Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 7:35 am Post subject: Satisfying your audience
I t recently occured to me that many trumpeters are more interested in demonstrating to other trumpeters their extreme high note ability or, their fancy fingering and tongueing. Is this REALLY what we as musicians should be doing? My wife can't play anything other than the radio, television and record player, but, she is representitive of what we as musicians need, an audience. If the sounds that we make are pleasing to the average audience then we can rightfully call ourselves musicians. In a music appreciation course in college we were taught that music is "structured sound in the form of sequential notes that is pleasant to the ear". If the sounds that we make are something else, I have a personal problem in calling tthose sounds music. This can be carried to another level as well. If moree than one 'musician' is playing at the same time, we all know that "staying together" is imperitive. If done otherwise the sounds that we produce are enharmonic and offensive to the ear of the audience, who, in most cases only know what sounds good to them. In other words, make music, not just noise.
Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 8:36 am Post subject: Re: Satisfying your audience
OLDLOU wrote:
I t recently occured to me that many trumpeters are more interested in demonstrating to other trumpeters their extreme high note ability or, their fancy fingering and tongueing. Is this REALLY what we as musicians should be doing?
Some of the recordings you are talking about were aimed at a certain audience. They were meant to provide a demonstration of the talent and skill levels of those artists. Could the same argument of “Fancy fingering and tonguing” be used against the great recordings of Carnival of Venice or Flight of the Bumble Bee? My favorite artist of today is the great Wayne Bergeron. He plays high and fast all the time, and yes, some of what he plays is for the purpose of showing off his amazing skills. I never consider that to be unmusical. My favorite single cut from any CD is Colors of the Wind as recorded by Arturo Sandoval. On that one cut he demonstrates versatility, amazing tone on both trumpet and flugelhorn, and yes he shows off amazing range, and he does it all in a very musical manner.
OLDLOU wrote:
If the sounds that we make are pleasing to the average audience then we can rightfully call ourselves musicians. In a music appreciation course in college we were taught that music is "structured sound in the form of sequential notes that is pleasant to the ear". If the sounds that we make are something else, I have a personal problem in calling tthose sounds music.
So who is the average audience member? I would bet that 90% of today’s youth think that the sounds of the greatest opera singers in the world are not pleasing to the ear. I would think that 90% of people over 70-years-old think that most of today’s hard rock music is not pleasing to the ear. I live in Cajun Country and I bet that 25% of well-trained musicians would say that Cajun music is not pleasing to the ear. When we were teens we listened to music that our parents said was not pleasing to the ear. Most Americans can listen to many forms of music from the Orient and they would not find that music pleasing to the ear.
I tell my students all the time that an intelligent musician is one that that has an open mind. You may not enjoy all forms of music, but you respect their right to exist. I have made deals with my students before that I would listen at lunch time to part of a CD they bring, and discuss it with them, if they would listen to part of an opera with me and discuss it afterwards. Our only rule was that the music they provide couldn’t have any foul language or nasty innuendo.
I still don’t like their music, and they are probably not fans of opera, but we did come to a conclusion that both of our music forms have a right to exist, and they are music, not noise.
OLDLOU wrote:
If done otherwise the sounds that we produce are enharmonic and offensive to the ear of the audience, who, in most cases only know what sounds good to them. In other words, make music, not just noise.
Lou, I’m not sure what you meant to write here, but ENHARMONIC tones are two separate notations stand for the same sound (Eb=D#, or Gb=F#). You used the wrong word there! _________________ "To be a teacher you need to be as good a performer as you can be: you'll have more to impart to your students musically." - John Haynie
Lou, with all due respect, I think the word you are looking for is dissonance. In music, dissonance is when the music is aurally unpleasant. Dissonance is different from one country or culture to another, but it simply means thata tone is in some need of resolution in relation to another tone.
Enharmonic is a note/tone which is the same as some other note, but spelled differently. If you were taught differently, the teacher was incorrect. _________________ "To be a teacher you need to be as good a performer as you can be: you'll have more to impart to your students musically." - John Haynie
We learned in music history that music is "organized sound". There are MANY forms of music that are not pleasing to my ears, but they are still music. If a young beginning or intermediate level band plays a song that the world reveres as a great piece of music and they play it in a manner that is not pleasing to the ear, does it cease to be music.
High notes, fast notes, slow notes, all have a place. There are audiences for all types of music. That being said, I think as musicians, we should play what is required for the gig to the best of our ability.
_________________ Stacy Williams
Sop 04-05 CorpsVets
Owner, Smooth Groove Music
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