John, Paul, George and Ringo...

I for one am encouraged by the fact that kids are playing Beatles Rock Band. At first I didn't like the idea of a Beatles being the basis of a video game, but after being around kids who are playing the game is pretty fun. The kids that I sometimes babysit for prefer it over regular Rock Band. When we get in the car to go somewhere, I put on a Beatles CD and they sing every word, and they talk about the members of the that they like the most. I think it's a pretty cool way to re-introduce the Beatles to a new generation.

Performing next...

So i am wondering if there is anything you can do to make people think you are a good musician without even hearing you yet. Lets say that you are at a guitar competition. Each contestant gets to do a 3 minute solo, with 5 minutes in between to set up. Would there be a way to set yourself up for success during that five minutes? Is there a way to use the idea of musical context to make yourself more exciting, enjoyable, and ultimately, a winner? Could you create a context for the music you are about to play that would get the judges attention, and make them hear your music in a different, hopefully better way? I guess some ideas would be to talk. What would you say? How do you want to come off to the judges? Would it be wise to be cocky, and then live up to that cockiness once you start playing? How about coming off as a wise, knowledgable musician? Maybe even coming off as shy or unassuming, and then tear the roof off of the place from the second you start. You could probably influence how the judges see you and your music by how you dress. They will be watching you set up, so making sure that your set up is as impressive as your solo couldn't hurt. Maybe the way that you set up, like putting something in a place where it wouldn't normally be to make the judge say to themself, "I wonder how they are going to use that?" A lot of times, a catagory for judging is originality. Could you get the judges thinking about originality before you even start by doing something odd? You could include something in your list of influences that could spark someones interest. I guess that ultimately, the goal is to, other than win, get the judges to be interested in hearing what you have to play, get them to be turned on rather than off, and to create a platform for your music where it is better recieved than it would have been if you haden't taken all this into consideration.

American idol aint nothin but a...

So one of my guilty pleasures is American Idol. You always hear the judges talking about wanting to see who the contestants are as an artist. They say they want to hear songs that are current, or at least sung in a current way. They want to hear the music from the contestant that could end up being a hit on their solo record. So many things come to mind as this relates to the context of music. I'll just pick one, and try to go with it.

There was one night when the contestants were asked to pick an Elvis song. THE KING. I mean, how can you go wrong. Each picked a song that they wanted to sing, and did the best rendition of it that they could. Many of them were criticized because the judges felt that they did an outdated version of the song, that it wasn't current. My immediate answer to that is, they should have had them pick songs from a current artist if they wanted it to be current. But I get it. Take the song and make it your own. Give it a current feel. Make it relevant to the times.

So lets take it back to the original popularity of the song. What was it about the song that made it so popular when it first came out. Obviously, it wasn't the song itself, because if the song was just so amazing, then it would transcend the time, and it would work on American Idol. I think it is a number of factors. One is that it was a new kind of music. Well, at least new to the popular culture. They had been played by other artists in black clubs for years. Elvis just made them crossover hits. The young white audience now had a style of music to call their own, and Elvis was the face of it. Another factor could be that Elvis was a new, provocative artist who pushed the boundaries of what was being done in music. So anything that Elvis sang would be a hit, just as long as he was shaking his hips, smirking at the camera and singing provocative lyrics. Im sure that there are many other factors that played into why Elvis's songs were so popular, and someone who was alive and paying attention at the time could probably better speculate these reasons.

On a side note, I never really got the blues. I never understood why such simple songs were so damn popular. That is until I moved to Texas. I went to a little blues shack called TC's. The band was made up of some Texas blues musicians. Some young, some old. They rocked the house. I figured that this was as close to hearing the blues in the 50's as I was ever going to get. If I could go back to that blues shack every night of my life, it still wouldn't be enough. So once I heard the music in context, I got it.

Back to American Idol. If it isn't the song itself that makes it great, and it is more the context that surrounds the song, then how do you then take an outdated song and make it current? American Idol obviously isn't a hot sweaty blues bar deep in the heart of Texas (clap clap clap clap), it is a TV show in the 21st century that is trying to push modern music. Or in this case, push classic music in a modern way. So you have to find some sort of relevant context for the music. This could include different feels for the song, such as different beats and rhythms. There are ways that you could make more modern arrangements of the song. You could sing the song in the style of a modern singer like Alicia Keys or John Legend. You could search within yourself to find strengths that you have musically and base the song around that, like if you have an amazing range, you could start it low and build it up to a climactic high note. At the same time, I bet that if you completely changed the song from the original, the judges would criticize that.

I dont have the definitive answer on how it please the judges on American Idol. I just thought it was interesting that they picked songs because they are thought of as good songs, but then the contestants were criticized for singing it the way that Elvis popularized them.

Mr. Rogers Neighborhood...

When you hear music for the first time,the context that you hear it in dictates the amount of attention you pay to listening to it, and the consideration that you give to it. The example that I will use today is jazz.

Lets say you are at a jazz concert and the MC speaks about the music that you are going to hear. The MC is most likely going to be very passionate about the music and the artist you are about to hear, and they are going to set you up for a positive musical experience. At the concert, you are probably surrounded by jazz enthusiasts who have come anticipating a spectacular concert. You have probably even come to hear that particular musician. So before the musicians come on stage, the stage has been set for a positive musical experience. No matter what the band plays, or how they play it, everyone is going to be listening intently, picking up all the minute details of the music, and drwaing great pleasure and satisfaction from the music.

On the other hand, I want to introduce you to another musical experience that I guarantee everyone has experienced but never taken notice of, all because of the context that this music is found.

Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, as we all know, is a childrens television show that was on the air for several decades, and is still being shown in syndication. Mr Rogers is a very musical person, having written most of the songs that you hear on his show. When he created his show, he sought out the best musician he could find, that being Johnny Costa. Mr. Rogers taped his shows with Johnny playing along. It wasn't a background record that was added in later, he was right there improvising to every little thing that Mr Rogers did. When he fed the fish, Johnny would play a little twinkle melody that was the sound of the fish food being sprinkled. When Mr Rogers had to walk to another part of the set, Johnny would play some transition music that made the show run more smoothly. At the end of the show, the musical magic happened. Mr. Rogers would sing the song, "Its Such a Good Feeling". He would say goodbye to the audience, and open the door and leave. Im sure that you all can picture the camera panning back over the little model of Mr Rogers Neighborhood. The song continues as the credits roll, and Johnny plays a jazz solo over the form of "Its such a Good Feeling". It only lasts for about 30 seconds. There is even a bass player and drummer who chime in. Im not sure who they are, but it seems that their gig consists of playing for the last 30 seconds of the show. It is consistently the most amazing piano solo that I feel I have ever heard. Johnny uses every bit of that 30 seconds to display his phenomenal ability to play the jazz piano. He slides up and down the keyboard with the greatest of ease, and just as quickly as he took it to such a great height, he brings it back down to end the show. I watch Mr Rogers whenever I get the chance just to hear the solo at the end of the show. It puts me in the best mood. The best part is that it is a different improvised solo every day.

Now I bet that every one has experienced watching this, but never really taken notice. The reason for this is that the context does not lend itself to setting people up to open their musical minds. It is a part of a childrens show, not a part of a music show, and it is really just an afterthought. It has nobody to set it up, and the people who are watching the show do not have the intent of listening to music. This does not make the music any less astonishing, it is just a musical gem hidden in a kids show.

If Johnny were to play the solo at a jazz concert, he would blow most musicians off the stage. However, the context that you hear his music in dictates how much attention, if any, is payed to the music.

My point in writing this is to be the one to set you up for a new satisfying musical experience. Maybe you will find yourself flipping through the channels and you see Mr Rogers Neighborhood. Watch it until the end. I promise you that you will not be disappointed, and it will brighten your day. Thank you Johnny Costa and Fred Rogers.

Jim Morrison said...

..."Write universal lyrics. Things that will be understood 100 years from now."

Right on Jim

Girl we couldn't get much higher...

I was watching a Classic Albums on the Doors. The reason that they gave for the Doors "making it" was due to the song "Light my fire". Originally, it was a 6 minute song, and they didn't really play it on the radio because of it's length. A radio jockey suggested that they cut it down to 3 minutes, because he was getting so many requests for it. Relunctantly, they did this, and it was an instant success. They appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. This was a show that families watched on Sunday nights. As soon as the Doors came on stage, the younger members of the family were taken with Jim Morrison, "The Lizard King". They were beside themselves with excitement about the visual and the music. When the parents saw what was on the screen, and how their children were reacting, they said, "Oh no!". As soon as the parent said, "Oh, we can't have this" the younger generation was hooked. This is similar to the success of music labeled with the Parental Advisory label in the 1990's. Once Morrison sang the taboo lyric, "Girl we couldn't get much higher", the fate of the music was sealed. It was here to stay.

When it's good, it's good...

2 people are standing next to each other at a concert at a music festival. They both are into the band, but for different reasons. They have an impression of who/what that band is based on their knowledge of the band and what context they heard the music in. They both have established a relationship with the band, and enjoy the music. Their reasons for enjoying the band are different because they were introduced to the music in different ways. They prefer different songs by the band, and maybe even dislike certain songs that the other person loves. There are many factors that go into why a person likes or dislikes a band, and that relationship is unique to the individual. However, one thing is common. They both enjoy the band.

Lets say one the first person, who is older, hears the band for the first time. The band has just come out with their debut album. Their music is part of an emerging underground scene, and they are like a breath of fresh air to the youth of America who has been yearning for something different, something to call their own. This person was the second to get the bands t-shirt at their high school. They followed the bands success through their first four albums. Each album that they came out with was a new experience, adding to the persons view, perception, idea, impression of the band. They had a couple of mainstream songs that made it on the radio. With the 5th and 6th album, they started to have more and more time between albums, and, according to the long time fan, the quality of the music had begun to diminish. "They just don't sound like they used to". This person see's the entire body of work in chronological order. When they hear a song, they immediately think of what album the song came from, and when the song came out.

Now the second person, younger, hears the music 20 years after the song came out. They first heard of the band in a movie soundtrack. There was also a day when the person heard another of the bands songs on the radio and asked, "who is this?". Their friend told them who it was, and the person said, "Oh, I didn't realize this was that band". They didn't see the band as the greatest band in the world, but when they were flipping through the radio stations and a song by the band was on, they would leave it on the station. A couple of years later, the person got a $50 itunes gift card, and they purchased a few select songs from their greatest hits album. When this person hears the band, the context that they put this music in relates to its value in the historical musical fabric of the time. Their body of work is seen as just that, a whole, a single body. It has lost it's chronological progression.

Back to the concert. The first person came to the music festival specifically to hear the band. They cheer the most for the more obscure songs, saying, "I can't believe they are playing this song". The second person checked out their set at the music festival because they saw they were in the line up, and nothing better was playing at the time. They cheered for the most popular songs because they recognized them. They both really enjoy the music and leave having had a fulfilling musical experience.

Here is the beautiful thing about music. When it's good, it's good, and it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.

Young Lust

So I was watching VH1 storytellers with John Mayer last night. I Love/Hate John Mayer. He was singing Your Body is a Wonderland, so I quickly changed the channel when he started singing. That is the John Mayer music that I hate, but thats a discussion for a whole other time. He was talking about how he wrote the song, and he compared the process to his first love. He said that when he was writing this song, he tried to compare it to nothing. He wanted the song to stand alone as a piece of art, rather than come at it from a familiar angle. He played the riff over and over for hours so that there was only the riff. It had shed all context except it's inception. It existed only in that creative moment, and held no relationship to any other music. He wrote the song about his first girlfriend, and he also approached the song like he approached that initial relationship. He had no other relationship to compare it to since it was his first, so there was only what they had together.

Now, I don't think that he had really purely shed all musical context, but I really like the idea, and hearing him describe the creative process adds to that part of John Mayer that I love.

Live Music

How can you change how a person hears a song that you are playing live? If you play a song by counting it off and playing it exactly the way that it is on the recording, then the person who is hearing it is still retaining their original perception of that song. When they hear it, they are relating it to all the other times that they heard the song in the past. This can be comfortable and familiar to the listener. It can also be boring and predictable at the same time. Different listeners are going to have different relationships with the same song.

There can, however, be simple and subtle ways to introduce the song in a way that make the song your own without changing the original song too much. One example of this is to use an introduction for the song that leads into the beginning of the song. This uses something that is unfamiliar, yet pleasing, to the listener, to set up a familiar song. If you do it correctly, it can make the listener hear the song in a new way because you added an intro that complimented the song. When the original song drops in or blends in, and the listener recognizes the song, it can create a moment in the listeners musical mind that is exciting. Another subtle way to change a song to make it more interesting is to try not to sing it exactly like the original singer on the recording. Use your own singing voice, and your own genuine emotion to present the song. This can backfire if the listener does not like your interpretation, but it can also make a listener take notice of a song that they may not of taken notice of before. Then, maybe the next time they hear the song on the radio, they will appreciate it more because they relate it to the experience of hearing you do it.

There are also ways to rework a song that are not subtle, but drastic, that can also make the listener take notice. There are lots of examples of this in reggae music. Lots of times, a reggae band will take a song that is rock, doowop, soul, etc... and change the feel of it to a reggae feel. This can be very effective in making the listener hear the song in a different way. Another example would be to blend two song together, or "mashup" two songs. This would be when you find two songs that have similar feels, melodies, or grooves, and essentially playing them at the same time. Maybe singing the verse of one song while playing the groove of another song. There are plenty of ways to do this. Wikipedia gives the following definitions for mashup. "A mashup, bootleg or blend[1] (also mash up and mash-up) is a song or composition created by blending two or more songs, usually by overlaying the vocal track of one song seamlessly over the music track of another.[2] To the extent that such works are 'transformative' of original content, they may find protection from copyright claims under the "fair use" doctrine of copyright law.[3]". There is even a video game called "DJ Hero" where you create your own mashup. In doing this, you can present the song in a whole new way, that creates a new context for the song. This can also be exciting for the listener, but it can also, in some listeners musical minds, not be effective at all. It is all subjective.

The most effective way to increase a listeners enjoyment is to have fun, try to make the other musicians have a good time, and make the audience have a good time.

I heard that!

How you perceive, appreciate, like, dislike music can have a lot to do with your initial exposure to that music. How you first heard it. Was it a friend that gave it to you? Did you hear it on the radio? Did you hear the band live? Did you seek it out? Was it requested to you by an internet radio station? It is the original context for your relationship with that song, and can have a great effect on how relate to that song in the future. This especially applies to times when you have never heard the type of music, and you cant immediately relate it to other music that you have heard in the past.

Sometimes, I will hear music that I really like that I found for myself. Then, when I show it to my friends that I listen to music with, their reaction can also have an effect on how I relate to the music. If they say that they like it, it validates my impression of the music. Sometimes I will show music to a friend and they say they don't like it. That makes me question why I liked it, my taste in music, and whether the song is actually good or not. Sometimes, a friend will say that they don't like the music, and it will make me not want to listen to it anymore.

Why do we laugh at music?

Why do we laugh at music? Maybe it's just me. It's not because it's funny. Have you ever been on a roller coaster laughing the whole time? Sometimes I laugh at music like that. When it is so good that I am amazed that I am hearing it, I laugh. Sometimes it's a chuckle, sometimes it's hysterical.

I saw a show recently that made me laugh. It was the band Them Crooked Vultures. It is a group made up of people from different bands, all of which I worship. Queens of the Stone Age, Led Zeppelin and Nirvana. As the show started, it was every bit as good as I hoped it would be. The music was energetic, loud and well written. Nobody in the crowd had ever heard the music before since they had not yet released any of it yet. Josh Homme, the front man, even mentioned that he was having a great time playing music for people that they had never heard before. I laughed through the first two songs while jumping up and down, because I new I was in for a treat. By the third song, I just watched with my jaw on the floor as they continued to go above and beyond my expectations.

An interesting side note. I saw a DVD of Radiohead one time where the crowd that they were playing to had not heard the music before. When the band would play a song from an older album, they would cheer loudly before and after the song. There was little response to the songs that they played that were from the album that they hadn't released yet, since no one had heard it before. When they released that album, it ended up being the album that cemented their place as a musical powerhouse. I bet if you went to a Radiohead show today, the crowd would cheer more for the songs of that album more than their previously released stuff.

The timeless song...

I'd like to talk about the idea of the Timeless Song. This song could have been the biggest hit of it's time. Played on the radio for years passed it's release date. Heard by each new generation, the song goes through many different contexts for all those who hear it through time. This is the timeless song. A song that is appreciated, understood and relevant forever. It's a great song that transcends its original context.

The Timeless Song could also be a song that was not even heard, or appreciated during its time of release. 100, 200, 5000 years later, the song is listened to. The person who listens to it is intrigued, curious and moved at the same time. The song, although foreign sounding, has some element of familiarity and appeal to that future listener.

Are there songs that you can identify that have these, or similar qualities? I can't. Not off the top of my head. Remind me to tell you about the Timeless Joke sometime. You know, the one that is funny to anyone, anywhere any time in the future or the past.

The Timeless Song is not defined by it's original context. It is able to hold strong and create a place for itself in any context.

What will people think of Madonna in 100, 200 years from now. What about Elvis. No one will remember them. Maybe only a dated picture remains. What then of the music? Removed from its original context, what will be the listeners perception or interpretation of the music. Like it? Dislike it? Understand it? Laugh at it?

I guess it's hard to predict what would be the Timeless Song, but maybe we can identify some from the past. What do you think

Sometimes, I intentionally lose my CD's...

Sometimes I will intentionally lose my CD's (when I actually bought CD's). I don't mean I would misplace them with the intent of never seeing them again, but rather than obsess over keeping track of them, I would take them everywhere, listen to them all the time, and if they got lost, I didn't really care. Here's why. If it was a CD that I really loved, and I listened to it all the time, it would eventually get put back on the shelf because it got played out. If I listened to it a lot and I lost it at the hieght of my desire to listen to it, the next time I heard it, be it next week or next decade, I would love it just as much, if not more than I had before. There would be more excitement because it would be like finding a long lost friend. It would immediately take me back to when I had it before, and I wouldn't have the memory of losing interest in it.

So I'm not saying lose your CD's, but if you lose one, look at it as an opportunity to find something new. The delayed gratification can be good for you.

This relates to the context of listening to music in that you can manipulate how you enjoy music in the future.

Now that digital music on the computer has almost overtaken CD's, I guess I can update this one. I have had several different itunes library's. Several of them have come with me as I've switched computers, but now Im left with none. It just didn't survive the move. The only thing I have is Them Crooked Vultures. I dont feel the same about losing an entire library as I do about losing a CD. I wish I had every song I ever had on my itunes library's. Then again, I wish I had every song that I ever owned on CD.

Where you from?

I always wondered what I, as an American, sounded like to someone from England. I mean, I know what they sound like to me, and it's different, but what do I sound like to them? I mean, I am speaking their freaking language. On the same token, when I hear someone speaking Spanish, they all sound the same to me. However, someone who speaks Spanish, and is from a Spanish speaking country, when they hear Spanish, they hear it for what country it comes from. Can't the context that you hear music in apply to your nationality and culture. This is probably the place that meaning applies most to music. When it is engrained in you culture, you derive great meaning and familiarity, where as if someone hears it who is from a different country, they are not going to get any of the same feelings that the music envokes in you. To them, it is music that is from your country, and to you, it is just music.

Cool as Ice...

Now here's another memory from my earlier childhood. It was around Second Grade. At 7 years old I had only heard about CD's, but did not know anyone who had a CD player. I was spending the night at my friends house. I remember I was on the top bunk of the bunkbed when his brother walked in. He had something that I had never seen before. It was a yellow portable tape deck. He called it a walkman, and he gave me the headphones. As I put them on, he handed me the case for the tape. On the cover was a rapper named Vanilla Ice. He was wearing shiny clothes, he had slicked back hair that I thought was cut like Vaughn from "Major League". The single that was playing was "Ice Ice Baby". It was the first time I had ever enjoyed music on that level. I loved it. It was one of the first times I had heard a music that I considered to be my own, and not someone else's. When I saw the video later, I was even more intrigued. He could dance, he looked cool and all my friends liked him. He got a great deal of exposure, even being mocked on a popular sletch comedy show In Living Color by a young Jim Carrey. After a while, the hype went away, and the song went away as well. After a few years, Ice's style, and that of other contemporary artists like MC Hammer, had become a joke. To this day, still have a neon colored Vanilla Ice shirt that I got from a thrift store. I wear it as a joke, and every time I wear it, I get plenty of comments and people often try to buy it from me.

Probably about 1998, about 8years after the song came out, I heard the song again. You know, that moment that defines that songs place your musical mind for perhaps the rest of your life. Until this point, I had fond memories about the song, even though I still considered him a joke. The song was horrible. The beat, the rapping, the DJ all turned me off. Since that day, I have negative feelings about the song altogether, except as a joke.

The relavence I find in this experience and the one from yesterday, is that that these are my enterpretations of these songs and artists. The context that I heard these songs in defines my perception of the music. That perception can and will change over time. These experiences can be, and probably are different from everyone else's perception of the song. Maybe it is also very similar to others experience and relationship with that music. I find profound relavence to the current music market as well as future markets in how the context that we hear music in defines our perception of that music. I will leave you with that.

later,
-S

Got that new new Outkast, aint even came out yet!

So I guess I'll start by giving some examples from my own experience.

Around the time I was in High School, and early college, I and many of my peers were infatuated by a Outkast, an Atlanta based hip hop group. They broke on the scene with their debut album, and knocked it out of the park with their follow up release. As more albums came out, they became more and more popular. When a new single would come out, I would about it first. Then, speaking from experience, we would sit in our car, listening for the song all day. I was seldom dissapointed when I heard it. In college, I started to be able to download well before they were released. I would listen to them quite a bit. After a couple of weeks, the song would catch on with the general public, and I would hear more and more people singing the song, and playing the song. There would be a growing number of people playing the song that I thought were not very cool. This made me not want to be so enthusiastic about displaying that I really liked the song. After a couple of months, the song was on the radio every hour on the hour, blaring from passing cars. Eventually I started skipping the track on the album altogether. I would still be listening to the rest of the album religously.

Fastforward.

The track has been off the radio for quite some time. I have skipped the track every time it came on my CD player. For the most part, I, and most of the people around me had ignored the song, and then...THE MOMENT HAPPENS. The defining moment for this songs place in my musical mind perhaps for the rest of my life.

I heard the song again.

It could be anywhere. At home, at a party, in the car, at a friends house, at the lakehouse, on a mix tape...The songs plays and I decice then and there that the Outkast song that I loved and shortly therafter ignored, was actually s tremendously great song. A classic. After hearing it again, I stopped skipping it on the CD, and I embrace it just like I did when I first heard it.

Just a side note is that this did not necessarily with every Outkast song that became hugely popular, but who knows, maybe I'll come around on "Hey Ya".


I haven't listened to any music yet today, but the song I have in my head is Kashmir by Led Zeppelin. This song makes me think of High School when I started listening to a lot of classic rock. That was a turning point for the direction that I took in playing my own instrument. Not necessarily just that song, but others by Zeppelin and other contemporary artists. I also think of when Puff Daddy remixed the song. What was that all about? It was so bad that it made me like the original song so much more.

later
-S

A new way of hearing music

Hello all,

Think of your favorite song. When did you first hear it? Where were you? What were you listening to it on? The radio? CD Player? Record? The internet? What was going on in your life when you heard it? Were you studying for a test in college? Was it something that you listened to while you were sick in the hospital?

All of these things contribute to the context that you know the music in, and the relationship that you have with that music. For someone else, that same song might have a completely different context, leading them to have a different relationship with that music. Everyone perception of music is different, and it all has to do with the context that you listen or listened to the music in.

My name is Stephen, and I am a musician and music fan for life. This has been a recurring theme that has come up in many different ways as I contemplate our musical world. I am starting this as a forum to let these thoughts extend past my own mind, and for you to read, contemplate, and respond if you would like.

I am listening to House of Cards by Radiohead right now on an internet radio station. It makes me think of being in my best friend from college's room, and also riding in the passenger seat of my girlfriends car when we first started dating. These are both great thoughts. I enjoy the thoughts more than the actual music.

Later
-S