Exciting Future of Music

re: Exciting Future of Music

SamVed — Wed, 02 May 2007 07:47:09 GMT

New music that never existed before?
Well, for your enjoyment, let's see what Donovan tells us about this (excerpt from "The Hurdy Gurdy Man" by Donovan Leitch):

"The next day, I walked down to the gates of the ashram.
[Donovan was in India at the time, with the Beatles]
There in the gatehouse sat an Indian gentleman wearing a pair of dark, creased trousers and a white cotton shirt without tie. I engaged this very articulate intellectual in musical conversation.
Having my guitar with me I proceeded to give him a rendering of the tunes I had written. The first song I gave him was the jazz-rock 'Sunshine Superman'. He listened most attentively, then, after a pause, he said, 'Ah yes, I know the raga, eighteenth-century raga in the Muslim mode.'
Shocked, I said, 'No, I wrote that one.'
'No, I beg to differ, this tune is very old raga.'
Not wanting to be pedantic, I sang the next song, 'Mellow Yellow'. He listened to the various chords that I played, then he said, 'Ah yes, I know the raga, seventeenth -century, which was improvised in an evening raga of a great sitar player, Court Musician to His Highness the Maharaja of ]aiphur.'
Now I was getting pissed off. There he sat in the small gatehouse, belittling my contribution to popular culture. I could not let this white shirt do this to me, so I hit him with a very left-field composition which even an Indian intellectual could not underestimate: I gave him 'Isle of Islay'. Without any apparent remorse he stated that my heartfelt tune was another raga from the music of his own history. I humbly replied that I realised that music is truly universal."

re: Exciting Future of Music

Maltbyman — Tue, 01 May 2007 23:32:00 GMT

There's some outstanding programs for computers to help you play along, etc.

However, as Bridestein pointed out, making music is organic, and certainly not digital. The "well-tempered" piano doesn't refer to a piano with a pleasant disposition, it refers to the subtleties of the tuning of the harmonic series as you move up or down from middle C.

I play a trombone as an amateur so I'm constantly working to be in tune since like a string instrument player, I have the tuning in my hand.

One man's opinion....

It's a tool, it isn't an earth-changing event.

re: Exciting Future of Music

natter — Tue, 01 May 2007 20:47:16 GMT

.....You folks are clueeeless. 'Automated music' goes back centuries. Even the more modern (as in, the last few decades) electronic devices are based not in these silly devices you've seen popcul musicians use, or that you've seen in music stores, but hardware and software that actually utilise compositional principles ranging from classical (as in the era folks!) to very specific to the context and imagination of the composer/performer.

Even John Cage invoked a measure of automation in his compositional process. In his words, he wanted to 'relieve myself of choice', and yet he was still SERIOUSLY involved in the development of the structural principles. Just that, after he developed them, the music rather created itself.

Step out of your bubble.

re: Exciting Future of Music

Bob2_203 — Tue, 01 May 2007 19:32:16 GMT

That's all fine and dandy, but the human element in music is what defines real music. We can also have computers randomly generate sculptures, paintings, buildings, and novels. Does that sound silly? So it is with music, perhaps the most immediate and sublime of all human art forms. As an aid in learning there is perhaps some short term utility, to a point, but beyond that lay unemotional and mechanical results.

re: Exciting Future of Music

Bridestein — Tue, 01 May 2007 19:24:30 GMT

In reference to the last line regarding the computer program and how "it will also be able to create new music that never existed before", I find that disturbing. Where is the beauty in that?
I'm sorry, words are failing me at the moment, but crudely stated music, to me at least, is organic. It is sounds made by man, animals, and nature. If we allow machines to write our music for us (and don't think it won't happen, it already is!) where will we be? Maybe we should invent software that will paint or write poems for us too. Oh, right - they already exist. :-(

P.S. I play piano and I'd much rather play a duet with a friend, or remain unaccompanied altogether.

re: Exciting Future of Music

Russ Bianchi — Tue, 01 May 2007 18:51:35 GMT

To slightly paraphrase Thomas Aquinas: "He/She who sings (or plays music) prays twice."