General Music Chat

I think that I just assume as a writer that everyone involved in
the playing or making of music has a drive to turn the music in
their head into reality. Thats what I try to do. Some like Crip are not
music creators but music replicators. As a writer I have a hard time excepting that. In my brain that doesn't compute. Power to him if
that satisfies but it's just hard for me to except as a writer. I guess
I thought that all musicians strive to express themselves through
originals. Maybe I'm wrong.

Yep. you're wrong, Klug. Music covers a whole world of possibilities. You chose only one section of it. Crip has chosen another.

Every year, huge groups of ppl get together to celebrate some of the best music ever written, to catch a live performance of symphonic music. The cover rocker does the very same thing, on a smaller scale. Nary a thing right or wrong about it, & neither better nor worse. There is a need for ppl out there to continue to keep songs alive - to remind us of better times, perhaps, or to dredge up feelings of melancholy, or just to celebrate that some great songs have already been written, & live is nearly always better than recordings, just for that certain atmosphere & energy involved.

You keep searching to write the ultimate song, that will stay in ppl's minds like a Beethoven piece...or perhaps your goal is less lofty...whatever your reasons, they are yours, & yours alone.

If you SHOULD be so lucky & creative as to write that ultimate, timeless piece, would you wish it only to exist in your recording, & never be played by other ppl, or would you like it to remain alive & vital, as it's played through the hands of others long after you're dead & gone?

Playing another person's song is a tribute to their creative work. Putting one's own spin on it means that one can relate to that work in their own way, & that, too, is a beautiful thing, even if it's only Sid Vicious doing a cover of "My Way!"

Klugmo...Back in the day, I was a music "Creator" My songs were played on the radio and I even was asked to do the background music for a music store(radio commercial) as well as Aria Pro Guitars asking me to sponsor them! I quit playing for over 2 decades... I started again only a few years ago and purposely did covers because there is no call in the clubs over here for original music... All the original musicians here are broke and only gig about 4 times a year as opposed to the cover bands which are always busy. I just want to get out there and have fun, make a couple of bux and wail my ass off on stage... If I were a younger man, I would put my all into "creating" but it's not feasible as I would be spending mega bux on recording (as I did in the 80's) and simply put, just be a garage band! All the original acts here really do suffer for their craft and get nowhere....Their gigs are empty with only their friends showing up whereas my shows are pretty well packed because my audience is familiar with the tunes we do and come down because they just wanna have a good time and be able to hear familiar songs in the club while they socialize. I have no visions of grandeur and am very pleased making a buck just having the opportunity to get up on stage and be a ham!

I think if I recreated a cover in my fashion. It could give me the
same feeling. That would make me feel a little odd though.

"Music comes from composers—not musicians." ~ Frank Zappa

Many people have expressed the opinion that music started to go downhill when musicians began to write their own music. At one time, these roles were strictly divided; composers wrote music, musicians performed it. I don't necessarily subscribe to this; some people are musicians and composers. But the vast majority of musicians are not able to write music - at least music that others want to hear.

COMPOSERS ARE MUSICIANS FIRST.

I would say that's usually true Klug, however it's possible to be a composer without ever picking up an instrument, especially with all of the technology available today.

That may be true but it is not a strong enough argument to
back up his statement.

When Ludwig van Beethoven tuned his piano, how could he tell?

Burt Bacharach wrote some of the most enduring songs from the 60's, & they were performed by Dionne Warwick, Barbara Striesand, dusty Springfield, Bobbie Gentry, hell, even The Beatles covered his work, along with such greats as Isaac Hayes, Tom Jones, Aretha Franklin, & Marty Robbins, to name just a few.

Have you ever heard Burt perform? I have. It wasn't pretty. He could play fairly well...well enough to write, surely, but he was no great player, & his singing was totally UGH!

Many composers can play only well enough to write, not well enough to perform, & even more of them can write but not sing.

He only needed the first note to find all the rest.

Burt Bacharach wrote some of the most enduring songs from the 60's, & they were performed by Dionne Warwick, Barbara Striesand, dusty Springfield, Bobbie Gentry, hell, even The Beatles covered his work, along with such greats as Isaac Hayes, Tom Jones, Aretha Franklin, & Marty Robbins, to name just a few.

Have you ever heard Burt perform? I have. It wasn't pretty. He could play fairly well...well enough to write, surely, but he was no great player, & his singing was totally UGH!

Many composers can play only well enough to write, not well enough to perform, & even more of them can write but not sing.

Have you ever heard Joe Meek try to sing? Yikes!

Folks like him and Frank Zappa frequently wrote music they were incapable of playing themselves, hiring more skilled musicians to perform it. Jello Biafra wrote most of the songs for the Dead Kennedys, but couldn't play a note. He just sang the melodies into a tape recorder. Captain Beefheart was kind of the same way.

I've been working on some percussion parts and I can't play the drums for sh*t. With the exception of percussion instruments, though, I've always had difficulty visualizing music in terms of standard notation. I kind of always visualize it like a multicolor oscilloscope, with waves and shapes. I relate better to John Cage's method of writing music.



  

I am a fudamental musician. My talents are in the inception of a song.
The arrangment of a song and lyrics. Melodies are also a strong point.
I play the guitar well enough to find the melody. That is all I've ever
needed it for so it didn't develope any further. The musicians in my
band have very open minds and are able to listen to my
description of what I want to hear from them and create what I hear
in my head. This is the freedom I have been given by the label
owner to create the music. I am in the most artisticly satisfying
situation I've ever been in. I am very lucky to have met him.

Regarding Zappa's quote, above, Mike, I would respond by saying that, while music may come from composers, it would never be heard if it weren't for musicians. Neither is more important than the other.