PSA to Musicians—Pop Music and Modern Music Production

[ProfD]

Every generation of musicians and music listeners reaches that point in life where the Love Boat leaves. 

 

The music that is the soundtrack of life for an older generation becomes irrelevant to the current generation of musicians and music listeners. 

 

Surely, budding musicians and music lovers will dig into the catalog of music from the past.  They will use it as a learning tool. 

 

Some younger folks could be genuinely interested in that old music too.  However, it will not become the soundtrack of their lives.  

 

As the music nostalgia article pointed out, most folks remember music from the milestones of their lives between the age 12 up to young adulthood.

 

IMO, it serves a musician well to be MOM (Musically Open Minded).  It doesn’t mean one has to dig every genre/style of music. 

 

Just be open to the fact that modern music can produce an ear worm.  That melody or harmony or beat could be incorporated into your bag.  It will make your music sound more hip too.

 

Otherwise, it would be a more productive use of energy to ignore Pop music and beatmakers and AI. 

 

None of that music is being created for your generation.  None of that music stops YOU from being a musician. 

 

Continue to practice on and play your instrument.  Build up a repertoire of music YOU enjoy playing. 

 

Start a band with like-minded musicians.  Go out and perform your music to a live audience.

 

Record, mix and master your music.  Create a website.  Selll your music as downloads.

 

If the world of music has become foreign and/or no longer appeals or applies to your taste buds, it may be time to find another dish, er, hobby.😁

 

Grumbling and complaining about *new* music has never served any generation well.  Don’t take my word for it. 

 

Look at how music has evolved over the past 100 years and counting.  Different generations still making organized noise i.e. music by any means necessary.😎

[JamPro]

When I was 16-17 years old - just about the time I decided I should play the piano every day - and when I was listening to a lot of Grateful Dead, Allman Bros., Steve Miller, etc. - I sought to play every Fats Waller, Glenn Miller, and Benny Goodman tune I came across - i.e. the music my father grew up on.  I'm not sure how I got into swing music: maybe it was because my father played Midnight in Moscow repeatedly on the hi-fi; maybe it was because this sort of swing music featured more piano than the popular rock tunes of the time.

 

But even as I played my father's generation of music, I was a horrible musical snob: this is the good music; that is the bad music, and so on.

 

These days, I enjoy a wider range of music (pretty much everything that isn't opera), but I'm no less of a musical snob.  I still like to think the music I play is the best music, and other opinions are merely an expression of musical ignorance.  While my study of piano music and playing has exposed me to a broad spectrum of musical ideas and styles, I'm not sure it has made me any more musically open-minded.

 

 

[johnchop]

For me, the best tunes have some sort of tension-release going on, or at least some element that is unexpected.

I don’t care when it was written or recorded or if it uses “the four chords” and drum loops… just don’t play it so safe.

 

I know it’s pop. It’s a product with a formula. But maybe it doesn’t have to be boring from start to finish.

 

That’s my old-man-yells-at-clouds moment for today.

This is where AI can be a good thing—There’s so much output to wade through these days, and smarter song recommendation engines could guide you to new and maybe obscure tunes that you’d dig. 

But yeah, life is pretty short. Embrace joy.

[CEB]

I will play anything.  How much does the gig pay?

[ProfD]

12 minutes ago, CEB said:

I will play anything.  How much does the gig pay?

Famous words around here penned by brotha @kanker..😁😎

[AROIOS]

3 hours ago, JamPro said:

...These days, I enjoy a wider range of music (pretty much everything that isn't opera), but I'm no less of a musical snob.  I still like to think the music I play is the best music, and other opinions are merely an expression of musical ignorance.  While my study of piano music and playing has exposed me to a broad spectrum of musical ideas and styles, I'm not sure it has made me any more musically open-minded...

Nothing wrong with opinions and preferences, they only become snobbery when we start to force them upon others.

[ElmerJFudd]

There’s always an audience for music made the way the way we most relate to.  That’s the beauty of recording and digitization.  It’s all there for you to listen to whenever your heart desires.  
 

Just like not every player is the right one for the gig at hand, not every piece of music is the right one for audience present.

 

That said, While I personally find AI interesting from a scientific perspective, its output has yet to warrant a second play.  

 

[Polkahero]

I turned down a solo piano gig offer because they wanted mostly Taylor Swift music.  Sorry but I have standards to uphold, so shoot me.

[Old No7]

10 hours ago, Polkahero said:

I turned down a solo piano gig offer because they wanted mostly Taylor Swift music...

 

Taylor WHO?

 

And what position does he play on the KC Chiefs?

 

Seriously...  I know who she is...  But I couldn't name one of her songs if my life depended on it...

 

Old No7