Recent searches
Search options
Re this from @jasonkoebler, two things:
First, as a pianist and composer who fights tooth and nail to keep his music alive through the maelstrom of life, despite zero (or negative) economic benefit, I’d just like my “fuck you, Mikey Shulman” on the record. Thanks.
Second, “enjoy” is the wrong word. Capitalist techbro just can’t imagine music having any purpose other than pleasure or consumption, to be maximized (obviously).
People create music/art because the creative process gives them life — even when that process is frustrating, laborious, maddening, or just •hard work•.
And people enjoy engaging deeply with music/art because of that sense that it has a creator and the creation process gave that person life, life they can now share in experiencing that art.
2/
My legendary mentor Don Betts said, “Music teaches us how to think and feel.”
Note: not •what• to think and feel. •How.•
Gen AI is probably just fine for pumping out endless office lobby music whose purpose is to be neutral and generic, to be ignored. But what Don said? No way. The mere output isn’t the point. You’ve got to live it.
3/
Music (and all forms of art) aren't just self-therapy — though they are that, to be sure. They’re instruction manual and mutual support and medicine and nourishment for being a thinking and feeling human being. Being a person is a •lot•! Music helps us be this messy, beautiful thing that we are.
And it’s something else, too.
4/
We live in a world of breathtaking beauty. That beauty is not just inhabited by life; it is •created• by life. It’s created by all these living organisms just being what they are, shaping the world by living in it.
Trees make forests. Coral makes reefs. Humans make art.
Other things too, yes. But all our creative work is surely one of the things at the center of what we bring to the universe — precious and valuable the way flowers or anthills are precious and valuable.
5/
If there’s any •purpose• to living things, if our existence is •for• anything, surely creating music is part of that purpose. Not just outputting music; living music, breathing music, struggling with and through music, experiencing music fully as both creator and listener. Our purpose.
And if this extractive capitalism of our current world is good for anything, it’s killing purpose, reducing everything to an empty husk. So to be clear, I’m not just saying “fuck you, Mikey Shulman, you cheapen my work as a musician;” I’m saying “fuck you, Mikey Shulman, you’re trying to destroy what gives our human existence meaning.” •That• kind of a fuck you.
/end
Yes. Both market economics and policing of artistic hierarchy make us forget that the point isn’t to be the •best• at it; the point is to •do• it.
People don’t always play music to win or to profit or to pass their juries. People play to •play•. That piano rep we quarantine in concert halls nowadays is supposed to be for the home — and primarily for the enjoyment of the player, whether perfecting it or just fumbling through it. (Somebody called the piano “the big-screen TV of the 19th century.”)
Keep playing, @jredlund.
Yes, @JetlagJen centers something I’d only alluded to: creation is connection; creation is community. That’s a crucial part of this too. A world where all art is automatically generated is an unimaginably lonely world.
And an addendum, just in case it’s not clear:
I’m talking about music, but I see all of the above in people perfecting their cookie recipe, or working out a mathematical proof, or writing fanfic, or writing a static site generator for no good reason, or lovingly patching a torn garment. All creative work.
What I said about the piano as the center of the home mostly is in the past, but that creative instinct — so quintessentially human — is alive and well. Yes, even today.
I see @Gaolaitch is on a related train of thought today:
Since I mentioned Don Betts upthread, I feel like I should link to something of his. In his later years, in his 80s and even 90s, his daughter and grandson helped him make videos of himself playing his piano at home:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYCRBroUi9E
I think these intimate videos capture more of what this music is supposed to be (to me, at least) than the most polished and prestigious commercial release in the world. And they are so very •Don•.
I miss him.
@inthehands Yes to this whole thread!
STG, these chuds would build a robot that can do a kickflip on a skateboard, then bring it down to the park and be like, "isn't this great, kids!? Now you can get rid of your boards! The robot can do kickflips for you!"
@inthehands All. Creative. Work.
I see it in intricate metalwork dug up after hundreds of years lost. It's in cave paintings, moai statues, and Nascar lines. Creativity in a million guises echoes through the heart of every human who has ever lived.
We can create ever more complex tools to support our creativity, but they can never replace it.
@daletrexel @inthehands both have their own mystery and beauty!
@JetlagJen @inthehands I bang some sticks on my dry log stack.
No one hears it, but it brings me pleasure. It's fun.
@JetlagJen @inthehands This is a beautiful thought, but I’m pretty sure you mean *Nazca* lines, not Nascar lines (probably autocorrect gone rogue):
@inthehands @JetlagJen That's just paint. The fans queuing up to get in are the *living* NASCAR lines. 
@EpiphanicSynchronicity @inthehands
... Which brings us neatly back to connection and community. And an integral part of that is the creativity of their banners and outfits, and displaying, sharing, and rejoicing in their shared interest.
@inthehands I make liturgy. I don't know if I'd be as assiduous if it was my paid job. (I do consider it my job; just not for money)
@inthehands That is a manifesto. Great stuff!
@inthehands @Gaolaitch I was reading Heinrich von Kleist's "On the Marionette Theater" recently, and was really struck by how much it speaks to our current moment
What's worst about it all is how existentially terrifying it is to be having an increasingly difficult time telling the difference. Uncanny valley in the soul.
@inthehands This is so lovely...
ಥ﹏ಥ
He really was a remarkable musician. I think only his students really got to see how remarkable.
Thank you for listening.
@quephird
Oh, hey, I thought of you yesterday because I came back to that wonderful video of Awaken with JA + Todmobile, which I’m pretty sure you clued me in to. And (recommenders aren’t always bad) this wonderful performance also came up, new to me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDXccU0xgNo
@inthehands OMG Jon sounded _amazing_ in that performance, and it literally brought tears to my eyes. Rick was also really good, and I had forgotten how good Chris Squire's backing vocals were.
Thank you for sharing.
@quephird
Thank you for sharing in the listening! We Yes fans have to stick together.
(つ ^‿^)╱ ╲(^‿^ ᑕ)
Hey, I've never seen another Yes fan in the wild.
What is our general opinion on Union?
It's up there in the top three for me, but I have a feeling that might not be the most popular opinion
Also, that album's cover art is one of my favorite Roger Dean paintings
@inthehands @quephird
Take the Water to the Mountain probably has been the one that's stuck with me the most
@inthehands @quephird is that the Yes album or The Yes Album? The latter would exclude TTAW from your favorites, which is another top 3 album, but is itself in the top 3. And then the joint fourth goes to everything up until Tormato.
TTAW = Time and a Word, I take it?
One of the great things about Yes is their output is so long as so vast, there’s really room in there for a huge spectrum of tastes! And yet it all sounds just so obviously…Yes. Not many bands/artists like that. Prince is the other that comes to mind.
So, I _used_ to really like that album when it came out, as well as the ABWH one-off... but lately, I dunno... I much prefer their stuff from the seventies and early eighties, but I don't hold that opinion too strongly. And I didn't really follow them after their Talk album.
@quephird @inthehands I think post-Union Open Your Eyes is actually good, but everything else is frankly a bit of a chore to listen to.
Kinda weird how every classic band I can think of has that one kinda oddball but good album in the 90s and then enters rapid decline.
@inthehands @Gaolaitch thank you very much for these, I'll have to add them to my “Continuous Content Generation” critique
https://wok.oblomov.eu/tecnologia/continuous-content-generation/