Wake up, mods, and prepare for another round of the music theory flame wars! @vaporlanes thanks for your interesting post.
I think the distinctions between “new” and “not new” music need some unpacking.
Sample-based workflows can produce an endless stream of, arguably, “new” music. On the other hand, is there anything really new about the novel replacement of one sample for another? Do we ever mistake “novel” for “new”?
Two nuns, a penguin, a man with a parrot on his shoulder, and a giraffe walk into a bar. The bartender says, “What is this? Some kind of joke?”.
12-tone serial composers reacted to the notion that Romanticism had pretty much run itself dry. So they imposed a new system on their composition. The results, according to the opinion of one of my music professors, was a big waste of talent.
Mozart, as an adolescent, had the extraordinary ability to mimic current music styles. His adolescent musical output, imo, is not so interesting. His musical ideas matured as he got older. Did Mozart realize, one day, that music theory rules were holding him back? Would he have been a better composer had he, from day-one, said screw-it with convention?
I think the emphasis on “new” music is strong within this community because most of us are working alone, trying to record some tracks. As opposed to playing live with others. For musicians playing in ensembles, I think there is less emphasis on doing “new” things, and more emphasis on the performance, the ensemble, the connection between the players.
. You said 8 bars for you is 16 bars for the audience. But it’s often the other way around because of the adrenaline and anticipation to perform live. Stress etc. So most often slowing down a bit in your mind is better for the audience. This has nothing to do with “kids these days”.