Do musicians make music or just discover it?
Sent that out in an email to a few folks. Here are a some of responses I got
most of the time these days I lean towards a version of "discovering" it since there is so many thousands of songs out there and though you can make alot of different note combinations, its not a completely infinite amount, so when for example I sit down at a piano and create what to me is a new song/new music- chances of it being not the same as one that already exists that I do not know about is pretty slim - or one that I don't know about that is very similar, or maybe it's one I heard before but forgot and so subliminaly (sp?) I am plagerizing someone-else's work while consciously I like the tune and hope that it is original.
i think music is a creative expression, and talent is discovered through that creating. whether you are writing or playing something for the first time or playing a well-known or classical piece, that person is creating their own sound, their own expression. they might discover that they have talent that someone else doesn't, or they might discover a new sound or instrument, but i think that they are creating music, not discovering it. i don't think "crazy train" was just waiting to be discovered...i think somewhere in the recesses of someone's brain, that song took form.
I agree that the creation part is part of it that I didn't hit on in the first email, like each song obviously was created the first time by someone, just like it's possible for someone who has never ever heard "crazy train" to write a song that just happens to be the exact same melody as crazy train with different words and think they have something totally original-but none-the-less still it is their "own song and expression" as my lovely mate put it.
other possibility... is music not created but maybe "given" to us/to our brain from a higher source, like the norse god of music - thorsic and we simply don't always acknowledge that and take credit for it ourselves?
Every note has been played, every string has been strummed. I believe that interpretation of the notes can be created, but I don't believe anything to be new. Just as in art, the artist shows their interpretation of what the hear or see. The music or art is already there. An art teacher once told me that art is learning how to see. The same can be said for music, only learning how to hear. There are no original ideas, no "thinking outside the box," no "taking it to the next level." Two phrases which I loathe to hear. People give themselves way too much credit. We use art and music to express our interpretations of what we see and hear. The beauty is already there, crafted by the original master.
Einstein said that the universe was made up of chords and harmonies (not only musical of course) and therefore music is pre existing, all we have to do is find it. I suppose this is also a fee will question as well…
Friday, January 30, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Jesus Christ/Muhammad/Moses/Buddha
Well I only got two responses to the question so I am going to put them both in this post. The first person's responses are in blue and the second person's are in red.
Jesus Christ:
an insightful man who could take a look at the world around him and
with relative certainty predict the inevitable fate of the land,
country and people around him. The key word in that sentence was
"man". He was not an immortal or deity. He was not the healer or son
of God, whom so many claim today. I also think that he was a great
leader, an insightful leader, and an optimist who saw better of the
people around him. He tried to teach people a better existence through
meaningful stories designed to make people think about their own
action and ways to live a better life. Unfortunately...history, lies,
zealotry, and religion will forever blur the idea of a man and an
immortal deity that can damn us, kill us, help us or save us.
Son of God
Muhammad:
see JC above sans stories. He used laws instead of parables. He tried
to make the lives of his people better. Unfortunately the idea of
religion and law were never separated and now his teachings have been
slanted from so many different viewpoints his original views have been
lost.
the prophet in the Muslim religion that carries the same weight as JC, but is not the son of God (I think?)
Moses:
MLK for the Jews, but much much earlier.. He spoke up for those who
had no voice. Should have invented a compass though.
Wrote the 10 commandments, parted a sea, lead Jerusalem to freedom. Made weird bread fall from the sky too
Buddha:
Much like Moses had it all at the start. Saw that life was not the
fanciful bouquet of roses his sheltered life masked from him. Sought a
more meaningful existence through patience, self meditation, and
personal understanding.
I think buddha is in several religions? Hinduism, Buddism, etc.? I really don't know without looking it up
Summaries:
Of all of the religious leaders I think Buddha's message is the best
and least tainted through centuries of self-serving, vile "religious
leaders" that try and present themselves as only one step from God and
pray on peoples fears and faith to control them. While I don't believe
that the icons themselves were that way in reality, only that their
messages have been so tainted by centuries, its impossible to
understand their true intent.
Jesus Christ:
an insightful man who could take a look at the world around him and
with relative certainty predict the inevitable fate of the land,
country and people around him. The key word in that sentence was
"man". He was not an immortal or deity. He was not the healer or son
of God, whom so many claim today. I also think that he was a great
leader, an insightful leader, and an optimist who saw better of the
people around him. He tried to teach people a better existence through
meaningful stories designed to make people think about their own
action and ways to live a better life. Unfortunately...history, lies,
zealotry, and religion will forever blur the idea of a man and an
immortal deity that can damn us, kill us, help us or save us.
Son of God
Muhammad:
see JC above sans stories. He used laws instead of parables. He tried
to make the lives of his people better. Unfortunately the idea of
religion and law were never separated and now his teachings have been
slanted from so many different viewpoints his original views have been
lost.
the prophet in the Muslim religion that carries the same weight as JC, but is not the son of God (I think?)
Moses:
MLK for the Jews, but much much earlier.. He spoke up for those who
had no voice. Should have invented a compass though.
Wrote the 10 commandments, parted a sea, lead Jerusalem to freedom. Made weird bread fall from the sky too
Buddha:
Much like Moses had it all at the start. Saw that life was not the
fanciful bouquet of roses his sheltered life masked from him. Sought a
more meaningful existence through patience, self meditation, and
personal understanding.
I think buddha is in several religions? Hinduism, Buddism, etc.? I really don't know without looking it up
Summaries:
Of all of the religious leaders I think Buddha's message is the best
and least tainted through centuries of self-serving, vile "religious
leaders" that try and present themselves as only one step from God and
pray on peoples fears and faith to control them. While I don't believe
that the icons themselves were that way in reality, only that their
messages have been so tainted by centuries, its impossible to
understand their true intent.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Proclamation of Thanksgiving
Washington, D.C.
October 3, 1863
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.
Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.
I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.
By the President: Abraham Lincoln
William H. Seward,
Secretary of State
October 3, 1863
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.
Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.
I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.
By the President: Abraham Lincoln
William H. Seward,
Secretary of State
Friday, November 7, 2008
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