I used to have a neighbor who would bang on the wall and screech loudly when he would hear my music, even if it was played at the most minimal and polite volumes in the middle of the day.
At the time I lived on a busy street and during the day one could hear trucks and cars honking constantly, loud construction work, jack hammers, people with booming car stereos – hell, even gunshots on more than one occasion. one day, a man was literally shot dead in my front yard after being chased out of the crack house that was right up the block. it was New Orleans, after all and a bit of a tough neighborhood (South Jeff Davis & Tulane for anyone Nola peeps who are curious).
We also lived really close to a popular dive bar and so at night time you would hear drunk people passing to and from and could even sometimes hear the music if there were live bands.
But yeah, the very instant an audible bloop-bleep-blip was emitted from my rig, I would instantly hear “SCREEEEEEEETCH!!! TURN THAT DOWN YOU MOTHER F****!” and then WHACK WHACK WAHCK on the wall. shit was distressing to say the least.
One day it dawned on me that it wasn’t just the fact that my neighbor could hear music – it was more that he actively hated the sound of synthesizers. they offended his sensibilities.
So I guess some folks really don’t like them and then the others at best are simply disinterested.
One day a co-worker asked me about my weekend plans, and I told her that I was going to stay inside my apartment all weekend and learn a new synthesizer that I had purchased that week (Syntakt btw).
She gave me a weird look and then asked me, “what is a synthesizer?”
Sigh, we walk a lonely road…which is why we have elektronauts I guess.
On the one hand, music derives from the word muse. We should follow our muse rather than conforming to society’s wishes.
On the other hand, looking broadly at the history of music, it is mostly a social phenomenon. Making music that people like needn’t be viewed as an inherently bad thing.
For argument sake, I’m going to play the cultural conservative. I studied music in the conservatory. I have no idea whether or not whether I learned it deeply enough to “transcend” it.
A rudimentary analysis method is to separate music into elements: melody, harmony, rhythm, dynamics, tempo, form, texture. Without pointing fingers at any particular music shared on this forum, my assessment is that most of these elements are missing from our music.
A few years ago, someone on this forum argued that it was stupid and backward-thinking for me to apply these elements to newer forms of music. I believe these elements are tools for expressing musical ideas. The highest ideal for music, in my mind, is the development of a musical idea or ideas over time. It is the absence of (some of) these “elements” in so much of electronic music that holds it back from achieving its expressive potential.
If there is even such a thing as “objectively bad” (I suspect the notion was simply inserted/repeated into this thread as a straw man, and I’ve never heard anyone refer to music as “objectively bad”), then a scarcity of musical elements, or an incoherent implementation of the elements, could be construed as “bad”.
I don’t think you have to make music that people like to make music that people like though, you can just make the music you want, and then find the people that like it after the fact, or be found by them… there are literally already fans of everything under the sun… Imho there really isn’t any such thing as bad music if there are people who will like it from the lowliest noise to the loftiest concerto
Yeah, same. I don’t hide that I make music, as that’s a big part of who I am, but I also don’t share it with friends and family, or assume they would be into it.
But on the flip side, I also don’t want to go watch my coworkers’ bar bands and the woman that I take music lessons from is an amazing musician, but I’m not at all into the music she makes. We are just not into the same stuff and that’s fine.
After reading through the thread tonight, I’m heartened by how many people are making music for their own fulfillment and are at least trying to eschew the constraints of the tastes of others. I certainly fall in that category myself, although it hasn’t always been easy to shed the desire for validation. When I was younger, this topic would have been very confusing and fraught for me, but as I’ve gotten older I feel much clearer that my music is not a vehicle for success or popularity. It’s a hobby, a tool for exploration, play and meditation. I do send some tracks to some people I care about on occasion, just because they’ve expressed interest in hearing my music. I recently started asking those people if they could think of some songs for me to cover - it’s a lot of fun to try, even if I’m ultimately not very successful. And it’s a way to keep my hobby from feeling entirely self-centered.
Otherwise, I’m happy to hear feedback from strangers but it doesn’t really motivate me. I suppose if I felt I was really moving people with my art, I might get motivation out of that. But I know I’m nothing special - no creative genius, just a guy who likes making noises.
It’s basically always just my selfish little hobby that I love.
I have some coworkers who found out I was recording music, one of the guys asked if I’d show him what I’m working on. I told him flat out, I’m not making music for anyone but me. It’s simply not for you.
He reacted okay but in hindsight I guess I came across as an asshole, I don’t know. I just feel vulnerable about the things I do with music. If I have a strong friendship or relationship with someone, it’s no problem for me to share it.
In the meantime, I go back and listen to my own tracks very often, and I love listening to them. In a life where I don’t often experience many affirmative things, I find it very reaffirming when I go back and listen to something I forgot I recorded and I think “damn, that was really cool”
if it’s something that you’re drawn to do, that you have to do and you wouldn’t feel right if you weren’t doing it then that is more than a hobby, and if it makes you happy then that is enough for me.
The earth rotates once about every 24hrs, at about 1,000 miles per hour and our time here is finite, that means the situation is desperate, it’s not about being self centered you just don’t have time to care about what somebody else thinks about what you literally ‘have to do’ with the one life you’ve been given.
I appreciate that sentiment, and I certainly wouldn’t feel great if I stopped making music. I don’t know if I like the phrasing that I “have to do it”, but after reflecting on your words, I suppose if someone took away all my other music making things I would still sing and play music in my head. So I don’t know what to say about that. Yes, the situation is desperate - I think that’s a brilliant way to put it. But the reason I consider my time spent alone making music as selfish is that I know I’m capable of many more helpful things to others during these desperate moments. Always struggled with guilt that I’m not doing enough. That’s what therapy and such is for, I guess.
you can always get your music involved with your helping of others too if you want… anyway imo the important thing is whatever you’re passionate about whether it be music or something else, it’s important… tomorrow is not promised to us.
Agreed - and that plays both ways too. If I said something nice about your music, I meant it. I don’t believe in telling people I like their music if I don’t.
