Open letter to young musicians - the next big thing

[Eric Iverson]

I was just discussing music with someone in a PM, and it came up that it would be a good thing if someone in the younger generation would come up with something just as good as Bach and Beethoven, Miles and Coltrane, Lennon and McCartney, but in a completely different style - something for the 21st Century!

 

I'd do it myself, but I'm a hopelessly 20th century schizoid man, and still a journeyman at my advanced age. But I know there are some geniuses out there - I hope you get discovered sooner rather than later, without having to go through all that American Idol BS maximus!

[Dana.]

I was just discussing music with someone in a PM, and it came up that it would be a good thing if someone in the younger generation would come up with something just as good as Bach and Beethoven, Miles and Coltrane, Lennon and McCartney, but in a completely different style - something for the 21st Century!

Who's to say it hasn't already been done?

[Synthoid]

Checking YouTube...

 

[Eric Iverson]

I hope it HAS been done, and if you guys can turn me on to something, I'm delighted!

[CrimsonianKing]

I hope it HAS been done, and if you guys can turn me on to something, I'm delighted!

 

I already sent you some "new" stuff in a pm, remember? By the way, did you check them out?

[Eric Iverson]

Yes I did. Some of it I liked more than others, but listening to it was time well spent and I appreciate that you sent it.

 

It was checked out on the fly though, not in depth, so I would need to listen to the music more carefully before giving an actual opinion. Since the artists in question work hard on their craft, and deserve better than a ten-second evaluation.

[Cygnus64]

I was just discussing music with someone in a PM, and it came up that it would be a good thing if someone in the younger generation would come up with something just as good as Bach

Bach was all but forgotten in his day. His sons were way more popular, Bach himself almost faded into oblivion until the 1800s when composers like Mendelssohn re-discovered his music.

 

I think this is possible even in the present, maybe moreso than ever. There will always be great musicians making great music, nothing can change that. We're just not hearing it (as much) due to oversaturation and business practices. The music's still there and will survive.

 

People think that the famous/infamous/dreaded/revered Pachelbel Canon has been famous for 100s of years. Nope, try 1980. It's famous because of the movie "Ordinary People", it was basically obscure until then. Someday, good music might find success long after it is due. Eva Cassiday found success 10 years after her death.

[JeffLearman]

Yes I did. Some of it I liked more than others, but listening to it was time well spent and I appreciate that you sent it.

 

It was checked out on the fly though, not in depth, so I would need to listen to the music more carefully before giving an actual opinion. Since the artists in question work hard on their craft, and deserve better than a ten-second evaluation.

Many of my all-time favorites I didn't like on first listen.

[JeffLearman]

I was just discussing music with someone in a PM, and it came up that it would be a good thing if someone in the younger generation would come up with something just as good as Bach

Bach was all but forgotten in his day. His sons were way more popular, Bach himself almost faded into oblivion until the 1800s when composers like Mendelssohn re-discovered his music.

 

I think this is possible even in the present, maybe moreso than ever. There will always be great musicians making great music, nothing can change that. We're just not hearing it (as much) due to oversaturation and business practices. The music's still there and will survive.

 

People think that the famous/infamous/dreaded/revered Pachelbel Canon has been famous for 100s of years. Nope, try 1980. It's famous because of the movie "Ordinary People", it was basically obscure until then. Someday, good music might find success long after it is due. Eva Cassiday found success 10 years after her death.

I have no doubt that the past and present are littered with geniuses that we'll never know and will never be discovered. It's the "tree falls in a forest" thing all over again.

[CrimsonianKing]

Yes I did. Some of it I liked more than others, but listening to it was time well spent and I appreciate that you sent it.

 

It was checked out on the fly though, not in depth, so I would need to listen to the music more carefully before giving an actual opinion. Since the artists in question work hard on their craft, and deserve better than a ten-second evaluation.

 

Good cause everything i sent can't be judged just by one listen or one song or even one album, even though i do like pop music, those artists are no american idols, they can actually compose and have creativity, instead of being just another good singer/player.

 

So yeah, give it some more listens and you'll get it, like you said, you'll probably like some more than the others, but they all offer honest music.

[drawback]

Many of my all-time favorites I didn't like on first listen.

 

+1k

 

I might add that almost all of the new album releases by my favorite artists (even back to The Beatles) had to grow on me.

 

Then one day, you just get it... and it becomes your new favorite.

 

 

[Joe Muscara]

Eva Cassiday found success 10 years after her death.

Really? This leads to many questions. How did she do that? Where did she find it? What did she do with it?

 

Here I thought death was the end. Silly me.

[Cygnus64]

 

Here I thought death was the end. Silly me.

Silly indeed. John Kennedy Toole was a young author who committed suicide. His mom found one of his manuscripts and took at to a prof at Loyola, it was published many years after he died. He won the Pulitzer for "A Confederacy of Dunces".

[stillplaying]

That's a very readable book - with some laugh out loud bits.

[iLaw]

Eva Cassiday found success 10 years after her death.

Really? This leads to many questions. How did she do that? Where did she find it? What did she do with it?

Good questions indeed. Read up on Eva Cassidy. Her life, death, and fame (in that order) are worthy of a John Irving-esque novel.

 

Larry.

 

[Michelle ggurl]

So what your saying is, you're looking for a gamechanger.

 

Regarding the comment about success, it's all in how you define success. If success means reaping vast financial rewards and basking in the glow of accolades and fame, well yeah, you have to be alive to do that. But if your definition is to make an impact on humanity and contribute to culture, that happens posthumously quite a bit. I'd say the latter definition is more noble, and sometimes the true meaning of a given body of work (or single work) isn't known till a lot of time has passed. In some cases, lifetimes.

[marino]

Looking at history, it seems that there has never been a direct relationship between genius/historic importance and popularity/money. It also depends on era and place, obviously... but even so:

 

- Bach: Popular in his time, almost forgotten for a century, considered among the very best today

- Mozart: Fairly popular in his time, but his will to be a freelance artist in an era when 'artists' didn't exist yet, brought him to die in extreme poverty and relative loneliness. Today, of course, he's one of the Gods of music.

- Beethoven: A rockstar. Extremely popular during his life and afterwards. The fact that he was a tormented character only augmented his legend - like Hendrix, or Janis Joplin.

- Schubert: Now get this. His production was in line with Beethoven's, both in quantity and quality. He lived in the same place and period as Beethoven, but *nobody* cared for his music except a small circle of friends. He died very young in extreme poverty. Again, today he's considered one of the greats.

- Listz: Another rockstar. His stage figure was so fascinating that for a while his music was overrated too (many considered Listz a better composer than Chopin or even Beethoven)

- Charlie Parker: Well, you know his story; it's almost too painful to recall. Just think of the schizophrenia of being exalted by the critics and hipsters for your genius, but being considered a dropout by just everybody else. Plus the various addictions, etc.

That he was able to live for 36 years is already a miracle in itself to me.

 

In the Internet era, and with the corporate labels more and more at the service of plastic, overproduced stuff, finding quality music is not difficult, but a bit disorienting. You have to dig for yourself and find what you like. Of course, there's also the problem that a great artist, working in isolation and without the support of a big structure, could very well lose confidence, or simply start thinking that it's just not worthy. That's the main danger in my view.

 

Here are a few, relatively unknown artists whom I love: Michael McNabb and William Schottstaedt in electronic music, Anthony Davis and Alex Sipiagin in jazz, Ana Carolina and Bebe in pop music. Check them out if you can.

 

 

[scottasin]

I'm working on it, alright. Making a new sound is tough. The latest 'new sound' that's caught fire is dubstep and I want nothing to do with that.

[The Real MC]

I was just discussing music with someone in a PM, and it came up that it would be a good thing if someone in the younger generation would come up with something just as good as Bach and Beethoven, Miles and Coltrane, Lennon and McCartney, but in a completely different style - something for the 21st Century!

 

Kevin Gilbert

 

Another brilliant mind who sadly never found wide acceptance in his lifetime.

[Seannn]

The latest 'new sound' that's caught fire is dubstep and I want nothing to do with that.

 

Count me out as well. I do however feel the general electronica scene (pardon my semantics, but dance, techno, etc.) is the future, and I'm definitely trying to jump into that scene. I'm going to try to learn the ropes as a DJ, but I'm not entirely into the scratching/mixing scene.

 

My band is working on recordings, which essentially means a mess of XLR and other cables in my basement going from keyboards to direct box to mics/amps/interface, and I'm trying to incorporate a lot of analog sounds. The recording experience is very rewarding, and I hope that I will remain energetic enough to produce more music in the years to come.

 

I hate these trance/dance synth patches that come on the new digital keyboards. Disgusting. However, I think synthesizer - and synth as most of us know it, warm, analog, groundbreaking, spacey goodness (including sampling, acoustic instrument replication, etc.) is the future. I see music coming to a lot more homes, and when it comes to something "21st" century, I would love to see that, ultimately - the continuation of music.

 

Sonically, well - some analog and symphonic, something huge - something innovating. There are a number of indie bands that have done some really interesting things with electroacoustic music, but there was also Pet Sounds and the collected works of The Beatles, examples of music that blow away 89% of what's out there today. I like layers and complexity, harmonies, sonic grasps, loud (acoustic) kick drum that you can feel in your chest, and panning synths. I want sound to be live and powerful and inside.

 

The truth is, I've read your open letter, and I think about what you mean everyday, and I thank the music greats every day and those with many moons of experience, such as many of you, for helping develop this passion that I have for music, in all of its forms of appreciation. One things for sure, we're 21st century, and short of (arguably) Arcade Fire and Sufjan Stevens, I really haven't heard it yet.

[Dana.]

This just in... The Korg M1 is back with a vengeance via Bon Iver. This song should be retitled "Bruce/Hornsby."

 

[video:youtube]

[Mr. B.]

Most people and musicians who are not classically trained do not know that the great classical composers gave so much of their newly written sonatas, opera's and orchestra pieces away to whores for payment of services.

Those of you seriously wanting a good listen should go to the "Hit Man's" site, can't remember his name but I met him years ago way before his was called the hit man. Go to his site and you will understand quickly. The right person has to hear your music, or your voice, AND, you HAVE TO BE GOOD, if you do not sound as good as the people on the radio or on TV or, in the concerts you pay lots of money to see and hear then you need to work a lot harder and get there. I speak from experience.

[Dana.]

Most people and musicians who are not classically trained do not know that the great classical composers gave so much of their newly written sonatas, opera's and orchestra pieces away to whores for payment of services.

Prostitutes? Really?

[iLaw]

Yeah, I briefly considered a sarcastic comment about the House of Esterházy, but decided to let it go.

 

Larry.

[Michelle ggurl]

I'm working on it, alright.

 

That's cool, I still am too ... in my case, it's obvious I don't know when to quit, LOL. I hope I never do.

[Cygnus64]

- Beethoven: A rockstar. Extremely popular during his life and afterwards.

Even more interesting are the guys that were MEGA Rockstars and today are $2000 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions questions.

 

Louis Spohr was big shiat, he was bigger than Beethoven. Meyerbeer was the most famous composer in the world at one point, and the richest of them all. They have all but vanished from the concert hall.

 

American Composers have met the same fate. Piston, William Schuman, Roy Harris, David Diamond, Hanson etc. were all very established and have some terrific stuff. Today, American classical music is pretty much down to 3 guys: Copland, Barber and Bernstein.

[kanker.]

Most people and musicians who are not classically trained do not know that the great classical composers gave so much of their newly written sonatas, opera's and orchestra pieces away to whores for payment of services.

Prostitutes? Really?

You let me score, I give you a score, capisce?

[stillplaying]

...go to the "Hit Man's" site, can't remember his name but I met him years ago way before his was called the hit man.

 

Pete Waterman?

 

http://www.pwl-empire.com/

[Dana.]

You let me score, I give you a score, capisce?

I get the pun, but what are prostitutes going to do with a written sonata?

[kanker.]

You let me score, I give you a score, capisce?

I get the pun, but what are prostitutes going to do with a written sonata?

This....

 

[video:youtube]