Nice quick bike-ride home, lots of thoughts. Back in the studio and working on the piece, makes me think a lot about this silly little world i’m involved in.
I have a lifetime of love for music, it’s my favorite of the arts and IMHO the greatest. But the unfortunate problem is who/what you come in contact with in the world of music (in particular that of academic music). Perhaps that’s why I still have such a passion for literature, I don’t know too many writers, if i did, i may come to dislike literature as much as i’m coming to dislike music.
The world of academic music is so torn apart by egos and self-fulfilling necessities. My basic premiss is that academic music is much like monopoly money. Outside of its own little world of the game, it has no value, no worth, and no need to exist. Outside of the cloistered walls of academia, this music has no value, no worth, and no need to exist. It exists only because of its creators own self-made ego-driven desire to exist.
There’s not a fundamental problem with the teaching of arcane art and obscure knowledge. I think academia is very important for that very fact since we never really know when this knowledge may become necessary or important. The is the realm of pure research. The problem I have, is the weakness that crawls through similar programs under the cloak of ‘art’. “This is my art and if you don’t like it you don’t understand it.” It’s a very weak and very frustrating problem, since it tends to be of the majority, and therefore drags down that which attempts to go beyond.
This is not in any way a hatred towards progressive music or pro-pop music. Its not the music itself, but rather the people associated with it. Self-righteous and egotistical. It wouldn’t bother me at all if there were some level of humility or grace. But instead, it is self-serving ego-driven crap designed only for the self-satisfaction of its creator.
Not sure what brought this all on. Perhaps it was the crowd of young music student on campus. I just wanted to scream at them to not study music. If you care at all for it as any sort of relevant art, don’t let academia drag you down. Stay away, teach yourself, and be awesome in your own way, not under their clueless and short-sighted mold.