I often have this debate in my head about what it means to be a musician and whether or not its Elitist to criticize someones work or style of playing. What do i mean? Heres an example: Someone writes a song that has quite a few notes that are out of key, and i personally find the song to be quite distasteful. My first instinct would be to tell them Hey that note is off, how about you try replacing it with this one? And then replace it with a note that is in key with the rest of the song so that it sounds like it makes more sense. But that might lead to an undesired outcome with the person who wrote said song. Maybe its because of the lack of knowledge on music theory, or simply because they have an inexperienced ear, but they chose those out of key notes because they might not have known any better. Regardless, that composition is THEIR idea, THEIR form of expressing them self through music. So what Im trying to say is, there are two ways of looking at it. Music can be looked at as a form of expression in which there is no competition, no right or wrong, and judgement because if there is then youre interfering with what someones form of expression. Or music is a form of expression with a science behind it. That science being music theory. The rules and guidelines as to how to make a certain note, chord, or progression project a certain emotion or feeling. Notes, Scales, Chords, Keys, progressions, Harmonies, etc. Of course Rules are meant to be broken, so by no means am i saying that music should ONLY be written with theory in mind, but rather a mix. If that was not the case then a lot of Top producers would not only pick Musicians that can sing in key, or pick beats/instruments that make sense as far as key and such. So i guess what Im asking for is peoples opinion on this. Sure unsolicited advice about music might seem rude, but is it really? As a musician, i can appreciate songs for what they are, even if i dont particularly enjoy the song, i can still understand the type of musicianship it takes to write said song and realize that even though its not my style, it still takes a certain amount of skill to make. But i can also see when someone is still pretty new to music writing and their music sounds as if it took very little musicianship to make or it simply sounds extremely bland, generic, and not very well thought out. Of course Im only really asking for the opinions of musicians, since non musicians wouldnt understand exactly what it is Im asking/trying to say. Or maybe Im wrong, I mean this is an open post anyways so feel free to share your opinion.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 21:46:25 +0000
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