Thread: influential trends in music

Originally posted by buldog5151bass:
Has the importance of musicianship faded that much?

I don't believe that the importance of musicianship will ever fade but the ability to use digital technology has blurred the line a little. Anyone can come up with a good song, musician or programmer. I cannot just put my hands on the keyboard and pour my heart out onto it. For that reason, there will always be a difference between my music which is samples and sequences and someone who can actually "play" something!
As for VSTI's, I don't want to suggest that they will replace accoustic instruments but I think that they will play an ever growing roll in music in all situations as they continue to improve.

combining live music with recorded music (ie rappers with live bands). Add in all the sampling going on and videos. I think the distinction between "live" and "pre-recorded" will continue to blur.

I agree with the above statement 100%.
Best regards,
mIchAEl

I've been giving this a bunch of thought as I'm beginning to teach this class in a week

There are definitely points in American pop music history where the emphasis on commercial popularity overshadowed almost everything else. Especially quality music/musicianship that never made it to a large public. The examples that immediately come to mind are:

40's - big band swing - the popular Glenn Miller stuff

50's - the commercially safe mainstreamed(white) rock-n-roll/pop

60's/70's bubblegum rock/pop - the AM radio stuff

late 70's - Disco

80's - hair bands/video bands

90's - boy bands/rap etc...

All of these examples were followed by major musical trends that consciously fought against the mainstream and led to new trends. What all of these have in common is that they are predominantly overproduced "dance" trends. Musicianship is not (has not been) the focus of the style - and doesn't need to be.
I'm wondering where musicianship is right now. We have musicians with more formal training, better access to recordings, better chops, the ability to record themselves at uprecedented levels - what's the net result????

Peace

Phil

Has the importance of musicianship faded that much?

Yes. It's been fading and fading. A downward spirial of increasing mediocrity. But technology is on the rise. As musicians in past years spent their waking hours practicing their craft and art - for many hours. Many of those same musicians today are trying to figure out how to sample, and set up/run their home studio. In the past there was more intrapersonal interaction between musicians and audience. Now it's much more isolated. I think this will have and has had a profound effect upon music.

Music today and tomorrow is an even more a solipsistic, introverted activiity, I believe. More and more people will create their own music, in answers to fighting labels which will more and more fade. Most people will increasingly have their own music -- little camps, rather than bigger ones like The Beatles, Motown or Elvis. The two camps will, as always but more so now, be divided into the Music = money camps and the music = art camps. It'll all be choice because nobody is really trying to get those same old "DEALS" any more . . . New deals in advertising and product placement.