[NewMusic] coasting?

[Phillip Greenlief]

-----Original Message-----
On Behalf Of Jon Brumit
Subject: [NewMusic] coasting?

DS & PG - what's this about coasting?
are you guys serious, or just trying to amuse yourselves?

PG:
If I wanted to amuse myself, I'd hang out on MySpace.
;-)

Well, this was David's post - and I merely chimed in with an agreement.
The truth is, this whole discussion is pretty complicated and can't be
summed up too easily.
 
But, in my defense (David will have to defend himself), it does seem to
me that despite the relative ease in which a lot of the new technology
has delivered "information" to people (old and young alike), I am
noticing a few things:

1) Many (not all!) young people are not reading important texts that
refer directly to the music they are involved in; I also notice the same
age group tends to neglect reading "essential texts" that are non-music
related.

2) Many younger musicians (I hate generalizing like this, and I do it
with some trepidation, believe me) do not seem inclined to do deepen
their studies with "listening" projects...a study that would include not
only listening, but studying scores and other related texts. I'm
confused by how little "students" these days have listened to, in spite
of the fact that they are music students (we are all life long students,
of course, so this includes all of us). And this is happening in an era
when music is "more available" - through all the channels that have been
discussed in this thread.

3) Because of the cost of living in places like SF, younger people have
to work more in order to pay the rent. I have mentioned this countless
times on the list, and the last time I mentioned it, I was semi-jeered
by Weasel for being nostalgic about the good ol' days...fair enough.

I don't mind being jeered by WW, but my point was and still is this: In
my short lifetime I have seen a situation in the bay area where we have
moved from being able to make a living as a musician to a time now where
we are no longer able to make a living as a musician. I hold various
political parties (and the capitalist system in general) responsible for
this - and I believe it is no coincidence that during this same
relatively short lifetime of mine I saw Ronald Reagan take office as
Governor of California and also take office as President of the United
States. It may not be a coincidence that this move from "support
yourself as a musician" (in the late 70's and 80's) to "I can't support
myself as a musician" took place during the Reagan-Bush eras and is
still prevalent today.

The fact that younger musicians have less time to play because they have
to spend more time working to pay the rent calls this
"assertion/criticism" into question. In short, I am both citing
something here and discussing the underlying problem that keeps it in
place. While I was able to practice 6 - 10 hours a day all throughout my
20's and up until my mid-30's, I don't see how younger musicians could
find the time to do that and still pay rent in the bay area.
 
To commit your self to a life of music and all that is associated with
it (practice, study, reading, listening, composition, rehearsal,
performance) is to choose a revolutionary life. You have to put your
life on the line to make it happen. You can't take this choice lightly,
nor can you pretend that it doesn't matter whether or not you make this
choice (IMHO). So while I hold younger musicians in a certain degree of
suspicion, for the reasons cited above, I am also sympathizing with
them.

To further support Slusser's comment, it is all too often that I hear
younger musicians criticize certain styles of music as being "not
innovative or original", and yet when I hear what they are doing, I can
easily cite many sources of music that they are imitating, finding
inspiration in, etc. So it seems that it is (and probably always has
been) easy to point the finger at others. I say this with as little
irony (intended) as possible.