On 2/13/07, David Powers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Yes. Until the birth of electronic music, most music was NOT created by just an individual.
sure, but if every musical decision was made by group decision, would these things have happened? there's always someone who steps out of line with everything else and just does their own thing. as far as modern music, it cant just be coincidence how many times that has happened with american music. hiphop, soul, blues, funk, disco, house, techno, electro, rock and roll, punk, jazz, the list can go on and on.
Take any great jazz group (for me, the classic groups of Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, or John Coltrane) and you will find that the individuality of the players is expressed in such a way that it complements the what is being expressed by the group as a whole. Individual identity only emerges through group interaction - perhaps such a process could properly be called "dialectical".
what about monk's solo work? or any number of jazz band leaders who dictated what was gonna happen? people had to submit to someone's personal ideas about music. individuality expressed through a group setting!
And in classical/orchestral music, great classical composers might have heard amazing, totally original music in their heads, but getting the music performed required convincing some hapless musicians that the music was worth learning and performing.
but it still was rooted in one person's mind. it was not a collective writing process.
Only with electronic music, is it possible to get rid of the group and create without consideration for others. This is probably a double edged sword. I'm glad I can make my own CD with only a cheap $50 computer, especially considering I've written a string quartet that has never been performed, that is just sitting in a box in my closet. But collective music making is a very rewarding experience, and I often miss it these days.
im not saying its the only way, but it is a valid way that wouldnt come about if people were only worried about pleasing groups of people. tom
