What is the point in human race's music?

[ledbassest]

The human race has been entangled in a net to music as long as there has been ears. But why do we still obey the ordinary laws of it; and when others do manage to change it, major countries (coff coff America) oppress it?

[orbsycli]

ah i love this post.
music has been around as long as we have. starting with hitting things, like sticks on logs, animal skin drums. it has evolved through all cultures differently, as a form of entertainment.

and when others do manage to change it, major countries (coff coff America) oppress it?

i think you are focusing too hard on the negative side. because when it comes to music, and change, i think american is the biggest place for that. for example; jimi hendrix. he played guitar like nobody else, and changed music. the beetles, they revolutionized pop music.
right now, with the ability to listen to anything, our influences are broader than ever. we can take any style of music and fuse it with any other. when it comes to music, right now, everything is changing.

but, corporate music is what you must be referring to. the record companies want money, so the producers tell the band what to do. yeah, that's not really wonderful, but it makes them money, and keeps the ignorent happy, and that's all they care about.

when people get concerned about music, like you and i, there's one thing left for us to do.
change it. be yourself, work hard, do the best you can, and go out there and blow peoples' minds.

and what laws of music are you talking about?? there are no laws. if you're talking about theory and structure, and how most musicians are basic with it, that's because a lot of people don't even know what music can be. they stick to 4/4 and power chords and sing about girls because that's what they know, that's what people love, and that's what makes them money.

ledbassest, there really are no laws at all. you can do anything and everything with music.

[Fishteacher73]

Yeh, there's rock and roll, but uit would be absolutly nowhere w/o jazz and the blues. Two distinctly American musical forms. (Not to say that there have not been important non-American musicians in these realms).

The US has been the proving ground for a lot of new types of music. (BTW The Beatles were from England, orb.)

[orbsycli]

haha i totally forgot that, yup you're right. goes to show how much i like those guys. (maybe i had to have been living around their era to appreciate them) i was going to get into the evolution of genre, how rock came from jazz and blues, jazz and blues came from big band which came from classical (or you know, something like that) buuuuuuuuuuuuut, yeah. woohoo. exciting thread.

i was talking revolutionize-wise...because i don't believe jazz and blues were a revolution, more like a cultural adaptation over time. am i wrong?

[Fishteacher73]

I think its a bit up to personal interpretation, but I think jazz is much further removed from its predecessors than rock is. Jazz truly went into some uncharted territory (both musically as well as socially). Even the term jazz itself at one point was slang for sex.

ALthough I think rock and roll did have large cultural influence, it was to a degree a bit smaller in scope, but larger in magnitude. More people felt the impact of rock and roll.

IMO both jazz and blues were true departures from "traditional" mainstream music and rock and roll is the cultural blending of those two over time

[orbsycli]

very true. i'm actually reading about the "hipster" and bop era of jazz right now. it sounds like an amazing time period.

[Biochemist]

Originally Posted by Fishteacher73

...Even the term jazz itself at one point was slang for sex.

IMO both jazz and blues were true departures from "traditional" mainstream music and rock and roll is the cultural blending of those two over time

Interesting view. By the way, "rock and roll" was slang for sex too.

Maybe music is all about sex?

[Fishteacher73]

One must also realize that for most of us we have really not heard much of the worlds music. We predominanly hear western music. Can anyone name more than one musician from the middle east (Aside from Cat Stevens )? Perhaps an Austrailian didgeridooist (sp?)? Maybe even just one Asian that is not playing rock and roll?

There are some that merge these global sounds and it can be fascinating, but it takes some time to get an ear for it.

[orbsycli]

ravi shankar was popular in the 60's when everyone was doing LSD. sitar player. most of the music i have from around the world doesn't have a name on it, i wish it did.
dredg did a song called "an elephant in delta waves" which has a girl egyption singer or something, it's beautiful. check it out if you can.

[Fishteacher73]

I was not really trying to be lecturing or anything, I was illustrating how truly limited most of us are in terms of exposure to various forms of music. (And I am speaking of music-nerds like myself in this bunch).