MUSIC THOUGHTS FROM ANDREW LLOYD FRY
Archive
A SCATTERING OF MUSIC THOUGHTS
-When jazz musicians get finished with their gig they get together to jam. When classical musicians get finished with their gig they go home.
-Classical music was born in the church because that is where music notation originated.
-Bach regularly had his music performed in a coffee shop and at home concerts.
-Classical music has never learned to balance the budget, and is only surviving because of donations from people who think classical music is “good for us”.
-What unifies almost all American music (jazz, rap, pop, rock country ect.) is a rhythmic feel where beats two and four are accented. For some reason classical music has completely avoided this idea.
-Spotify gets over 100,000 songs uploaded to it every day.
-Music is now not only playing while shopping at stores but is now increasingly being played in parking lots.
-The church is one of the few establishments that has clung to regular live music.
-The average age of a classical music fan is 55 and up.
-After Bach’s death, his scores were being used as paper to wrap up meat.
-Since 2000 most art has gone through a process of decentralization of power (the indie movement). Classical music has been almost completely untouched by this movement and is still regulated by contest, grants, committees, and commissions.
-Spotify pays artist .003 per a song stream.
SOME THOUGHTS ON THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MAKING ART
We dream of art validating our identity
This is an illusion
Most of the time we will not receive extravagant praise
And when we do it just makes us want it more
Like drinking water but you just keep more thirsty
We are special because we make art
This is a lie
Because our unique humanity/specialness is so much deeper than what we make
This is a super shallow definition of what makes a human worthy
We feel like if people reject what we make they are rejecting us
This is a lie
In sharing art
The default mode is self focus
I want praise
The healthy mode is I am a servant and I want this to bless you
Why does making art feel so embarrassing for adults
It seems to be a underlying expectation that if you are an adult making something
You are a professional and if your not thats embarrassing
This is a lie
At our core we want love
Making art is not the way to get it
It is a way to give love
We are free when our identities are not on the line
When we don’t give other people the power to tell us who we are
By their response to the things we created
DAILY RITUALS
I love Mason Curry’s book daily rituals. If I was in it this is what it would say.
7:00-8:00 wake up
8:00-9:00 breakfast and coffee
9:00-9:30 time with kids
9:30-10:00 prayer
10:00-12:00 compose/write
12:00-1:00 lunch
1:00-3:00 time with kids/practical/clean
3:00-4:00 Feka
4:00-8:00 teach piano lessons
8:00-10:00 eat/family time/read/tea/listen to music
THE ADVENT OF RECORDED MUSIC
It is strange how recorded music has forever altered our experience and relationship with music. We are saturated with it more than ever before and in equal and inverse proportions listening with less and less attention.
It is strange how recorded music has forever altered our experience and relationship with music. We are saturated with it more than ever before and in equal and inverse proportions listening with less and less attention. If feels as if we have traded an in person conversation for a long distance phone call, that is going on all day, while we are trying to cook, clean, talk to other people, drive, work, ect.
For me it’s defiantly something I am thankful for as 98% of the music I have listened to and enjoy is recorded but it has its hidden curse. And the curse is this, when supply is plentiful it drives down the value, less value equals less attention, with less attention comes less hearing, till some point in the future we will no longer have the capacity to hear it any more.