What is the Future of Music? (the edited version)

[kira]

I have been thinking about this as of late. With the ever increasing use of technology in production, creation and manipulation of sound, I wonder how this will continue to influence and change music. I dont think that instruments will ever become obsolete. There is something so sweet about the sounds that comes from striking the keys on a piano or plucking the strings on a cello. However, the other night at a concert, the sounds really resonated with me. </p>

I started to think about the evolution of music. There are highly technical, complicated genres, the most, in my opinion, being classical and jazz. This is highly a generalization of course and there are more, but for example sake I stick with those. There is a ton of layering and an immense amount of knowledge and understanding of how to combine sound, harmony, etc. (in all genre's) But there seems to be another genre that I feel may compliment this or be the newest version of this complicated layering. Maybe it is my lack of knowledge or vocabulary that I have not found a name for it or am just starting to be able to discuss it. </p>

There seems to be this movement, in which musicians that are highly skilled with traditional instruments, the drums, guitar, piano, combine electronic equipment and its sound, reverberation, etc. and they are bringing it to a new level. The creation is this beautiful, sometimes hopeful, sometimes dark, but highly complex music with tons of layers as you hear in something such as Beethoven's Ninth Symphony or a Miles Davis improvisational piece. ( there are a million more examples but those are my favorites) I am in no way trying to ignore the influence of avant garde music or even rock and hip-hop as these all contribute to how music is evolving. But this seems to transcend that. Pieces are not so organized into the 4 minute radio edit but more of an exploration of sound, meant to perhaps be experienced in a different way. There are always artists out there working in this manner but for me it seems like there is a break through happening. </p>

These are just my slightly unorganized thoughts on the subject but thought it might lead to an interesting discussion. We talk about what we are listening to but I thought it might be nice to go a bit deeper. </p>



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[ddohnggo]

Re: What is the Future of Music?



everyone will begin to create the fm3 buddha machine. i'll add more later</p>

</p>

[philip nod]

Re: What is the Future of Music?

[quote user="kira"]

I have been thinking about this as of late. With the ever increasing use of technology in production, creation and manipulation of sound, I wonder how this will continue to influence and change music. I dont think that instruments will ever become obsolete. There is something so sweet about the sounds that comes from striking the keys on a piano or plucking the strings on a cello. However, the other night at a concert, the sounds really resonated with me. I started to think about the evolution of music. There are highly technical, complicated genres, the most, in my opinion, being classical and jazz. This is highly a generalization of course and there are more, but for example sake I stick with those. There is a ton of layering and an immense amount of knowledge and understanding of how to combine sound, harmony, etc. (in all genre's) But there seems to be another genre that I feel may compliment this or be the newest version of this complicated layering. Maybe it is my lack of knowledge or vocabulary that I have not found a name for it or am just starting to be able to discuss it. But there is this movement, in which musicians that are highly skilled with traditional instruments, the drums, guitar, piano, combine electronic equipment and its sound, reverberation, etc. and they are bringing it to a new level. The creation is this beautiful, sometimes hopeful, sometimes dark, but highly complex music with tons of layers as you hear in something such as Beethoven's Ninth Symphony or a Miles Davis improvisational piece. ( there are a million more examples but those are my favorites) I am in no way trying to ignore the influence of avant garde music or even rock and hip-hop as these all contribute to how music is evolving. But this seems to transcend that. Piece are not so organized into the 4 minute radio edit but more of an exploration of sound, meant to perhaps be experienced in a different way. There are always artists out there working in this manner but for me it seems like there is a break through happening. These are just my slightly unorganized thoughts on the subject but thought it might lead to an interesting discussion. We talk about what we are listening to but I thought it might be nice to go a bit deeper. </p>



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[/quote]</p>

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please use pharagraphs. </p>

[kira]

Re: What is the Future of Music?

[quote user="philip nod"][quote user="kira"]

I have been thinking about this as of late. With the ever increasing use of technology in production, creation and manipulation of sound, I wonder how this will continue to influence and change music. I dont think that instruments will ever become obsolete. There is something so sweet about the sounds that comes from striking the keys on a piano or plucking the strings on a cello. However, the other night at a concert, the sounds really resonated with me. I started to think about the evolution of music. There are highly technical, complicated genres, the most, in my opinion, being classical and jazz. This is highly a generalization of course and there are more, but for example sake I stick with those. There is a ton of layering and an immense amount of knowledge and understanding of how to combine sound, harmony, etc. (in all genre's) But there seems to be another genre that I feel may compliment this or be the newest version of this complicated layering. Maybe it is my lack of knowledge or vocabulary that I have not found a name for it or am just starting to be able to discuss it. But there is this movement, in which musicians that are highly skilled with traditional instruments, the drums, guitar, piano, combine electronic equipment and its sound, reverberation, etc. and they are bringing it to a new level. The creation is this beautiful, sometimes hopeful, sometimes dark, but highly complex music with tons of layers as you hear in something such as Beethoven's Ninth Symphony or a Miles Davis improvisational piece. ( there are a million more examples but those are my favorites) I am in no way trying to ignore the influence of avant garde music or even rock and hip-hop as these all contribute to how music is evolving. But this seems to transcend that. Piece are not so organized into the 4 minute radio edit but more of an exploration of sound, meant to perhaps be experienced in a different way. There are always artists out there working in this manner but for me it seems like there is a break through happening. These are just my slightly unorganized thoughts on the subject but thought it might lead to an interesting discussion. We talk about what we are listening to but I thought it might be nice to go a bit deeper. </p>



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[/quote]</p>

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please use pharagraphs. </p>

[/quote]</p>

edited for your reading pleasure my sir.[8-|] but what exactly is a pharagraph? some type of ancient egyptian mark making perhaps...[83][74][51]
</p>

[philip nod]

Re: What is the Future of Music?

thats how i used to spell it when i was eight. sz degrades my engrish

[philip nod]

Re: What is the Future of Music?




</p>

</p>

listen to this record and you will know the future of music</p>

</p>

</p>

[justine]

Re: What is the Future of Music?



You might be interested in looking into this collections of essays about the future of music: Buy Sound Unbound on Amazon, directed by DJ Spooky.</p>

The contributors include: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 18px; ">David Allenby/Pierre Boulez/Catherine Corman/Chuck D/Erik Davis/Scott De Lahunta/Manuel DeLanda/Cory Doctorow/Eveline Domnitch Frances Dyson/Ron Eglash/Brian Eno/Dmitry Gelfand/Dick Hebdige/Lee Hirsch/Vijay Iyer/Ken Jordan/Douglas Kahn/Daphne Keller/Beryl Korot/Jaron Lanier/Joseph Lanza/Jonathan Lethem/Carlo McCormick/Moby, Naeem Mohaiemen/Alondra Nelson/Keith and Mendi/Obadike, Hans Ulrich Obrist/Pauline Oliveros/Philippe Parreno/Ibrahim Quraishi/Steve Reich/Simon Reynolds/Scanner aka Robin Rimbaud/Nadine Robinson/Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR)/Alex Steinweiss/Bruce Sterling/Lucy Walker/Saul Williams/Jeff E. Winner <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; "> </span></span></p>

[klangspiel]

Re: What is the Future of Music?



the future of music is when you lock yourself in a room for about a month listening to everything ever made by these two gentlemen pictured below.</p>

i promise to deliver your food.
</p>

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[Faust]

Re: What is the Future of Music?



Some thoughts here</p>

This is sad but true, "he [Trent Reznor] has recognized that while he grew up treating an album like a novel,
younger listeners, freely downloading music and setting their iPods on
shuffle, are more likely to treat it like a magazine."</p>

[kira]

Re: What is the Future of Music?

[quote user="Faust"]

Some thoughts here</p>

This is sad but true, "he [Trent Reznor] has recognized that while he grew up treating an album like a novel,
younger listeners, freely downloading music and setting their iPods on
shuffle, are more likely to treat it like a magazine."</p>

[/quote]</p>

Interesting read. I love this quote "Not for money or fame ? it?s, I feel good about it. So like any good
addict, if I find something that feels good, if that feels good, maybe
doing twice as much feels twice as, you know. ...?
</p>

So do you think the concert/show will become more important than before with the idea the music is so easily available and can be downloaded for free most of the time? </p>

With a visual artist, they show their work to everyone, but depend upon the collector or the museum to support them financially. The musician 'shows' their music on the radio/internet, but a musician still has to survive. So who become their support if musicians are trying to get away from the record label? I still pay for much of my music. I do download some things for free. But when I want quality I pay. Not sure though if that is the overall sentiment any longer...

Then, I also am wondering specifically about the sound of music as well. "Mr. Reznor, 43, is an unlikely combination of recluse, showman,
tortured Romantic, workaholic and tech geek ? which may just be an
effective personality for a musician in the digital age." I wonder how much of the tech geek electronic will take over traditional instrumentation. I think I am really being drawn right now towards music/musicians that seem to marry the two seemlessly.
</p>

</p>

[kira]

Re: What is the Future of Music?

[quote user="justine"]

You might be interested in looking into this collections of essays about the future of music: Buy Sound Unbound on Amazon, directed by DJ Spooky.</p>

The contributors include: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 18px;">David Allenby/Pierre Boulez/Catherine Corman/Chuck D/Erik Davis/Scott De Lahunta/Manuel DeLanda/Cory Doctorow/Eveline Domnitch Frances Dyson/Ron Eglash/Brian Eno/Dmitry Gelfand/Dick Hebdige/Lee Hirsch/Vijay Iyer/Ken Jordan/Douglas Kahn/Daphne Keller/Beryl Korot/Jaron Lanier/Joseph Lanza/Jonathan Lethem/Carlo McCormick/Moby, Naeem Mohaiemen/Alondra Nelson/Keith and Mendi/Obadike, Hans Ulrich Obrist/Pauline Oliveros/Philippe Parreno/Ibrahim Quraishi/Steve Reich/Simon Reynolds/Scanner aka Robin Rimbaud/Nadine Robinson/Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR)/Alex Steinweiss/Bruce Sterling/Lucy Walker/Saul Williams/Jeff E. Winner <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></p>

[/quote]</p>

seems like some interesting combinations. it becomes about collaboration in this instance. </p>

[kira]

Re: What is the Future of Music?

[quote user="philip nod"]


</p>

</p>

listen to this record and you will know the future of music</p>

</p>

</p>

[/quote]</p>

not quite all of what I am thinking about. But i do enjoy it. [51]</p>

[Diego]

Re: What is the Future of Music?

<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 11px; white-space: pre-wrap; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; ">
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[beforehewentmad]

Re: What is the Future of Music? (the edited version)



The future of music.... that's really quite a complex subject. I feel like the many genres of music currently on the Pop charts are taking a lot more from each other these days. I really don't listen to many bands in the pop genre so I'll stop there on that subject. </p>

After a moment's reflection, the true change that is influencing the music that I listen to is song length. Perhaps this is a return to the classical pieces where the composer could take you on a bit of a journey with their piece... A ten minute song can utilize slower builds (crescendos of volume pianississimo to forte fortissimo and back to ppp) as well as play with more tempo changes. For classical composers... I really like Dvorák, and especially Wagner. </p>

As far as my personal progression in regards to style and song length, I went from liking old punk like The Germs, Black Flag, Flipper, Minor Threat, etc. From there I moved into 90's era bands like Nirvana, The Melvins, Fugazi.... and then Sonic Youth and early Sunny Day Real Estate. Elliot Smith was then the next step, as it reminded me of my childhood of sitting in front of my mom's record player listening to her Neil Young albums. From there the song length increased exponentially with groups like Trans Am (which also used a lot of digital sound manipulation, especially to vocals). Then there was Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Mogwai, Sigur Ros, Explosions in the Sky, etc. (that list only names about 1% of the artists that I listen to)
</p>

If I were to start a band right now... my songs would be long droning 10 minute pieces with slow builds on guitar and bass, jazz influenced drumming with emphasis on tonality in addition to percussive duties, a cellist, and a gypsy style trumpet player thrown into the mix. Instrumental music is here to stay, though digital music certainly will certainly influence it. </p>

The real cause for this change in song length could be the decrease in radio usage, which really fed on the short 3 minute song format. With the advent of mp3 players, few people I know actually listen to the radio for anything more than NPR. So, I suppose we can now freely listen to our 20 minute Godspeed tracks. Sigur Ros concerts also have included orchestra, so perhaps that could be another development in music. Imagine being a Juilliard graduate who tours with a band playing modern music instead of going the traditional orchestra route.
</p>

Final thought: It might be cool to have a StyleZeitgeist group on last.fm, if anyone is interested. Once we have 10 or more members, a chart is generated tracking what music we listen to as a group. I started one up if anyone is interested. If not, that's cool too.. the group will get auto-deleted by their administrators if that turns out to be the case.
</p>http://www.last.fm/group/StyleZeitgeist

[kira]

Re: What is the Future of Music? (the edited version)



After a moment's reflection, the true change that is influencing the
music that I listen to is song length. Perhaps this is a return to the
classical pieces where the composer could take you on a bit of a
journey with their piece... A ten minute song can utilize slower builds
(crescendos of volume pianississimo to forte fortissimo and back to
ppp) as well as play with more tempo changes. For classical
composers... I really like Dvorák, and especially Wagner.</p>

I feel the same way. I am really drawn to these kind of pieces right now. I have a huge classical background from growing up. I learned to play the piano when I was five and my mother really tried to expose us to as much classical music as possible. I love Wagner as well. But Beethoven still has this special place in my heart, maybe perhaps because I played Moonlight Sonata in competition...</p>

As far as my personal progression in regards to style and song
length, I went from liking old punk like The Germs, Black Flag,
Flipper, Minor Threat, etc. From there I moved into 90's era bands like
Nirvana, The Melvins, Fugazi.... and then Sonic Youth and early Sunny
Day Real Estate. Elliot Smith was then the next step, as it reminded me
of my childhood of sitting in front of my mom's record player listening
to her Neil Young albums. From there the song length increased
exponentially with groups like Trans Am (which also used a lot of
digital sound manipulation, especially to vocals). Then there was
Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Mogwai, Sigur Ros, Explosions in the Sky,
etc. (that list only names about 1% of the artists that I listen to)</p>

Seems like we have had similar progression with music. [51] I still love old punk and tons of other genres in music, but I am really drawn to Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, Sigur Ros, M83, Sunn o))), etc right now as well. I think this is because I feel such as strong "classical" influence in the music, in terms of the organization, the change of tempo, etc as you described above in these groups.
</p>

I think for me it is about having an intimate and intense experience again with music and wanting that experience to last longer than the radio 3 minute length. I am finding the need to go to more and more shows to be able to feel the sound and encounter it more directly rather than through headphones or a stereo. When you are able to see and hear in close proximity this type of music, as a listener it becomes quite transcendental.
[8-|]
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