I had an interesting conversation today with a gentleman who was pointing out how silly it is that people constantly claim music genres are "dead" or that people no longer listen to certain kinds of things because they are unpopular and i couldn't agree with him more, that saying a genre is "not good" because it is not listened to is truly a foolish attitude to take.

Music, in terms of what is popularly listened to, has always historically risen and fallen as time moves forward, and this is not because of any particular artists popularity declining, or a specific music genre declining, it is all part of human nature, we as humans, simply like to explore new things from time to time, so to, does this dictate why music seems to change over time…

I was speaking just a few days ago about how we can define music through decades and how we have seen a dramatic shift from the music of the 60's through until the present date, but by the logic of these people who claim certain music is "dead" would dictate that this music is no longer popular, or "good"…

When of course, nothing could be further from the truth, certainly music from the early rock days of the 60's and 70's has diminished, but it still remains high quality music, and because it is recorded, its moment is immortalized in its recordings.

Why does music change? it is not because things are "popular" or not, the truth is, no music, has ever died or faded out, you will easily find that every single genre of music that has ever been created, is currently being listened to right now as you sit here reading this, the only thing that has changed is that people now judge the state of music, as it is dictated by the alleged "popularity" of a song, band, or genre based on data provided from record sales in the music industry, or what they regularly hear on their major radio stations.

Music Never Dies, it just transforms and evolves, and all music is immortalized in the hearts and minds of the musicians who pave the way forward through their creative expression and experimentation.

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What is it about us humans? wherever there is music we constantly see emotion, this intangible thing that guides and directs so many of our thoughts and activities has also been directing the shape of many artists musical creations across the entire spectrum of time…

I often find myself thinking, that perhaps music and emotion have some sort of direct link that we have not yet been able to explain, because it seems that when musicians find themselves in a complete state of emotional "zen" they are able to compose far greater music than if they sit down and analytically attempt to write something.

My question is of course, why is this so?

No real musician would say that emotion has nothing to do with music, and i would like to hope that most music listeners would also say the same thing, but all the same, i have yet to see a "scientific" explanation as to why emotion increases creativity…

If you are a musician, then i am sure you have had those moments when you are bursting brilliance, and words, notes and ideas seem to just flow in to your mind, while our basic imagination and creativity play a part in this, the feeling that exists within ones self when we truly tap into our emotions, is to me at least, indescribable.

What is particularly "magical" about music and emotion, is that when we compose a piece of music in that emotional Zen state of mind, or more specifically, record a piece of music, we forever capture that moment in time forever, the notes, sounds and yes, even the emotion of one specific point in time is forever frozen and given immortality forever…

A large concept i admit, but can you sit there reading this and say i am wrong? perhaps you disagree on my analysis of emotion and its relation to music and thats fine,but surely we can all agree that when we record a song, we record every aspect of that moment.

While emotion itself is directly intangible, we as humans, bring it into direct manifestation through all our art and creative activities, although this is often overlooked, truly it is something quite spectacular, a hidden gem amongst the dust, because we as individuals are able to create something unique, from our heart and minds and freeze it forever in time and through this, if we choose to, we can gain a greater understanding of our place in the universe and of our own unlimited potential.

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The start of a new year, and the start of a new decade, its always interesting at this time of the year to sit back and think about the way that we as a society, at least from a music point of view, often seem to go through creative changes in the periods of decades, and with this in mind its going to be interesting to see what music starts to emerge as we plow head first into 2011!

We can see music easily categorized by decades in contemporary history by simply looking at how much music has dramatically changed in both tonal diversity and lyrical diversity from the 60's through to the present date, instruments progress, ideas progress, and genres rise and fall, in what in the true nature of things, is a very small amount of time..

So why is it that music seems to follow this pattern, of course from an even larger perspective music shifts in a different way as well, in regards to the decades themselves i feel that music changes because musicians evolve creatively and if music in its real form is art, then it makes complete logical sense that if a musician was surrounded by a certain type of sounds, in the effort of experimentation and diversity,  we would eventually see new music emerge in time, and of course we have, its after all, a never ending cycle…

So what do i think we shall expect to see as we move into 2011? well to be honest, i have no idea, but i do think we shall continue to see a rise in popularity in the genres of electronic music, and of course, pop shall continue to grow and expand mixing in influences of what other sub genres are also doing well…

As technology has become more powerful and recording artists have been able to increasingly gain access to better gear, at this point we are starting to see some extremely well  produced albums coming from all parts of the globe, across all genres, and i think now that musicians are no longer restricted by previous burdens we will begin to see some incredibly music emerge this year that will really push things in a great new direction!

Happy New Year

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First of all i would like to wish a warm and merry Christmas to all readers of Digital Renaissance, and in particular to one very captivating person, who has quite literally turned my life upside down for the better, i never thought i would ever truly be happy, the best "Christmas gift" i ever could have hoped for.

So Christmas Carols, depending on your point of view, your either going to think they are brilliant or horrible, personally i just think they sound a bit worn and tired most of the time, and i often can help but contemplate why it is that they always seem to adopt the same tonality and feel…

Of course in this regard i am talking about the traditional Christmas Carols we are all so familiar with in western culture, they all have that bouncy, happy, and vibrant feel, but i often cant help but think to myself? why is it that Christmas seems to be represented musically this way?

Given that at the core of the holiday revolves around the birth of Jesus Christ, i would have thought that perhaps music would naturally develop around the day that took a serious tone, one of reflection and promoting the virtues of what the day is truly meant to stand for, yet instead its, almost comical sometimes…

Of course there are the Christmas Mass choirs and classical concertos that have been written over the ages, and we of course cant forget all the modern adaptations of modern tunes that have been written about Christmas in the rock and pop genres, but if we look at the "default" Christmas music listened to by the masses, we see our old favorites of jingle bells and other similar compositions making the rounds…

Now why i really dont have any issue with any Christmas music, i would have thought that given the amount of Christians there are in the world, and specifically how many Christian musicians there are in the world, we would have far more music reflecting on the day, with powerful lyrical and emotive content being expressed, yet it seems that after all this time we still see a very small range of music that is generally listened to at this time of year that specifically deals with the topic at hand…

While my musings are just simply Christmas ramblings today and i have cleverly not really said anything i think it would be interesting to see some new material, that both instrumentally and lyrically represents the day for its true meaning being promoted by the masses, but will that happen? probably not.

Oh well, Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

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My guitar teacher always tells me, "its what you dont know, that you dont even know yet, thats important to learn" and i think this is a good point, after all, we are aware of all the things we need to learn as musicians, because we are practicing those things correct? but if i dont even know something exists, how on earth can i study it?

Partially i think musicians (myself included) make the mistake of trying to learn what we heard others create or perform, when in actuality, by doing this all we do is learn to imitate, instead of learning to truly do something for ourselves…

I guess in this regard i am talking about learning other musicians songs for the purpose of practice, whatever instrument you play, i am sure you have done this at some point, and for many years i used to think that learning a "complex" piece of music that challenged my weak areas was the way to progress, ah how silly i was…

In reality, if you learn a complex task on your instrument only within the context of a specific song, yes you may learn how to do it, but there are two very negative side affects to doing this, the first is that of course you only train yourself to do something, you dont actually learn it, and the second is that you run the risk of imprinting on your mind a specific way to do things, which can restrict your creativity if you then attempt to compose with this newly learnt "skill"…

With this in mind, it would be my advice to any musicians reading this particular article, that when you hear that "thing" in a song and think to yourself "i must learn how to do that" dont start learning that song, find out the technique, method or whatever's specific name and study it, on paper first, then learn how to do it from the ground up, that way you will educate yourself correctly the first time and save having to re work your abilities later.

There is a very big difference between learning and training, many musicians are able to train themselves to do something by the process of repetition, after all we are all the same essentially and anyone can learn to do something with enough diligence,  but to truly learn a skill, gives you the understanding of how it works, why it works, and allows you to use "whatever" any way you like, for the rest of your life.

As for how you go about learning those things that you do not yet know that you dont know, well, i dont know what they are yet, so i cant tell you ^_-

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I have often found the human voice to be one of the most amazing instruments, while virtuoso's of physical instruments such as violin, piano, guitar etc are extremely talented in what they do, i have long marveled at the uniqueness of those who are truly masters of the craft of singing…

While traditional instruments at times can sound the same no matter how accurately and correctly they are played, for the most part, vocals always tend to take on a different flavor, and multiple things seem to contribute to this…

Obviously there is the initial differentiation of singing register, but this is only the surface, if we take a closer look we can start to see how a persons personality and charisma can also play a large part in affecting the way a individuals voice actually sounds and its almost as if, the person themselves and everything that makes them who they are, contributes to the way the vocals come out. We have all seen it, the famous musician who has the confidence and charisma to command a powerful vocal line, and when you hear these things, you sort of feel the presence of the musician entwined within the music itself.

A Persons individual experiences in life can also contribute to how they articulate a song vocally, for example a person who has lived through war and military service, would probably be far better towards singing a powerful song about a battle put to music than say, someone who works as a teacher…

Even a persons location, that which gives them their voices accent can contribute greatly to how a persons voice sounds and really good singers know how to adapt the natural gift of their country or regions accent to add another layer of interest to the vocal lines.

What we can conclude is that while on the surface a voice is just another instrument with its sets of rules and notes to follow, under the surface there appears to be much more meaning, and i dare speculate that a persons life experiences and other personal uniqueness contribute far more to the way they will sound and perform as a singer than the traditional aspects of singing we so often read about in music theory.

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As Christmas is less than a week away, i cant help but reflect on the simple Christmas carols that get sung worldwide by Christians and holiday enthusiasts because in a word where most music widely sung for the most part is commercial, here we have people coming together to rejoice in what is for some a religious event and for others just a day of kindness and family togetherness…

Whatever your personal view is on Christmas, when we look at the music that is often surrounded with it we are given a large array of iconography, from traditional songs dealing with the birth of Jesus Christ and Christianity all the way through to the contemporary rhymes and songs about Santa Claus and the north pole.

One constant theme that does seem to run consistently across many of these songs however, is that they have a very warm, soothing feel to them, that can easily be sung in most vocal registers without any complexity required, this means its friendly and appealing to the masses, which is part of why i think it is still a lasting tradition for some people to regularly attend "Christmas carol" evenings.

I do find it interesting however that if we trace Christmas to its roots, then we can obviously say that it is derived in its current form from Christianity, but wait a minute, if we review the music of religious god or holy days of other belief systems, we find that there music for these events to while at times drastically different still maintains a stream of positivity and sense of fellowship…

So perhaps if music is a reflection of those who perform it, and we are able to identify that certain emotions manifest themselves to make certain sounds, i am speculating that perhaps these carols and sacred songs are sounding the way they do because of something deep in our collective minds dealing with the subject of deity's at the time that they have been written.

We manifest the ideas in a whole different slew of ways, but these Christmas Carols still hold a firm place within western nations and symbolize a day of celebration, family and friends.

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When thinking about lyrics, while it is true they are not the be all and end all of importance when it comes to music, but they do hold great significance, and i do think that if we think about the power that emotion can have on our frame of mind, it is worth considering the concept that perhaps words hold more meaning than we give them credit for…

While i admit it is a fairly "outlandish" concept, i am currently contemplating on the idea that if people listening to music were having an emotional experience while listening to a musical composition, they may be more susceptible to being impacted by the direct intent of words heard when listened to…

Now by this point i am not talking about some nonsense to suggest that musicians are "mind controlling" people or anything like that, but what i am saying is that i think its possible for the very words to create an emotional response within a person that they then intellectually intemperate in their own personal way.

For example, the very words in a song of war might inspire a feeling of patriotism within a person, just the same as a song about romance might stir up thoughts of love and romance within a person, and by understanding that the very direct form of music at its artistic core revolves around emotion, we can then start to draw some interesting thoughts…

Perhaps if a individual had enough knowledge about how the words that comprise language impact the sub conscious mind it would be possible to craft a song with the intent of having it inspire a specific emotional mood? i believe, with enough knowledge and research it would be possible to do this as it all revolves around the inner workings of the human mind.

Whats more, could it be the possibility that when musicians are creating their musical compositions they naturally apply this intent into their words and melodies?  and is this what people describe as "feel" when they listen to music potentially scientifically explained?

I certainly have raised far more many questions than answers, but hey, i did say i was just thinking out aloud right now.

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Music has the unfortunate tendency to get categorized into genres, they of course serve their purpose of categorization and grouping things that are similar, and to be honest, i have no problem with "genres" existing, i mean, how could you? but i do always think its important to remember that while we humans use them to understand music, they in and of themselves dont exist…

Yes, similar sounds exist in nature, so to does tonality and visual themes, but to say that the genre "Jazz Funk Fusion" as an example, exists in the universal world would be absolutely foolish because if we as man created the art form and then chose to categorize it by similar audio type via way of how it sounds,  then it is not that it exists, but rather, our category exist.

"Jazz Funk Fusion" is not aware of itself, it is simply a string of notes, a series of sounds vibrating through the air at a certain frequency that our ears can pick up and decipher and i point this out because far to often i think people get to caught up in what genre of music they listen to, and what i mean by that is the name itself specifically.

If a person decides that they like "Jazz Funk Fusion" and only want to listen to that specific genre, what they have effectively done without being aware of it, is allow the social collective of music academia to decide what they will and will not listen to…

I actually dont want to over complicate this any further, so go back and read the paragraph above slowly again…

I feel that many people in the world would have far more happiness in their life if they chose to step outside the box of the "genre" the listen to and embraced other music, because by stating i am a "xyz genre" listener, all an individual does is limit the spectrum of music that they can potentially hear.

We need to appreciate genres for what they really are, they are a term, a word, a way of understanding this broadly in a simple way, but putting a label on something does not create it, for it is the music that dictates the category, and if we could but learn to separate the genre from the music and vice versa and just accept it for what it is, a categorization and nothing more, i feel more people would listen to more music and bring a smile to their face by hearing something new.

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I am going to take a dash sideways today and look at music and fashion because personally i have always thought it interesting how certain genres of music, seem to manifest its surrounding fashion in the form of clothes and accessories without any real assistance…

Just quickly think of some music genres in your head and the type of fashion associated with them, and while it is the case that some musicians break the mold, most of the time people just seem to naturally sport the apparel that goes with that particular music, but how does this actually get started?

Take for example my favorite genre to showcase examples with, death metal, in this particular music genre you will see demonic trappings, elaborate stage designs and of course your fair share of tattoos and long hair, but … when we get right down to it, we dont actually need any of this for the music? so why do we have it…

Well i personally feel that it has a lot to do with music in the mainstream coming out of the performing arts of theater,  where as we know, image plays a important part in creating immersion for the viewer, but while it came from this, i cant help but wonder, in todays modern age, what pulls the strings?

Could it be, that image has the potential to get in the way of good music? i feel the answer is yes and no, but not on the musicians part, but on the listeners, because if the primary driving force behind fashion in todays modern society is popularity, then i feel there is a potential for good artists to get overlooked because they dont appear to dress "cool enough" which, is fine, but at the same time does hurt the world from a artistic enjoyment point of view…

I suppose the topic raises more questions than answers,  but i simply think its an interesting observation at the end of the day, i shall have to explore the idea in depth further soon and see if i cant did up some interesting observations….

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