Is a Computer an Instrument?

GuitarBizarre · 03-24-2010, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daktari

Hi again, I'm ok now, had a quick snooze at my desk.

Sounds like you are agreeing with me there.

Like I said, a computer is a computer until a musician comes along and decides to use it's musical potential. And, as I said, almost anything can be a potential musical instrument. I do disagree with the saxophone thing though. You are correct, it is just a mass of metal bent into a particular shape that has keys attached which I already said. But, it is bent that way solely to produce musical sounds ...unlike the oil drum which is designed first to hold oil but can be turned into a drum when a musician decides to drum on it.

I have changed my mind slightly: The way I'm thinking now is that a computer solely designed to produce music, a sequencer for example, is a musical instrument. I would see a regular pc/mac as a more general tool which can be used to produce music with the help of the right software and a musician pressing the right buttons...

By the way, I remember studying all that Duchamp stuff when I was art college back in the 70's... He displayed a bike wheel as a 'ready made' piece of art. The bike wheel though was still designed first to be part of a bike like the saxophone was designed specifically to play music, that was the whole point. The computer however, is designed to be a multi tasking tool which has the potential to be a musical instrument if used that way by a musician.

Interesting. Gordon.

I disagree. DuChamps was trying to make the point that nothing is ANYTHING until it is given CONTEXT.

A bike wheel to a caveman is not a bike wheel, its an interesting metal and rubber object. To an alien its a primitive mode of transport used by a species who haven't yet mastered antigravity propulsion.

the CONTEXT is key. What the object actually IS is largely irrelevant, the thing that makes a bike wheel a bike wheel is that its on a bike. It could just as easily be used as a mechanical pulley, by simply taking off the tire. It could even be used as a 'sports model' or the old victorian hoop and stick. The fact that YOU see it as a bike wheel is based solely on the fact you know its NORMAL context is on a bike.

Same with the saxophone. Its not a musical instrument by default, because there IS no default. Its a musical instrument by CONTEXT.