Re: [Harp-L] feasible goals

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jonathan Ross wrote:
<Music has changed.  People no
<longer care about instrumental prowess, it simply doesn't move the
<masses anymore.  Hasn't for a generation--name one "Gen X" guitar
<hero?  You can't, at least not from any major band.  And that's
<already a generation ago.  Probably because so much emphasis was put
<on technical proficiency for the last, oh, hundred odd years.  We've
<all been blown away too many times--the shock value has worn off.  It
<takes something outstanding to get noticed (a 12-year old, for
<example) in just about any genre.  For the most part, great technical
<skill is expected, and with that comes the idea that it isn't
<particularly interesting.

<Thus, the biggest movement in music for the last ten or even fifteen
<years has been anti-technique.  Whether it is electronica or the
<return of non-musician punk attitudes, technique just doesn't matter
<anymore.  The instruments used barely matters.  It's about results,
<nothing else.

This is dead-on.

Virtuosity per se is largely a 19th-century phenomenon that flourished 
through the 20th century, during which periods it was essential to 
realizing big compositional ideas.  In the 21st century, when producers 
are making hit records in their bedrooms with sample libraries, it's a 
lot less important.  It is indeed about results and nothing else. 
Playing an instrument is just one way -- probably not the most important 
way where pop music is concerned -- of realizing the idea in a composer 
or producer's head.

That said, new developments don't invalidate previous discoveries -- 
they add to them. There will always be a place for interactive music 
played on real instruments by real people.  That place just won't be on 
the pop charts, most of the time.

Regards, Richard Hunter
hunterharp.com