So the thought that strikes me as I am sitting here with my iPod, listening to the lyrics of avenged sevenfold - fiction is: All music delivers a message. This statement is one that I find extremely easy. But at the same time it starts a really complex chain of thoughts. When listening to music, as I have mentioned before, you will automatically feel something to some degree. Wether you get a strong reaction because something in a piece of music speaks to you or you hardly feel anything, the reaction is there.
Now, is it the lyrics?
Is it the instrumental lineup and arranging?
Is it perhaps the dynamic or the presentation of the individual instrument?
It might even be the subtle difference in the vocalists voice (from what you would normally hear from that artist) that tells you the mood that he or she is trying to project.
Of course in most cases it is a combination of all theese and more. But what you are focusing on when you feel something from a piece of music, might be the key to your success when it comes to producing something that speaks to people. I often find myself challenged with the task of trying to bring the message across in the best possible way. But I believe an open mind and a constant focus on identifying your own reaction to what you like in music will get you far.
It is of course debatable if all music is supposed to deliver a message, and you can't escape the fact that contemporary music often have a really superficial point of view and lyrics that would make the great poets cry in shame over this generation. A great example would be the point that were made in "get him to the greek" - where the boss of the label showed his employees what he called a "gamechanger" - a completely obscene rap-song called "f*** your sh**". The lyrics are as degrading and offensive as they could get away with even in a parody.
But lets examine some of the female artists. Like ke$ha...
allow me to quote the chorus of her song "your love is my drug"
"Because your love, your love, your love is my drug.
Your love, your love, your love.
I said your love, your love, your love is my drug.
Your love, your love,your love"
Now you might say that the message in contemporary music is shallow and shows a complete lack of effort. But it is still a message. I am shooting myself in the leg a little for saying this seing as I am a part of this generation as well. The shallow and quick solution- lyrics and musical tracks that we see on MTV reflects our general mentality. We are in my opinion more or less a generation of semi existent cyborgs. Each of us spending more time investigating other people's lives on facebook or twitter than actually living our own. Our personal computer is more an extention of our body than a useful household accessory.
But there are certainly those who with great persistence demands content in music, and their calls are being heard. Some artists and bands, producers and musicians are reinventing music over and over again with masterpieces that speak to the soul of the listener. More than what you can say about "your love is my drug"
This brings me to the subject of how the image supports the message. In order to know what kind of musician you want to be and how you want to reach an audience with your message, you need to be clear on what that message is. And as our previous example kesha proves, image is everything. She has a ass-kicking personality that says "who cares, it's only life" and her controversial moral standing is appealing to those who are missing a constant in their lives. So much, that she can get away with prepostorous lies about what the only drug in her life is, because basicly noone listens to the lyrics when there is a cool video that accompanies the repetative hook.
But in my personal opinion the need of a flashy and "screaming" image goes down as the effort in writing meaningful musical pieces is increased. There are of course some exeptions. Especially in the rock and metal genere, the bands have a very specific and out of the ordinary appearance on stage. My chemical romance delivered a musical journey in their 2010 album "danger days" that practically blew the critics away. But they still have a rather 'strange' image. This, however supports their position and the message that they are trying to get across.
So the challenge is finding yourself as an artist by knowing what you want the world to remember you by. What kind of message do you want to leave behind. One of mayhem and sticking it to the man, one of compassion and love, or perhaps just that 'bitches be acting crazy'. The choises are unlimited, and only you can tell what the answer to the question is.
But i find the same philosophy to be true when it comes to releasing music, that goes for getting a tattoo. This is something that will stick to you for the rest of your life, make sure that the message is something you can stand for. Always
lørdag 21. mai 2011
torsdag 3. februar 2011
In the name of Music!
So, just to start off, I would like to go into a few thoughts on what it is about music that is so compelling. Why has music always been so important to us? Why does it affect us so much, and how can it make us feel in a certain way?
Since the dawn of time, we have had music. Wether it was the cavemen gathering around the fire, banging bones together or on a streched mammoth skin, or tibetian munks forming amazing sounds with their vocal chords. Music is and has always been something that we have tried our best to develop this field and to develop our talent in our own performance. As our understanding of sound has developed, and our technological journey at the same time accelerated at an even faster pace, the tools for making spectacular sounds have been made available for anyone that wish to. If we go back not more than a hundred years, we were at the beginning of the era where sound recording became a bigger part of the industry. Before that the art of making music was more dominated by the "live performance" where a person creating music would have to use his own musical performance in the distribution of the music. Back then, people were in a bigger way, forced to use their own or their closest friends or families music talents in order to have every-day music or song. But as the technology has made distribution and consuming of music internationally available in the blink of an eye, the need for every person to use his ability to create music in order to have access, is gone.
Now, I am not saying that music has become a smaller part of peoples lives, quite the oposite. People consume music at stunning rate. You will see people constantly with their ipod's on, when traveling, reading, working out or by the computer. Many people have made music a big part of their lives, and without actually thinking about it, finding the answers through their emotional needs through music. This brings me to the part about the feelings that we can get from music. Most musicians should know the difference between major and minor notes. Even if you don't know that you know, you do :) (waow, that was a hardcore sentence. Even I had to read it twice) To say it in the hard way for anyone that doesn't play the piano, if you are in the C-scale, the minor keys would be the black ones. Lets say that you are listening to a song, and you hear that the notes themselves sounds "sad" as many people would say, not the dynamic of the sound, but the notes themselves. A chord is being used that contains a note that is in the minor scale, transforming the chord to minor and making the feel of the note, even if it has 2 out of 3 keys in the same spot as you would with the major chord, sad. Well, sad is not the right word, but some people would put it that way. However, what happens, when you hear this; lets say in a movie - you will automaticly assume that something sad or bad is going to happen. The sound itself has put an emotion in you, or changed the way you look at things. The same thing also goes when you are hearing songs or music outside of the movie realm. You are walking to the store, and you have your iPod on. Chances are that what you are listening to is selected by you, weather you thought about it or if it was subconcious: Because you want to animate a feeling trough it.
Noone in their right mind would wake up with a hangover and start blasting speed-metal on 90 dB on their speakers. That's a bit random to say, because the reason for that would be that it's ... loud.. but there is a point in there: If you don't want to get psyched you would put on something less intense. You want to endulge your own feelings with the music. If you are sad you put on some sobby alanis morisette. When you are happy and had too much Red Bull, you put on some happydance song that makes it bubble inside of you.
So Music may definitely change or enhance feelings, and it is important to take a second to analyze how you are affected by different music. How we react is partially subjective due to personal preference in music, but chances are that someone else is feeling the same way about things. You can and should definitely use this to your advantage when it comes to making music.
Since the dawn of time, we have had music. Wether it was the cavemen gathering around the fire, banging bones together or on a streched mammoth skin, or tibetian munks forming amazing sounds with their vocal chords. Music is and has always been something that we have tried our best to develop this field and to develop our talent in our own performance. As our understanding of sound has developed, and our technological journey at the same time accelerated at an even faster pace, the tools for making spectacular sounds have been made available for anyone that wish to. If we go back not more than a hundred years, we were at the beginning of the era where sound recording became a bigger part of the industry. Before that the art of making music was more dominated by the "live performance" where a person creating music would have to use his own musical performance in the distribution of the music. Back then, people were in a bigger way, forced to use their own or their closest friends or families music talents in order to have every-day music or song. But as the technology has made distribution and consuming of music internationally available in the blink of an eye, the need for every person to use his ability to create music in order to have access, is gone.
Now, I am not saying that music has become a smaller part of peoples lives, quite the oposite. People consume music at stunning rate. You will see people constantly with their ipod's on, when traveling, reading, working out or by the computer. Many people have made music a big part of their lives, and without actually thinking about it, finding the answers through their emotional needs through music. This brings me to the part about the feelings that we can get from music. Most musicians should know the difference between major and minor notes. Even if you don't know that you know, you do :) (waow, that was a hardcore sentence. Even I had to read it twice) To say it in the hard way for anyone that doesn't play the piano, if you are in the C-scale, the minor keys would be the black ones. Lets say that you are listening to a song, and you hear that the notes themselves sounds "sad" as many people would say, not the dynamic of the sound, but the notes themselves. A chord is being used that contains a note that is in the minor scale, transforming the chord to minor and making the feel of the note, even if it has 2 out of 3 keys in the same spot as you would with the major chord, sad. Well, sad is not the right word, but some people would put it that way. However, what happens, when you hear this; lets say in a movie - you will automaticly assume that something sad or bad is going to happen. The sound itself has put an emotion in you, or changed the way you look at things. The same thing also goes when you are hearing songs or music outside of the movie realm. You are walking to the store, and you have your iPod on. Chances are that what you are listening to is selected by you, weather you thought about it or if it was subconcious: Because you want to animate a feeling trough it.
Noone in their right mind would wake up with a hangover and start blasting speed-metal on 90 dB on their speakers. That's a bit random to say, because the reason for that would be that it's ... loud.. but there is a point in there: If you don't want to get psyched you would put on something less intense. You want to endulge your own feelings with the music. If you are sad you put on some sobby alanis morisette. When you are happy and had too much Red Bull, you put on some happydance song that makes it bubble inside of you.
So Music may definitely change or enhance feelings, and it is important to take a second to analyze how you are affected by different music. How we react is partially subjective due to personal preference in music, but chances are that someone else is feeling the same way about things. You can and should definitely use this to your advantage when it comes to making music.
Abonner på:
Innlegg (Atom)