[mplpost] Influences, young folk and toiletries (long and not PC)

[Nick Naffin]

Bob MacKenzie wrote:

> It's a wonderful tale Nick tells of the comb-carvers of old Japan, and one
that applies in varying degrees to many of the old time crafts.  Frankly,
I'm not sure how much it applies to the art and craft of making music. <

	Neither am I, Bob... but here are some suggestions.  First of all, I agree
that the tale you refer to, as a means of illustrating strengths, skills and
standards once required in one of the crafts, applies to many; and I thought
music might be one of them.  Mind you, for purposes of this discussion, we'd
have to agree on some sort of a yardstick, since everyone has different
ideas and values as to what makes art or an artist, and particularly, what
makes the good ones.  So I'll throw out some names for now, and try to keep
them in mind as we go along; Yo Yo Ma, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Oscar Peterson,
Paco De Lucia.

	As an admittedly loose comparison to the aforementioned training and skill
of the comb maker, I think many years of study and training in various
disciplines are required in order to produce a well-rounded artist.  For
instance, an instrumentalist, besides needing a modicum of talent, would be
well advised to learn music theory, composition, arrangement, the history of
her or his instrument and its players, communication, a bit of psychology, a
bit of style and social graces, a lot about performance, and the ins and
outs of music business - and that's before anything is produced on stage,
and before addressing things like conditions and intent of performance,
subject matter and so forth.  So, in accordance with the society and culture
said artist works in, it could be argued that it wouldn't hurt to know their
history, politics, geography, and arts as well.

	Considering these points, I think in comparison to about 300 year old
standards of composition and performance at least eighty percent of what's
being presented on stage and in media today is crap.


	Other cultures notwithstanding, in order to be a merely competent Western
classical or jazz player, one has to acquire skills that are usually
considered 'virtuoso' level in some pop or so-called folk scenes; and any
late nineteenth century European hack composer knew a lot more about
harmony, counterpoint, and arrangement than most working tunesmiths today.

	As an aside, somewhat in accord with Arnie Naiman's concern about young
players' sources of inspiration, lots of budding jazzers today helplessly
retread old bebop cliches, because the social and cultural conditions once
responsible for or at least helping along bebop and postbop have moved on to
help produce triphop and gangsta rap.

	In the media, shows play music by instrumentalists who couldn't tell you
the correct name of a given chord they're playing, let alone its function in
the harmonic system they're using; and every so often, you can hear someone
referred to as a great, or even one of the best songwriters - hype,
nonsense, and all around brazen, seeing how, for example, Paul Simon, Bob
Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Kristofferson or Springsteen are still around.

	There's been the argument that, coming back at us from behind from
somewhere around the old European romantic movement, there's been an
unfortunate historical development favouring individual self-expression in
art and literature; one that coincides today with the fallout of industrial
revolution, mass production, and the general decline of Western cultures.
The uniform in search of the individual, folks looking alike but sporting
initials on shirts or cases; in various scenes, the wildly individual
sniffing each other out for whiffs of tribal unity; the uneducated,
vaporous, bumbling and boring sharing tunes about their exes, songs to match
attention span and emotional depth of an audience that lives 24 hours a day
surrounded by noise pollution, and spends at least four hours in front of
their television.

	Be that as it may, there have been actual estimates of about 250,000 new
CDs in the U.S. per year, with about 7,000 releases of singer/songwriter
albums; and monthly or quarterly magazine covers boasting "more than 250 CDs
reviewed."  It would seem with the advent of affordable digital technology
just because they can 'say' something, many do; and from what can be heard
on some radio shows, hub sites, club and festival stages, some shouldn't.

	And then there's MIDI loops.

	I for one think there's an interesting aftertaste to events like a rave
party crashing down the ceiling on a folk club in Toronto.  To me the
example of the comb maker does apply to the art and craft of music; in the
sense that for instance 120 years ago a mass audience was perfectly used to
listening to and grooving to the structural principles of sonata and
symphony, whereas nowadays radio geared to not upset the cubicle drone is
formatted to no more than, what, seventy seconds of spoken word at a time,
and tunes not exceeding four minutes, in structures not much differing from
children's songs.  Just as practice, myth and tolerance of a given religion
reflect the spiritual maturity of the believer, I believe any popular
culture is indeed a mirror for its people; and checking out what sells, and
what seems to slowly become the standard of skill seen on, say, club stages
today, we might want to ask ourselves a few questions.


> Based on his anecdote about the wunderkind of Mac production trying to
sell him a homemade CD, it seems he is only meeting a certain faction of the
new generation.  These have always been around, even in and before the era
of vinyl.  At the other end of the spectrum, there are talented young people
who work very hard at their craft and do learn from those who have come
before.  Often, because the apprenticeship infrastructure no longer exists,
they begin by studying those who have come immediately before them and, like
archaeologists, gradually dig their way into the distant past.
Statistically, these must be only a small percentage of the young artists --
perhaps 15% or less -- but they do exist, and many of them are wonderfully
talented. <

	It seems we share compatible statistic estimates.  You're right, of course,
and being of somewhat ornery disposition, I didn't mention the good examples
of young artists and players, of which on this list I'm sure we could name a
few.  Of course there's people who play circles around you and me, and folks
just as talented, dedicated, and hard-working as anybody.  For that matter,
the mere existence of this list, and its tolerance of occasional flamboyant
abuse of bandwidth such as this speaks for itself.  As someone once
remarked, Nick, for a guy who doesn't sing you sure talk a lot.


> Me, I listen to a lot of the new music -- not just Britney, Backstreet
Boys and N-Sync -- and I hear a lot of excellent writing and performance
going on.  <...>  I don't think we have any cause at all to worry about the
future.  It's in
good hands.  Folk is alive and well and moving away from the academics and
esoterics and back into the broader community where it belongs. <

	May your words ring in God's ear, as the Germans used to say.


	Uh, you sayin' Britney isn't folk?!?

	Nick

___________________________________________________________

nick naffin
guitar music, and rants for your corporate or private event
nick@takenotepromotion.com

www.interlog.com/~takenote/naffinwright.htm

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