Re: [Harp-L] Music

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

Safe makes money. Like Wal-mart. But Target, with its more imaginative advertising, is paying bigger dividends to stockholders 9at least per this morning's piece on NPR).

Long forms, development, dynamics, complex harmonic shading - great if you're willing to listen actively. But consumption culture is largely about being passive - except in the critical moments when you're forkling over the bucks for whatever it is that will make your life amazing simply by owning it - without your having to do anything. (dont' even have to get int eh car and go anywhere; just shop online).

harmonica content - how many of us have bought harmoncias we hardly ever play, because we thought that by buying them we would magically be better players (wthout actually playing anything we hadn't already learned)?

Winslow 

--- On Wed, 5/27/09, Robert Bonfiglio <bon@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

From: Robert Bonfiglio <bon@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Harp-L] Music
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wednesday, May 27, 2009, 7:46 PM

> It's time for music to go somewhere else.  It's not that the players aren't good at what they do; it's that we've heard it all before.  We know where they are going before they get there.  Everything is so bloody safe!


I sent that comment a while back and got several examples of different music with different instruments. I have finally had time to listen to all of the cuts.

 Most of it was modal with virtuosic players jamming over the mode with sometimes odd plucked instruments.  All of it was in one groove through the piece; all of it was in song form, all of it was guitar driven, all of it was fast, loud and male.

Here were some of the things I found missing - change of groove, most grooves stayed the same through the song.  Complicated forms, most were jams on a song.  Big changes in dynamics, texture.  A move away from guitar based everything.  Modulations into new keys.  Use of diminished and half diminished harmonies or any odd harmony.   Good, strong melodic structure.  Development.  Extended forms.  Disturbance of the groove, form or harmony. Complete mood changes.  Anybody playing pianissimo. and on and on.  The tools available for Beethoven are now longer being used.

In other words, most everybody is blowing their brains out on fast stuff over the same groove throughout a song.  Is this music?  or is this mine is bigger than yours?

I still say, it's time for music to go somewhere else.  It's not that the players aren't good at what they do; it's that we've heard it all before.  We know where they are going before they get there.  Everything is so bloody safe!

Makes me want to go shopping at Walmart.

harmonically yours,

Robert Bonfiglio
http://www.robertbonfiglio.com

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