Music

[Jubal_Harshaw]

There are musicians and artists in all genres, people that truly feel and understand music. Just to name a few for both genres:

For country, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams Sr. (and arguably III, for his willingness to experiment with musical genres), Wilco, or Emmylou Harris.
For rap, Outkast, Talib Kweli/Mos Def/Black Star, KRS-One.

The trick is knowing where to look. Sturgeon's law applies - 99% of everything is crap, in every musical genre. To limit oneself (note: not saying you're doing this, Jubal) away from a specific genre rather than trying to find what you like in that genre is to miss out on a lot of good music. Both country and rap rose from avenues of social protest/folk singing, so they definitely are more Big Message-oriented than some other genres, but there is musicality in a lot of stuff out there.

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As far as musicality: I can share the song that reliably makes me cry. It's late enough, so what the hell.

Remember the Mountain Bed, lyrics by Woody Guthrie, arranged by Jeff Tweedy/Wilco. Off of Mermaid Avenue II. If you read these lyrics, it's basically about sex in the woods.



But if you listen to the song (link, a live version with lyrics slightly altered - I'll upload the real one later), it's about so much more. The lyrics and delivery combine to absolutely devastating effect.

I apologize if I sounded like I came across as not liking country or rap. There is a lot of country that I do like, though hip-hop less and less the more I hear. It's not that the lyrics are a bad thing, it just requires a different "perspective", if you will. Much like looking at a sculpture is different from looking at a painting. Both visual but you look for different things in them.

With Country and Hip-hop you're not really listening to the music itself but the story. The story is where the emotion is built not the music. The music may set a basic tone for the story but that's the extent of it.

With instrumental music the emotion is built into the music itself. The music tells it's own story.

Here's an example: A song a friend turned me onto almost a year ago, Sonho Dourado by Daniel Landis. When I first listened to the song I got that it was about sadness. Then he played the song again and described each individual emotion as it appeared in the music.

Stanza 1: Loss with flashes of pain
Stanza 2: Dispair with flashes of anger
Stanza 3: Denial with underlying conflict
Stanza 4: Acceptance and understanding
Stanza 5: Healing and strength
Stanza 6: Determination
Closing: Saying good-bye "I'll always be in love with you."

He explained, and I agree, that this song IS exactly what it feels like to lose someone you love.

There are no words to the song, but there are no words that could possibly say what the music does.

 

[SimpleGifts]

There's a quote about how the artist plays the pauses being as important as how they play the notes that I think applies here but I can't recall who said it and I can't seem to find it. *shrug*

I'd love to find out who it was, if you can track it down. It's definitely true if you're playing improv. Some of the most amazing jazz solos I've heard were truly great due to how the soloist used silence.

Another good example is the Adagio from the New World Symphony by Dvorak. There's a section where the melody starts and stops...although there's no vocal or words, you can absolutely hear the "singer" trying to finish the song through sobs of grief. That's the epitome of music to me.

SG

 

[MagicaPractica]

I'd love to find out who it was, if you can track it down. It's definitely true if you're playing improv. Some of the most amazing jazz solos I've heard were truly great due to how the soloist used silence.

Another good example is the Adagio from the New World Symphony by Dvorak. There's a section where the melody starts and stops...although there's no vocal or words, you can absolutely hear the "singer" trying to finish the song through sobs of grief. That's the epitome of music to me.

SG

Any friend of Dvorak's is a friend of mine. I went and looked up the quote. It appears to be from classical pianist, Artur Schnabel, and has been mis-quoted many times over. The most reliable version I could come up with is, "I don't think I handle the notes much differently from other pianists. But the pauses between the notes - ah, there is where the artistry lies!!"

 

[EmeraldKitten]

When I first hear a song, the music itself has to catch me. Once it does, I listen to it, without much understanding of the words and what they're saying.
If it makes me happy, I go home and look up the lyrics, then it all comes together. Sometimes, I still like it, other times, not so much.
Of course, music without words, also has to catch me.
I was a band dork, and some stuff we played for concert band was ugly. I hated how it sounded, I hated how I felt playing it- I liked nothing about it.
But, there were other pieces that we'd play, and I'd get tears in my eyes. At one performance my breath caught in my throat, and I missed about 5 measures over it, lol.
One person may love a song, and another hate it. It's about who you are, and if your personal experience can make that song special to you. (At least, that's how it is for me.)

 

[scriptordelecto]

One of my favorite pieces of music is actually a score piece from the movie "The Crow", composed by Graeme Revell. The beginning makes me think of someone waking from a nightmare, only to find that it is real. It continues through anger, grief and despair, the tone so despondent that it almost hurts to hear it.

Then, out of nowhere comes this sudden phrase of such pure joy, that I cry every time. It's like a memory, when hope is gone and the shadows surround, that casts a single ray of light.

It's a very moving composition.

 

[WRJames]

I'm a writer and composer -- sometimes my music is telling a story. Most of the time it is "just" music. Of course, if the music is a song, there are words involved, and the music is meant to enhance those words. Sometimes the music is inspired by an image or an experience. There may not be an actual story, it may be something more vague.

It was interesting to see the posts about pausing. Classical training teaches you to play precisely in rhythm, which is usually not correct. I was recording some of my own music this morning, playing it from a written score, and I would play it back, realize that I really needed to pause, and couldn't make my fingers do it! It took about a dozen tries before I could get myself to make that pause. The metronome is a truly evil device.

 

[Boota]

As a musician I go through various spells of what excites me. Sometimes it's great lyrics and the way they are arranged into the melody. Great lyrics with no melody most often does nothing for me. In my band we play hard rock/heavy metal, and I absolutely love it. The loud crunchy guitar and all that. But later that same day you will find me playing a very subdued piano piece and trying to play as soft as I possibly can. I'm working on a very powerful symphony, for recording purposes only, budget notwithstanding. LOL.

My rambling and convoluted point... lyrical melody or instrumental only, it is just different ways of saying something. Neither way is better or worse, just different.

 

[Frank Noir]

Also, words are music: I'm not always sure what the lyrics to my favourite songs mean - but the sound of the words add to the mood of the piece.

And then of course, there are the singer/songwriter people - like Lou Reed - where words are very important. And the music is mainly there to back up the message of the lyrics.

 

[jomar]

The special ones are poets who happen to be musicians.

 

[MagicaPractica]

Also, words are music: I'm not always sure what the lyrics to my favourite songs mean - but the sound of the words add to the mood of the piece.

And then of course, there are the singer/songwriter people - like Lou Reed - where words are very important. And the music is mainly there to back up the message of the lyrics.

Good point. The voice can be looked at as just another instrument. You may notice more the words that it is saying if there are words but when it makes sounds that are not necessarily words, such as in scat, you notice its other contributions as well.

 

[amicus]

[QUOTE=Jubal_Harshaw]I used to be really into the words of the song. Then I had a long discussion with a friend, followed by a demonstration, he said that the best music needs no words. When an artist can say everything he thinks and feels without a single word, that is perfection.

For a demontration he played "I Can't Make You Love Me" by Bonnie Raitt, then he played the same song by Candy Dulfer (Sax instrumental). Now, I love Bonnie Raitt and I had never heard of Candy Dulfer at the time and I thought there was no way anyone with any instrument could outdo Bonnie's vocals on that song.

I was wrong.

He told me to ignore the words that Bonnie sang and listen to the emotion in her voice, then he played Candy's version and he told me to listen to the emotion in her sax. Much as I love Bonnie's voice I had to admit she never gave me chills listening to that song. Candy Dulfer did.

I still love great singers and I still love Bonnie Raitt but I have learned to listen to the real song, not just the words.[/QUOTE]

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Was amused and pleased to learn that Candy Dulfer is female. I might recommend a song "Lily Was Here" by Dave Stewart & Candy Dulfer, instrumental with a 'rondo' type confrontation between two instruments, complimenting the male and the female personality, much like "Blue Rondo ala Turk" by the Dave Brubeck quartet or quintet, in the late 1950's, truly a great musical experience.

amicus...