Wiardgroup

-----Original Message-----
From:	konkuro [mailto:konkuro@aol.com]
Sent:	Fri 7/2/2004 3:56 PM
To:	wiardgroup@yahoogroups.com
Cc:	
Subject:	[wiardgroup] Re: Review of "Electric Sound" by Joel Chadabe

Doug wins the Konkuro Sangrael Award(TM), for a post that sums the 
whole discussion up perfectly.  Excellent!  It would make a good 
article.

Fully sated, I can now take my leave.

Thanks once again to Grant and the gang for the posts, demos and a 
generally engaging and educational experience.  You may now return to 
your Woggling.

And with that, it's a wrap.  Back to lurking.

For now...

johnm


--- In wiardgroup@yahoogroups.com, Doug Pearson <jasret@m...> wrote:
> 
> Every instrument has taken a long time for its full potential to be 
> discovered & utilized.  Charlie Parker and John Coltrane were 30? 
50? years 
> after the invention of the saxophone.  It took well over a hundred 
years 
> from its invention for the romatic composers of the 1800s to get 
lost 
> enough inside that large black box called the pianoforte to find 
its 
> emotional potential.  The fact that Jimi Hendrix came less than 20 
years 
> after the invention of the electric guitar (not counting 
electrified steels 
> [btw it is the LAP steel, not the pedal steel, which is commonly 
used in 
> "Don Ho" Hawaiian music]) is probably a testimony to the massive 
popularity 
> (and mass manufacture) of the instrument.  And those instruments 
all have 
> extremely diverse usages - it even took nearly a decade to figure 
out the 
> one trick in that pony called the TB-303.
> 
> The "electronic music synthesizer" complicates things by being an 
entire 
> class of instruments, rather than a single instrument.  With the 
different 
> classes ranging from the VCS3 to the Triton to the General MIDI 
Casio to 
> the DSI Evolver to softsynths of every flavor, the situation is 
further 
> complicated by the wealth of control interfaces (wheras most 
existing 
> instruments, or even classes of instrument, have one control 
interface or 
> combination of interfaces).  The possibilities aren't *infinite*, 
but the 
> instrument *is* much more open-ended than any that came before it.
> 
> And again, with most instruments, there are also people who obsess 
over the 
> "insides of the box" - the different woods, finishes & glues used 
for 
> string instruments (not to mention the actual strings), or 
> sax/oboe/bassoon/clarinet players' obsessions over reeds & 
> mouthpieces.  Sometimes, the people who know the most about those 
are 
> "non-players" (as were Bob & Don) whose expertise might be in 
woodworking 
> instead of electronics.
> 
> It's true that there are many electronic pieces that fall into the 
category 
> of "academic exercise" rather than art (and in my opinion, using an 
> electronic music synthesizer to perform classical orchestral music 
IS an 
> academic exercise).  But sometimes academic exercises are necessary 
to 
> advance the state of the art (playing Hindemeth exercises sure as 
hell 
> isn't art, but the pianist who has spent time playing them will 
probably be 
> better-prepared to play artistic pieces more artistically - or 
might just 
> end up like Nick - "Carpal Tunnel syndrome is all classical music 
did for 
> me" is a great quote!).
> 
> So in conclusion, I must find the reviewer's criticisms to be 
mostly 
> unfounded.  We must expect long waits before artistic breakthroughs 
on 
> *any* instrument, and the complexity/open-endedness (and lack of 
market 
> saturation like the electric guitar in the 1960s) of the 
synthesizer means 
> that we may have to wait even longer than the not-quite-50 years 
the 
> instrument has been around.  Every instrument, too, will have 
practicioners 
> more concerned with the "nuts and bolts" or technological aspects 
than the 
> artistic aspects, which is human nature; some people are artists, 
and some 
> people are technicians (some are both, some are neither).  And 
while 
> "academic" or "conceptual" pieces may not be art in themselves, 
they still 
> may be necessary to advance the state of the art.
> 
>          -Doug
>           jasret@m...




 
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