Colin, post: 456451, member: 47940 wrote: I think way too many artists out there have song songs of suicide in our hearts, and it sickens me !

I haven't noticed that, but it may be the kind of music I gravitate toward.

Colin, post: 456451, member: 47940 wrote: Music is meant to uplift us and carry us.

If you mean meant by musicians to uplift us, sure.

Colin, post: 456451, member: 47940 wrote: Take head artists!

I'm guessing you meant "heed."

Colin, post: 456451, member: 47940 wrote: Share your journey! Where are you?

Probably in a very different place than yours, but it's also very positive.

I think it is critical that we get this right. There is no in between on this. As artists and song writers we should know. In just 19 years we have seen the internet go from AOL dial up modems to Recording forums and cell phone computers. I'm applying this for one reason: The history of music pisses God off. We have rock and rolled our country into a sinful nation. You either direct your songs to HIM or you don't.

I am going to get a beer and some popcorn and see how this thread goes...

Colin, post: 456460, member: 47940 wrote: The history of music pisses God off.

Citations, please. And which god of the thousands there have been throughout history? It looks by the capitalization like you mean Yahweh, but I don't want to assume.

Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius.

Sorry, it would probably have been best if I had turned the other cheek, but you'd probably just cut my other ear off. Live by the word, die by the word. When I was a child I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

A better response by me would have been "I'm glad you've found something that makes you happy, but this is probably not the right place for this kind of discussion."

I’m with boulder here. Wrong place for discussion of sky fairy notions...

If you want to know what contributes to our mass shootings, which take place more in the USA then any other country in the world, then listen to our modern Rock.
A real catchy tune, a real cool melody , your hooked...right? And you sing the words into your grave. Sing on men! Sing on!

I suspect you're being misdirected by your own negativity bias and confirmation bias. These are imperfections in the way human brains work, something we all share. But we can learn to counteract the effects with practice.

Why do so many songs deal with death? Because (according to Heidegger) human beings are unique in that they are aware of and recognize their own finitude, and that this awareness of death is part of what defines "Being" as it relates to being human. The subject of death and the subject of suicide are part of the existential exploration of life through art.

Now as it relates to your post -- An internet forum related to pro audio discussion is a terrible place to come and "witness". Not only is it generally inappropriate but it's also contrived and clumsy and is more apt to be met with negativity and rejection that other strategies. If anything - this kind of witnessing has the opposite from its intended effect and will push people away from you and your message as opposed to drawing them in. So at risk of giving you advice that you might not like I'm going to suggest an alternate path I'll call "Secular Immersive Faith Modeling"..... You just live your good life - live with and by your faith's tenets.... live such a good life, and with such good energy, that those in the secular world in which you come across will reach out to you and maybe ask :: "Hey Joe - you seem to have it going on? What's your secret?" which will then open up an avenue to share....... but this kind of contrived clumsy discussion? Not cool. Not effective. and generally not appropriate (no matter what you believe). If the door is open to proselytizers then the forum would be flooded with posts from all kinds of religious people from all kinds of religious background and we'd never have a fruitful secular discussion here again.

I'll also address the "covert" proselytizing that goes on when people of faith share tracks for the specific (secret) purpose of posting lyrics to back-door proseltyze.... I don't mind listening to your song (no matter what the subject matter - I can put my aversion to any subject aside no matter what it is) but when it's obvious that the intent was to just proselytize by sharing the lyrics vs sharing the audio and engaging the forum based on the audio then I call a foul ball.

I think we can all relate to the depression of not having a job in music for a while, personally i still don't have that big break! But I realise its a long hill we have to walk before seeing any sort of monetary gain. I can relate to the cheap piano part lol I started on some crap yamaha keyboard but it was fun because only i was in control of how much i can improve on it.

I don't get this, and to be honest never have. Music is a pleasant business to be in mostly. It beats working in many jobs, but music is my job. Some of it sucks, some is great fun. I don't get the uplift bit at all. Some music is designed to induce emotion in the listener - any emotion, ask Barry White. Other music is designed to be bland and instantly forgettable. Other music is there to make people dance - and I don't just mean modern dance. I don't ever feel I've been on a journey. Actually, maybe I have.

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to the OP, i am happy you have found something that brings you peace with yourself. if something makes a person happy and it doesn't hurt anyone else, i'm good with it.

music has always been good. what people do with it is on them. music provided me with a way to live my life without sponging off others or wanting to eat a gun barrel.

i can't say what's what but i have difficulty believing a "perfect" God could be "pissed off" or jealous and vengeful, all negative attributes of humans. i don't think a perfect God would have the slightest interest what we do let alone in punishing a soul because it didn't worship said God. Everlasting pain and torture in a Hell is something a sicko human would think of, not a "perfect" God.

imho, if there is an all powerful, all knowledgeable entity, it defies common sense to conclude they are watching every single one of us with interest, let alone keeping a record of our "sins". that is a very narcissistic thing people have come to believe. the idea we are all so important a God is watching our every move.

Kurt Foster, post: 456705, member: 7836 wrote: imho, if there is an all powerful, all knowledgeable entity, it defies common sense to conclude they are watching every single one of us with interest, let alone keeping a record of our "sins". that is a very narcissistic thing people have come to believe. the idea we are all so important a God is watching our every move.

God uses an app for that. The old philosophical questions of whether free will exists, and if we are in part of god/the entirety, and it created us, it by default created sin. it just goes beyond what humans can perceive and comprehend. our ol' monkey brains and eyes are a small window within the universe.

Musically speaking, i think it exists inherently as part of the fabric of space-time, i've always felt we are more like a radio receiver, or an instrument, rather than the true author music. ive always felt musicians are instead transducers. all the best songs seem to write themselves... I've never listened much to happy music, and i find music can speak better than words sometimes. Vibration is a fundamental element of the known universe, and musicians have a special relationship with it. Personally, music has given me a reason to get out of bed each day.

I can see that to some, religion is important, and I would never seek to diminish the importance of it - but I have to temper it with practical observations. Some people simply cannot understands music - as in appreciating it, analysing it, and most importantly, being able to produce it. Some of these folk are musically inept, and want for some reason, to produce it. Their attempts are usually less than good. Some people even try to redefine was music and musicianship is, to somehow allow themselves to be part of that restricted group - musicians. Maths never makes music. The laughable and some still there, MIDI files from the 80s on the net show how maths totally fails for producing music. Not everyone can dance, paint portraits, play an instrument, predict what chord comes next, cut hair, arrange flowers - but those same people may be able to manipulate tools delicately and accurately, draw plans competently, press a button that initiates music, thatch roofs, and tile floors.

Artistic people have the ability to change people's moods and emotions by doing what they do. I do not subscribe to any channeling or transducing theories. The ability comes totally from within. It's naturally in them. There is no external influence observed, or evidenced. The level of artistry sets one musician apart from the other, in the same way anyone working in the arts lives with daily. Music is a product in huge quantity and range of styles. The actual impact it has on others is not in the control of the musician. It really annoyed me at college that some totally non -musicians were put on music courses as some kind of therapy? As in, do music - it's good for you. I've had to work with some of these people, and while I see the positives of what they do, they are NOT musicians, they have little musical ability, but producing it helps them, and usually drives everyone around them away. Clearly, many musicians have fragile personalities, while others are much more resilient - but musicians are musicians. My beef is simply when we're forced to work with non-musicians. It's simply horrible. I got a call asking if I would consider doing some teaching in a school. I'm qualified still, so said I would. I hated every minute. For every musical child there were 20 who had 0 musical ability, and after a few months of interacting with these kids, it started to depress me - so I stopped. Here in the UK - arts subjects at school are being savaged, and there is outcry. Trouble is, so many of the kids are simply not the right type = but drama and music are "good for you". However, if you look at the kids who are good at music - virtually all do music out of school, and the kids who are good at drama belong to outside organisations. The arts, for non-arty people, can be painful and awkward.

paulears, post: 456713, member: 47782 wrote: Artistic people have the ability to change people's moods and emotions by doing what they do. I do not subscribe to any channeling or transducing theories. The ability comes totally from within. It's naturally in them. There is no external influence observed, or evidenced.

perhaps had you instituted the guitar hero video game you'd see an improvement in the childrens musical abilities? most music classes ive taken, while informative, forget an important part- listening, and experimentation.

for fun (i have no attachments to any theology in particular) the ability that comes from within, where does that come from? most musicians dont consciously write a song, and like you said, have no idea what people would get from it, if anything at all. doesnt that make the musician the medium, or the translator.? when someone has an emotional moment they dont think/feel "Dm" even though they may play the Dm chord to express the feeling. if certain people/creatures we not 'tuned in' wouldn't all humans exhibit similar musical skill and repertoire? If there wasnt something pre-eminent in what humans create, our creations could only be based on our experiences. Usually people play best when 'not thinking' when 'letting it flow', which suggests that the human interfere as little as possible with the transmission of the music. there is often little explanation as to where songs come from, or why some songs resonate with many people or not. we often say humans 'have thoughts' not 'create thoughts' as if we've authored them. i think this falls into the same realm, of what is the origin of creativity, or thought or consciousness. i think the fact that inspiration and art cant really be learned or taught in any real way, and the variety of skill levels out there further supports the notion that there is something that is accessed, rather than granted. even plants react to different types of music differently. there seems to be something very elementary or universal in music.

again this is purely conversational, i enjoy talking about theories and metaphysics, ect.

Music and song have multiple overlapping evolutionary adaptive benefits which have coevolved with cultural development.

Actually, I don't think guitar hero helped the cause of musicianship at all. It did convince many non-musical people that they were! Sadly, most weren't, and the situation is the same as the railways/aviation folk do simulations. You can drive a train, or fly an aircraft but only those who have the real ability can do it properly. Hell, on the screen I can fly, but after 3 attempts I know that the reality is I cannot.

My wife loves music, she is, however, totally tone deaf = but she loves music. She can remember the songs that were playing at certain times of importance. I can't remember what I've played at all in a sight reading gig, ten minutes after playing it. It has not impact on me whatsoever. In fact, I sometimes play my favourite songs badly, because I like them too much. How does that work?

I don't look to music to make me happy. I look to music to help me explore emotional landscapes in new ways.

My journey: Dad listened to lots of jazz when I was growing up - bee bop, swing, big band, bosa nova. Big sisters were in to 60s pop music, Beatles and Motown. I saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan and was hooked.

Took piano lessons for four years, didn't take them very seriously. Found a broken guitar of my Dad's and tried to play it. Quit piano at 13, started playing a lot. Got a guitar and a snare drum, started playing them with friends. Did teen bands of horrible original music (mine) that we were mercifully too stupid to realize sucked horribly. Joined an otherwise all black funk band in high school. It was amazing playing EWF, PFunk, James Brown, Ohio Players, Stevie Wonder, Kool and the Gang. Loved it, but had to go off to college.

In college founded a new wave band (X-teens) that had some national success - MTV videos, records charting in college charts, a modest distribution deal in Europe and Japan, reviews in Rolling Stone and Wall St. Journal. Egos grew and the band imploded. I had young kids, so pursued day gig and played music as a hobby. Those kids have kids of their own and I still play out, but have a fantastic detached music studio and tons of cool equipment, so I will make music until some combination of tinnitus and arthritis prevent me.

Here's some of my stuff:

Gossamer Heart
Flabbergasted
The Asshole Trap