quoted 3 lines I'm curious to know if there are any 'classically trained' idmers> >> I'm curious to know if there are any 'classically trained' idmers
> >> out there, 'cos almost everyone seems to come from a non-music
> >> background.
Here's one (who just joined the list last week...). I'm in my fourth year
of grad school studying music composition. I discovered intelligent dance
about a year and a half ago when I picked up Orbital 2 and a strange
little comp called "Ethnotechno" with a handful of killer tracks on it
(namely, Ken Ishii (Utu)'s N428 [*wow*!!!], Mere Mortals' Ethnologik,
Juno Reactor's Alash, and one by Sandoz whose title slips my mind at the
moment)--also plan to worship and adore Underworld until the day I die...
quoted 2 lines I'm hoping it's not because musical 'training' closes> >> I'm hoping it's not because musical 'training' closes
> >> peoples' ears/minds...
I have not found this to be the case, at least not nearly as much as I
expected. Shortly after coming across smart dance music, I decided that I
needed to start making this stuff myself, because it's so much *cooler*
(to my own ears, I mean) and has a broader social base than the music I
had been making. To my surprise, I actually found a lot of support for
this direction. Granted, there are those in the department who don't get
it, but when your Ph.D. advisor is behind you, that counts for a lot.
quoted 1 line i have often heard ppl who play guitar, piano, bass, etc., say that> i have often heard ppl who play guitar, piano, bass, etc., say that
they don't
quoted 1 line like electronic music because it isn't "real" sound that is being> like electronic music because it isn't "real" sound that is being
produced, and
quoted 1 line that sound lacks the quality that "real" instruments possess. fair enough.> that sound lacks the quality that "real" instruments possess. fair enough.
I'm not sure I think that's "fair enough" -- there's a long debate, going
back to the beginnings of recorded music, along the lines of "technology
vs. authenticity." IM"H"O :), "authenticity," in a pure sense as it's
coded by most rock and even "concert/art" music commentators, is dead, and
has been, as several writers have pointed out, ever since the scales
tipped in favor of recordings so much that live rock shows are usually set
up to sound like the recording! So, my counterargument to the "real
instruments" line is that I'm not interested in buying into a naive
nostalgia for the good-old pre-record days. We've got to work with where
culture is now (as I think techno etc. artists are trying to do).
Also, the inventiveness of house/techno/ambient musicians in using
gadgets "incorrectly" to make new sounds unforeseen by the manufacturers
*has* to be recognized as an authentic practice in its own right--i.e.
doing what musicians have always done: using the tools at hand to make
sounds that are meaningful at the time. In the end, at least as far as my
own work and listening are concerned, all else is superfluous.
Enough babbling. It's great to find this place where this kind of music
is understood... I'll be listening... J
________
\ / | "Sweetie...... sweetie. How come when she put
H. James Harkins | the phone to her ear, all I could hear was the
jharkins@acpub.duke.edu | ocean?" -- Edina Monsoon on her
\/ | ex-husband Marshall's latest girlfriend