Seperating Performance from the Recording

I've debated for a long time about whether to talk about today's topic. I generally like to post things that I genuinely feel are really great aspects of music, but today's topic is something that I am fascinated by, but also quite uneasy about at the same time.

The video today is a lecture from TED.com again. It involves a project in which the performance of a song is separated from its recording. Confusing? It's a new way of thinking about music and what we mean when we refer to "music" (the ontology of music is a whole area of philosophy that I won't bother going into now, but maybe another post some time...). The idea is that instead of capturing a specific recording with mics, or writing down specific notes on paper, another way (and supposedly a better way) to capture music is to digitize the actual keystrokes, how hard a piano is struck, and how far the pedals are pushed down etc. In other words, it captures all the personal choices that performers make, and turns it into digital information.

With that information, an instrument, and a computer... theoretically you can make the computer play the instrument exactly like the original artist , thereby enabling the listener to truly experience the piece as it was played.

Now the question is: are you really listening to the original artist? Or anything resembling what musicians actually do when you listen to them play live? Or is it missing something?

I am torn about this. I think it's unfair to immediately dismiss this, because we have some precedent for this in the music world. When recordings came out, people were fascinated, but also scoffed at the idea. When CD's were invented and recordings shifted from analog to digital, people also thought it lost something. Finally, when mp3's further compressed the sound, some people were uneasy as well. While all these criticisms are totally correct in their points of argument, it's also true that the majority of the public has transitioned, and it has changed the way we experience and listen to music (I realize that just because lots of people are okay with it, it doesn't make it right...but if people enjoy it, then arguably it's still doing what music is supposed to do in the first place).

That being said though, I do feel like this still fails to capture what he claims - the "spirit" of the musician. Being a musician myself, I know that playing music in front of people involves more than just the notes I play, the strength and lengths of the notes I play.. in fact, it involves more than me, my music, and my instrument. Playing in front of people involves a dialogue with the audience, much like a conversation. Depending on the mood of the crowd, my mood, the room, the mood of those I am playing with... it all changes. The people conducting this project don't seem to understand that, and it frightens me that they are thinking ahead to the point where they think they can play/compose a piece of music in place of the actual composer/player.

Either way though, an interesting thing to ponder, lots to think about. Let me know what you think!

A Thunderstorm With Your Hands

Back in January, I posted this blog entry about Evelyn Glennie, the deaf percussionist. One of the eye-opening moments in the video involves a challenge she presents to the audience: She asks the audience to recreate the sound of thunder/rain with their hands. The results were fairly disappointing, as the audience simply clapped their hands quietly, but overall it was unconvincing as rain. She then proceeded to reveal that children, when asked the same question, tap on different parts of their bodies, on things etc... thus showing that adults are often confined in the way they think and experience the world. This includes the way that we think about, and listen to, music... and she continues her lecture.

That kind of left me wondering what a GREAT example of a thunderstorm (with hands) would sound like. I think this next video would fit the bill. It's an acapella choir called "Perpetuum Jazzile", doing a rendition of Toto's "Africa". The intro though, is where it really shines. You'll see what I mean (Turn the volume up! It's fairly quiet)

Bach and Counterpoint

I'm sure most people have heard that Bach is an absolute genius. But it's one of those things that is hard to fully appreciate without understanding musical theory. However, a few months ago I came across a video that easily and convincingly illustrates how ridiculously amazing he is.

Today I'm going to write about the namesake of this blog: contrapunctus, aka counterpoint. "Counterpoint" is a relationship between melody lines that each have their own independent rhythm, contour, and also are not in harmony. In short, it's when there are two or more melodies that aren't in harmony, but they sound good. It's easily one of the most complicated theoretical relationships in music.

Bach is an absolute master of this relationship, because he was able to write 4,5, lines of music that were in counterpoint, IMPROVISED, on an organ(so that's 2 hands, 2 feet going at the same time!!). That alone is otherworldly, but the things he created when he actually sat down and composed them...are completely unfathomable.

Bach would write fugues (contrapunctal music) where one melody would be played straight forward, another would play the same melody backwards, and another would play the same melody but inverted (so imagine a sheet of music being played upside down so that the notes correspond to different things), and at varying speeds.... yet sounding perfect!

To visually understand what I'm talking about, watch the video below (from strangepaths.com).



Is that not mind blowing? I can't get over how incredibly complex his music is!

If you want to learn more about the genius of Bach, I highly recommend this article on Slate: Bach on Top: How one of the most esoteric musical works ever written became an unlikely hit. It's a short article that explains the counterpoint of Bach in further detail, but it's still written for the general public.

Finally, thanks to Rose for sharing this video with me.

(I am extremely busy this month, so updates will be slower. Sorry!)