Recently I have been reading up on big band writing, with the intent of composing some new music. What struck me in my studies is the deliberation and reverence for the art found throughout these books. There is something about doing it right. Art can have details, and somebody needs to care about those nuances if we are to take it seriously.
Who watches the watchers?
What happens when a musical product makes it from conception to final release without any real attention to quality and detail? Recently I was learning some recorded music for a gig and found out.
- Bass notes that clash with the harmony; often with the 5th of the triad in the bass, or with some non-harmonic tone.
- Pentatonic vocal melisma clearly in the wrong key as compared to the accompaniment, and then (of course) brutally Auto-Tuned.
- Bizarre out-of-time loops and phrases; such as swing and straight-eighth patterns fighting for supremacy.
- Syncopated lead vocals that drifted so far out of time that it became difficult to relate them to the groove.
- Rumbling, pitched kick drums that formed dissonant intervals with the bass notes.
- Sampled horn phrases so out-of-tune that it actually caused me pain.
Some of these songs were actually difficult to learn because they made so little musical sense. The thing I gathered from this is that either nobody with an ear for harmony and rhythm was involved in these productions, or that those with musical skill were either shouted down or didn’t speak up for fear of “killing the vibe.”
I can only hope that architecture and civil engineering are not following similar paths.
Now, I don’t want to be misunderstood; deliberately “breaking the rules” has always moved music forward. From Beethoven to Stravinsky to Hendrix, skilled artists have had the vision to try something new. What I see here is more genuine incompetence masquerading as “style” with everyone high-fiving each other.
You might also dismiss my thoughts as the elitist rantings of a music theory teacher against the concept of the “people’s” music. But honestly I have never seen such a wholesale move away from skill in any artform. Even in the early days of punk rock, at least you had to be able to hold your instrument, play a few chords, keep time, and of course, sing.
The Geeks Shall Inherit
Probably not, but at the other end of the scale, I find arranging texts weighing the various voicings of a chord, or of doubling the melody an octave down in the baritone sax. A friend and I found ourselves discussing the merits of the Ma7#9 chord.
It isn’t so much jazz or a period of music that I find attractive about this; it is the idea of getting all the way to the bottom of what you are doing, and of finessing every note to get the sound you want. This could apply to any kind of art.
I realize that as a teacher at a music school I may be “preaching to the choir” but it does sadden me to see such a palpable lowering of standards…
A Hard Sell
In such an environment, where is the incentive to do it the hard way and to learn the craft of arranging? As always, this is a matter of viewpoint. Most of the finest work done in the world was under-appreciated during the artists’ lives. For the same reason, any form of idealism has to come from within.
In other words, if you have to explain it to someone, by definition they probably won’t understand.
Questions:
- Do you value getting “all the way to the bottom” in your studies?
- Have you ever been bothered by your own lack of skills?
- How do you measure the rewards of your study and efforts?
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