Ask me something music related

[Zazen]

The best "art" music through time was a reflection of culture. As a result, the best classical music has deep roots in peasant music, and many composers would use folk tunes as a basis of their music, relying not only on the familiarity of the tune but all the emotions that said tune would evoke.

In the 20th century and beyond this was especially prevalent. Some of the best contemporary composers (Ives, Bartok) used only folk music as a basis for their concert music. Some composers, like John Cage, experimented with the idea of using "found sound", that is, the sound of the natural and man-made world surrounding us, and presenting it in artful ways. Other minimalist composers (and this is true for pop today, as well) gain recognition by repeating the same sounds so many times that they are fully engraved in our heads.

Though the ear may enjoy new ways of the familiar being presented, so do the eyes. If we didn't, why the fuck would people do still-lives? If I know what a bowl of fruit looks like, why would I want a picture of it? I'd want it because I may enjoy how the artist represents something I'm already familiar with. This is why music is so cyclical (trends in music tend to repeat because people long for something familiar that they can grasp), why the symphony is still the king in Europe, and why pop music uses the same harmonic structure and movement that was popular before Mozart.

It's been a while but I've just now read your answer. I italicized the music you mentioned in that post that does imitate real sounds, and ironically it is often accused of being unmusical. Most people prefer to listen to all of the other sorts of music that you mentioned.

I will try to phrase my question another way. When we are presented with most visual art and asked "What is that a painting/photo/sculpture of?" we can give a basic answer. We see a bowl of fruit, or a person, or a dog, or a garden, or whatever. When similarly asked "What is that a recording/composition of?", we'll answer that we hear singing, or guitars, or "the blues", or an orchestra, or a synthesizer, or whatever. These things don't exist outside of music.

If the music instead consists of a small room or silence or bugs or something of that sort, it seems to challenge us because it sounds like real things. Likewise visual art seems particularly challenging when it is purely abstract and doesn't look like anything recognizable at all.

I have a sort of anecdotal example: On the radio a while back I heard a guy describe and then play "It's Gonna Rain". When it finished he said "fascinating, but now how to turn that into music? Lets hear 'violin phase' to find out..." To him the only thing needed was to replace a recording of a man speaking with lovely, musical violins.

What do you think about all this?

[MattGSX]

In that sense, I'd say yeah.

However: Most "art music" (classical music) does involve a heavy amount of imitating both the natural and the man-made world. Just because we don't use the actual sounds of the world doesn't mean we don't try to represent them. At least, many composers do. Not to keep talking about Bartok (whom I adore) but he wrote music not only based on the folk songs that he had been hearing his entire life, but he tried to write his music in a way that the listener would associate with folk life and the natural world, but that's totally off-subject and I'd feel more at home discussing that on an NPR broadcast.

[mrpeanut]

John Cage's 14:59 is music. It's just really fucking hard to listen to without getting mad.

WHAT THE FUCK, THIS IS JUST SILENCE!

[PHISH-PHREAK]

If Ted Bundy played the viola, who would some of his main influences be and why?

[splynt0r]

Why is Marilyn Manson's new Album so pussified?

[mr_doc]

Who is the shittiest actor/musician alive?
J-lo? Lohan? Master P? Jessica Simpson?

[MattGSX]

John Cage's 14:59 is music. It's just really fucking hard to listen to without getting mad.

WHAT THE FUCK, THIS IS JUST SILENCE!

I agree. Some of John Cage's "music" is really just a big social experiment. I saw this really cool interview on him where he gave himself a certain amount of time to speak on a ton of topics. It was pretty cool, but at the same time just frustrating.

If Ted Bundy played the viola, who would some of his main influences be and why?

This is kind of an irrelevant question. Viola puts the player in the back of a listener's mind. Ted Bundy would have wanted to play violin, cello, or a solo wind instrument. If he were playing one of those, I think his main influences would have been Paganini (because he was also believed to be an amazingly talented sex fiend), Ernest Bloch (same reason), Bartok (for his balance between science, nature, the "real world" and the "educated world") and Webern (as an existentialist, he tried to find some semblance of order within a chaotic world). 

Why is Marilyn Manson's new Album so pussified?

He found he couldn't make it doing shock-rock any more. He made it into the mainstream once doing it; he had to find a new niche if he wanted to stay in the mainstream. As much as he may have claimed he loved being obscured and misunderstood, I'm sure he couldn't afford the lifestyle he lives as an obscure rocker anymore. He had to get new fans, and the only way he could do so was to pander to the mainstream more than he'd previously have done.

Who is the shittiest actor/musician alive?

Paris Hilton. She's a fucking socialite with no discernible talent. At least all the others you've listed "succeeded" in some category before trying to branch out at another. Paris has failed creatively as both an actress and musician, trying to rely on her widespread fame as a rich cunt to sell movies/records.
My second would be Mr. P.

As a strange side note to that question, I think I enjoy Ice T and Ice Cube's acting more than the music they've recently put out. They've been actors for so long I can't think of them as anything else any longer.

[M-26-7]

When is Seeed going to tour in North America?

[Yauch]

I'm going to have to disagree with a few things

Tupoc had tons of fame and recondition while he was still alive and Kurt Cobain has made more money then Tupoc while dead. Hell at one point he made more then Elvis.

Henry Rollins circa Slip it in could take nearly anyone who is not a trained fighter. Rollins got beat on every day by Euopean punks, he had been fighting ever since DC. He knows how to take a punch and give one. One thing in the body builders favor is that Rollins had long hair at this point, something to grab onto.

Best Bad religion song: It's A Long Way To The Promise Land.

He's a question, are chiptunes just a fad or is the style going to work it's way into more mainstream hip hop and other music?

[MattGSX]

I'm going to have to disagree with a few things

Tupoc had tons of fame and recondition while he was still alive and Kurt Cobain has made more money then Tupoc while dead. Hell at one point he made more then Elvis.

Henry Rollins circa Slip it in could take nearly anyone who is not a trained fighter. Rollins got beat on every day by Euopean punks, he had been fighting ever since DC. He knows how to take a punch and give one. One thing in the body builders favor is that Rollins had long hair at this point, something to grab onto.

Best Bad religion song: It's A Long Way To The Promise Land.

He's a question, are chiptunes just a fad or is the style going to work it's way into more mainstream hip hop and other music?

Why don't you start your own music forum, huh? HUH?

To answer your question perfectly honestly, I have no idea. I don't follow mainstream music enough to know current styles or its latest turn in de-evolution.

[Kizzle]

I signed up for a free Spin magazine subscription but have yet to actually read any of it.  Is this advisable?

[Tachyon]

Do you like Bad Religion?

[MattGSX]

I signed up for a free Spin magazine subscription but have yet to actually read any of it.  Is this advisable?

I try to avoid reading Spin.

Do you like Bad Religion

I know I'll get flamed for this, but not really. I think they've done some pioneering things with punk rock, they've changed what it means to be a band that speaks out on taboo subjects, and they have heavy lyrics that they're not afraid to hide through obscure vocals and random profanities. Unfortunately, they're also a pioneer of the gratuitous punk rock guitar solo, which I'm NOT a fan of, and I don't have a passion for the message in the scene that I used to.

Man I sound pretentious when I say that.

[Tachyon]

Do you like Bad Religion

I know I'll get flamed for this, but not really. I think they've done some pioneering things with punk rock, they've changed what it means to be a band that speaks out on taboo subjects, and they have heavy lyrics that they're not afraid to hide through obscure vocals and random profanities. Unfortunately, they're also a pioneer of the gratuitous punk rock guitar solo, which I'm NOT a fan of, and I don't have a passion for the message in the scene that I used to.

Man I sound pretentious when I say that.
[/quote]

The first half was pretty much all the stuff I love about Bad Religion, and I totally dig what you mean about the second half. I'm sure in a few years I'll look back at myself and wonder how I was ever so idealistic, but it's fun now.

[MattGSX]

Same here. Everything BEFORE "guitar solo" is why I loved them. Eventually I just got bored.