mr dave

eric dolphy said it best -

"when you hear music, after it's over, it's gone... in the air, you can never capture it again"

this is by far the truest statement i've read about actually playing music not songs, but music. the difference is subtle but significant.

you can argue semantics and the objective subjectiveness of an individual's definition all day but in the end it's apples and oranges. sure they're both tasty healthy fruits but they sure aren't the same.

music is special, it transcends itself to become more than the sum of its sounds in the instance it's created and performed. the most you can do is capture a reflection of the music. but the reflection will never be the same as actually being there when it happened, you might think you're close but it's never going to be to the same level.

songs can be just as special but they're made to be reproduced. the emotion contained and projected within the song is controlled and planned out along with every other aspect of the tune. very little is lost between the creation and the reproduction.

it's not to say that one is superior to the other or that one aspect requires more skill only that there IS a difference. same as being dominated by either the left or right side of your brain.

the claim that people need to adhere to established methods in regards to music strikes me as an attempt to cover up an individual's insecurities on their own perception of music within modern society. at the same time claiming that an intangible element of the self will provide everything necessary to create good music is just as pretentiously foolish. it's a matter of striking a balance within the individual, at which point the content of either side of the scales become irrelevant. and to me, having the courage to ignore those pressures is what differentiates the musicians from the people who play instruments.

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