder if the
people composing it (if that's the correct term) are "musicians", or
"technologists" (he said, carefully avoiding the word "engineers").

S.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Patrick Bolan" <pbolan@csiconstruction.com>
To: <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com>
Sent: Monday, January 13, 2003 19:24:PM
Subject: RE: Or, the occasionally opaque veil of opinion


> I KNEW I shouldn't have said that I was classically-trained!  That puts
> everybody on the defensive.
>
> My preferences are very wide, from the most conservative of
> conservatives, to somewhere short of metal and punk.  Thinking globally
> here, music is an outgrowth of one's culture, so I believe there is no
> bad style of music insofar as there is no bad culture.
>
> But, in the words of Duke Ellington, "If it sounds good, it is good."
> The technology should not take away from music, but add to it.  If you
> get the two reversed, it doesn't sound good.
>
> Yes, it's an endless philosophical discussion.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: S.P. Goodman [mailto:spgoodman@earthlight.net]
> Sent: Monday, January 13, 2003 11:17 AM
> To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
> Subject: Or, the occasionally opaque veil of opinion
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Patrick Bolan" <pbolan@csiconstruction.com>
> To: <>
> Sent: Monday, January 13, 2003 16:37:PM
> Subject: Loopfest - the opaque veil of technology
>
>
> > As a classically-trained musician, I'd like to say a few words in the
> > name of music.
> >
> > Many of the acts at the Portland Loopfest were more "performance art".
> > Hearing wave upon wave of amorphous withering masses of sound,
> including
> > unintentional (?) feedback, screaming, and cursing, was overpowering.
> >
> > Call me a purist, but the technology should be used to augment a
> > performer's skill in their instrument of choice.
>
> Okay, you're a purist. :)
>
> > Most of the time, what
> > I heard was "look-what-I-can-do-with-this-cool-piece-of-gear".  They
> > probably had chops, but the opaque veil of technology had descended on
> > their performances, covering up their true musical talents.
>
> In what respect?  Obviously the musicians you refer to didn't say that,
> but
> how did this translate out to such a statement?
>
> > (To be fair, I did not hear Admiral Twinkle Devil.)
> >
> > Let's use this amazing technology to create things that are articulate
> > and wonderful.
>
> Ah, yes, but the question then would be whose version of "articulate and
> wonderful" you're talking about.  Then again I tend to prefer
> "thought-provoking and non-conformist".  I hated the hell out of a DNA
> performance, and said so here last year -- but the first thing I wanted
> to
> do when I got home from the show was play guitar.  In terms of ones'
> expectations of music in this regard, I've found that more often than
> not
> that preconceived notions can be far more opaque than hardware, and far
> more
> limiting content-wise.
>
> If the question then is "Captain Beefheart or Bach?", I'd tend to say
> that
> such is not a question at all, but a statement of personal taste -- that
> is,
> when one reveals what one DOES like.
>
> So, what do YOU like?
>
> S.P. Goodman
> EarthLight Productions
> *
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