If you really love music, then read this with an open mind.
"I just wanted to say a few things on dubstep, as some people seem to focus on it, not as the musical device that it is, but rather its status in our culture and society. People identify themselves through music, and express themselves through their taste in music. Sometimes people get so caught up in the attributions of genres that they forget what music is about in the first place. They limit themselves to certain styles because their mind is not free. Music can and should be enjoyed across all genres, regardless of social value, political statement, mainstream success, stigma and so on, because great talent is to be found in every aspect of art, from the popular to the most obscure and unknown. Dubstep has a perceived low social value because of widespread misconceptions, ignorance and bitterness. Bitterness from the UK and surrounding cultures because the US dubstep variant, Brostep, by proxy of the masterful producer Skrillex became an overnight phenomenon that completely overshadowed a decade or so of dubstep history from the country and followers of origin. Ignorance, because people do not understand the considerable talent and work that goes into high quality music of any genre, and finally misconceptions because people think dubstep is written exclusively by teenagers with laptops, no musical education or comprehension of simple musical concepts and theory. Classical music, contemporary and
traditional is considered "sophisticated", "academic", "intelligent" and so on, because the ignorant consensus is that it "obviously requires a much greater mind and skillset to write music for something as complex as an orchestra". Thus, so-called "elitist" and "purist" followers of classical/orchestral music are born, and they, like every other culturally selective group in society stick together to spread the message that the music and art that they identify themselves by is vastly superior to that which the unwashed masses enjoy, such as Justin Bieber and Skrillex.
As someone who has written music for orchestras, choirs, metal bands, trance, country, bubblegum pop, hollywood movies and tv jingles I can assure you that neither musical genre is more sophisticated, intelligent or difficult to do than another. I feel compelled to address the gross ignorance that is displayed increasingly frequent when people trash great pop acts of our time such as Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and so on. The collective talent, musicianship, intelligence and hard work behind these acts is unparalleled. There is a reason why these people are popular, and it's not the image or look that they carry. The music may not be to your taste, but be honest with yourself and man enough to admit that the reason you don't listen to Justin Bieber or Lady Gaga is because of its perceived social stigma, your own ego and/or your views on manufactured talent packages. I myself choose to keep an open mind and never ever mix music and art with politics or as a social affiliation and identification factor. Wherever great men pave new road, greater minds will follow, and the collective great minds will eventually reach the limits of what we are intellectually capable of, only to carry this knowledge forth into new fields of discovery.
The principle of evolution is as sound in the context of music as in the context of nature. Do you follow the herd or is your mind free? Think about it. Do you identify yourself through music? Do you hide behind it or do you actually choose to be free and embrace everything without prejudice? Life is so rich and full of beauty, and art is truly limitless, so why limit ourselves to the sheep mentality in our appreciation of it? Embrace without prejudice and cultivate that which resonates within you, not what resonates with others."- Thomas J. Bergersen
0 comments:
Post a Comment