The Grim Professional Future

[andrewducker]

I was at a party a few years ago where the people split into two groups - the ones who were happily singing around a piano and the ones who were hiding in the kitchen, aghast that people would sing, in public, for fun.  The split was clearly generational in nature - the older folks had clearly grown up singing together, the younger ones considered singing to be something that was done by musicians.

And despite theoretically belonging to the second group I've generally felt that this was a bad thing.  My parents used to sing on long car journeys, entertaining us when we were little, and it always seemed like a lot of fun.  I can trace the point where I lost any interest in it to my first choir lesson in school, where we all lined up in rows and sang through something vaguely religious - and then afterwards the choirmaster told me that I should just mime along.  This would have been twenty six years ago, but the memory still sticks with me. 

The idea that a pupil who wasn't good at something should be told to just _stop_ is something that shocks me in retrospect - it's a massive failure on the behalf of any teacher.  And the idea that singing is something that should be done only by the trained - rather than a natural expression of our humanity is also something that bothers me deeply.

There does seem to have been a resurgence recently - things like YouTube and Singstar/Rock Band seem to have encouraged people to put their own voice out there in the same way that blogs encouraged people to write.  But I doubt very much that we're going to end up back at the point where sing-songs around the piano are common place again.

Mind you - a lot of this is probably down to the fact that playing Grand Theft Auto is a more distracting and, dare I say it, fun way of spending the evening :->

All of this triggered by a quote here in an article on the long history of articles decrying technical progress in the "content industry" - starting with Sousa (the composer) worrying about the player piano and the gramophone:

"Under such conditions, the tide of amateurism cannot but recede until there will be left only the mechanical device and the professional executant.

Comments

[red-phil.livejournal.com]

a lot of this is probably down to the fact that playing Grand Theft Auto is a more distracting and, dare I say it, fun way of spending the evening


Have you ever played Sing Star?
With a group of non judgmental friends it is great fun.
Better than GTA, but harder to organise on a tuesday evening when everyone has work the next day.

[wildeabandon.livejournal.com]

It is sad. We recently got a clavinova, and often after dinner parties Robert plays, and we have a jolly sing of Flanders & Swan, G&S, Tom Lehrer, and that sort of thing. I'm startlingly aware of how unusual that is these days, and how lucky I am.

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

Sousa was right to be worried. At the time he was writing, the English were famous for singing in fields as they worked (and in factories and on ships). That's all gone now, replaced by radios in many workplaces and by a sort of wave of distant tapping noises in mine. It's clear that for many people, making music is something that is done by children and professionals. And I do think that that is terribly sad, not least because a little ability at singing and an instrument enriches your enjoyment of the music you hear. (Actually, I think even a bit of Guitar Hero or Rock Band can do that, too).

On the other hand, amateurism does appear to be making a bit of a comeback, fuelled by YouTube and by the wondrous ability of the Internet as an instruction tool (I learnt to knit last year entirely off the internet, for example).

I play lots of video games (including rhythm games of course). But I also run a session (2nd Tuesday, Plough Inn, Walthamstow), and making music with other people, for no purpose but your own entertainment, is a fine, fine way to spend an evening.

[channelpenguin.livejournal.com]

I have always sung, am generally held to be quite good at it and am currently in 2 rock covers bands. So I sing well enough for a real live audience to appreciate :-)

I have tried the SingStar/Rockband/GHIII singing and find it all just totally unenjoyable. It's *nothing* like real singing - a decent performance will often score very badly (and vice versa!). Only one of them (forget which) is tolerant of harmonising. I only really do well in the "freestyle" bits!

I listened to a little girl (about 10 or 11) play and whilst she scored well,what came out was pretty horrible to listen to due to the limited set of notes allowed by the level she was playing. She had a decent voice and I thought it sad that she wasn't just singing songs. I shudder to think what happens when all the people who score well in the games think that they can therefore sing and try it with a band (or a talent contest!).Ouch. Still, I can hope they can hear the difference and it inspires them to sing for real.

The guys at the last party I went to who were in bands seemed to have a similar attitude to the instrumental parts of such games.

Some folks put LOADS of effort and time into these games - almost as much as you'd need to practice a real instrument. I don't understand it but I guess the getting an actual *score* might be important. A rating that you can compare with your friends to settle the question of who is the best....

[andrewducker]

It's an ease thing - you can be up and running at a basic level in Rock Band in less than an hour - and be getting a decent sense of satsifaction for completing songs that you love.. I've spent several hours attempting to get somewhere with an actual guitar and can't get as far as even a simple song.

[princealbert.livejournal.com]

Beatles Rockband and from what i can gather the party mode in GH5 is instant fun. OK, 15 minutes being roadie first, but we have done this twice recently.

part 1 of 2

[marrog.livejournal.com]

As a dedicated musician and avid GH/RB fan, I find the attitude most musicians I know have towards the games to be narrow-minded and elitist.

And believe me when I say I'm plenty narrow-minded and elitist already.

It's true that you're limited slightly when you're singing in these games, because you need to hit each note in the correct pitch, and if you insert any character into the song - some artistic gravelly voice for example or a bit of glissando around the edges, you tend to lower your score. However, if you don't care about the score and are just playing for fun, you'll still pass the song as long as you've sung more or less correctly, particularly on the easy levels where you just have to hit the right note at some point along the way.

The Beatles Rock Band has the facility for three mics, allowing for (in some cases quite complicated) three-part harmony - you can even mix and match what you sing throughout the song as long as one of you's on the tune at any given point. I've done this with a mic on a stand in front of me while I played an instrument part at the same time, and I can tell you, it's both challenging and requiring of musical ability.

The big drawback of the singing part is that even at its highest levels what the game wants is for you to exactly reproduce the original artist's performance, not give your own take - but then, if you sing in a cover band, that's presumably an aspect of your own aim too?

The big bonus of the singing part is that, particularly at the highest levels, it will expect you to be perfectly on pitch (assuming the original performer was of course), and this cannot be entirely useless to the training singer or one who's wondering if they have any ability to hold a tune in a bucket.

When I personally sing in these games I'm not really going for a high score though, so I'll admit that I imagine listening to a points-getting performance might well be boring.

As to the other instruments, I play drums well enough to know that from the Hard level up, you are playing an actual drum beat. You could move from Hard on GH/RB to a real live kit and walk straight in and pass Standard Grade (age 16 exams) music performance at Credit level.

The guitar part is almost nothing like playing guitar. Even then, though, only almost - although the left hand fingering is nothing like hold chord shapes, the basic principle of how it works (hold down correct button/collection of buttons (as opposed to string/collection of strings), then strum to create note) is the same. The strumming is the same - to the extent that my strumming on a real guitar has actually improved. There is no doubt that your hand-eye coordination, and your ability to hear and understand cross-rhythms (even if most people don't know that's what they're hearing/playing) is improved by playing the game, even though you obviously couldn't then move straight to a real guitar.

part 2 of 2

[marrog.livejournal.com]

Finally, look at it from the POV of why folk - any folk - play video games.

- I know people who enjoy playing beat-em-ups, presumably because a part of them likes picturing themselves as a fit, strong, fast fighter while they bash buttons in a specific order.
- I know people who enjoy playing FPS games - presumably a part of them likes to picture them as a hard-as-nails dude/chick with a gun/axe/chainsaw while they bash buttons in a specific order.
- I know people who enjoy racing games, picturing themselves in a sexy car while they... well, you get the picture - it's all just bashing buttons in the end.

In my case, while I bash buttons in a specific order, I like my buttons bashes not to kill sprites, knock them out, or win a race, but to produce music, and while I do it I can imagine myself rocking out on a stage.

The fact that I have the facility and opportunity to rock out on a stage for real from time to time (there's a reason my preferred sprite looks, dresses and behaves exactly like, well, me) does not lessen this simple enjoyment, nor does it lessen my enjoyment and appreciation for the music in question - indeed, it introduces me to new music, engenders in me a respect I might not otherwise have had for music I don't like so much, and only cements my love for the music I already enjoy.

I don't think anyone who already loves music and/or wants to be/is a musician is going to play RB/GH in preference to playing a real instrument - they'll probably do both. The games will at worst give some folk who'll never do either the chance to pretend they can, and at best, maybe even mean that a few folk who'd never thought about it go on to try it for real.

[princealbert.livejournal.com]

Anecdotal evidence, someone should write a song about it.

I made a living in the late 80's early 90's setting up music studios based around Atari STs and Cubase or Notator. Now if I'm based in Edinburgh and easily setup over a hundred small to medium studios in schools, disabled centres, community centres and the majority in bedrooms how many others were doing this in Brum, Manchester, Leeds, London? Nevermind in mainland Europe and America.

Technology can and does empower creativity. Then it was musicians, at the moment everyone and their dog is now a photographer, before both of these it was the home computing - bedroom games revolution. And fit in the point where everyones kids were web designers.

In my opinion what has killed of the music creativity is the so called Music Industry. The death of the single, the near impossibility for talent to shine through the X-Manufactured dross of cover songs and the madness behind suing fans.

What we need is a good depression to bring forth the musical talent. This revolution is cyclic. Already as we hit this financial blip look at the amount of live music on your doorstep. Don't decry the use of technology, walk away from it and see some live music.

[andrewducker]

Setting up schools with music centres is hardly new though - is it? Schools have always taught music.

I'm not convinced that more people sing nowadays than sang before it was possible to get music at the touch of a button. There was a fantastic documentary short I saw recently from Russia, showing a horrible, cheap, nasty commuter train, full of people heading home in the evening. And there was music _everywhere_. People played instruments, and others joined in to sing along to the songs. I don't remember that ever happening on any train I've been on, or in pubs nowadays - whereas that used to be very common.

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

I agree with this. Concert tickets can cost £30 or more now. Or you can go down a pub near you, say to a folk club or an open mic night, and see a great band for a fiver or so (Walthamstow Folk Club has a moderately well-known act most weeks, together with a dozen or so floor spots ranging from fantastic to adequate, all for six pounds; that's typical, and there are also similar clubs in Islington, Camden, Waltham Abbey, Euston and Clerkenwell, and that's just folk) and drink good beer at pub prices too. The session I run is free, though I encourage people to buy a couple of drinks from the bar, and we have a raffle. Instruments are expensive, mind, though as entertainment they are very cheap per hour.

[bracknellexile.livejournal.com]

Agree totally with tech helping to create music, not stifling it. I'm seeing more bands live these days than I ever did and there are entire genres that wouldn't exist without the tech. The only problem, as you said, is the utter dross being chucked out by the music industry that makes the signal-to-noise ratio so low. There are more good bands than ever out there, just there are a lot more manufactured clones than ever too.

Stiff Little Fingers summed it up just about perfectly in my opinion.

[chuma.livejournal.com]

I think I would be part of the 2nd group in the kitchen too. It's not that I dislike people singing, it is just usually in my social group those that like to break out a guitar and sing along don't share the same music tastes as myself.

Oh and please give Saints Row 2 some of your time if you are enjoying GTA. So much more fun, and no bloody "Heeeeey Cousin!" phonecalls :D

[andrewducker]

I'm not actually much of a GTA fan, to be honest - I was just grabbing something popular :->

[woodpijn.livejournal.com]

Yay. I really love singing-parties and sing-songs round the piano. I don't get to do it very often because none of my immediate circle of friends plays the piano (although occasionally we'll do carol-singing a capella, or even just sing in the car).

I'm not a good singer either, and I really love (and still find it hard to believe) that people get together to sing and have fun and it doesn't matter if you're nto very good.

IME, I don't see it as a generational thing, or at least not that way round. My family never did, or do, anything like that. The people who do are all 20- and 30-somethings in my extended circle of friends. I can't think of any middle-ages acquaintances who do.

[cairmen.livejournal.com]

Interestingly, the major complaint from a lot of professional musicians - I heard one at a party the other week - at the moment seems to be that there are so many talented amateur groups it's nearly impossible to compete, because the amateurs don't care about making a living.

Similar conditions apply in a lot of the film world - the unions HATE people who will work for less or for free. And in the book world, most authors don't make anything like a living wage.

[khbrown.livejournal.com]

In the book world, what proportion of books are written by academics for others within their discipline, as an implicit part of what they are being paid to do anyway?

[mair_in_grenderich]

sing-songs around a guitar are perhaps more likely ... ?

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

Really?
At Pad's last birthday quite a few non-musicians had a singalong in her room.

I say the real problem is pubs don't have pianos any more. Find me a pub with a piano and I will take requests.

[seph-hazard.livejournal.com]

Our SU has a piano. I have yet to see anyone go anywhere near it, but I love that it's there.

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

Our pub has a piano -- it used to be in the back room where the folk club is, but now it's out front (to increase the door limit on the back room). We have a notion of sorting out occasional East End Knees Up nights there, because the pub used to be famed for them.

[ekatarina.livejournal.com]

There is also the question of how many people can play the piano?

Ekatarina, who *loves* singing at the drop of a hat and encourages others to do the same.

The ultimate anti-capitalist pursuit

[folkdance.livejournal.com]

The trouble is that not only do people feel embarrassed and self conscious around informal live musical performance - lots of us have lost the skills and confidence to take part. The idea for most people of remembering the words to a song all the way through is quite strange but in the past lots of people knew not just one but many songs - we've also moved away from a repertoire of songs that have chorus parts for everybody to join in with. We need to move towards singing and music being a part of everday life - a friend of mine who taught folk songs to children, said that her aim was that the songs and singing them was regarded as "normal"...in that it was a totally accepted activity just like TV, Football and play-stations....

The great thing about singing socially, is that it's completely free - we don't need any speial equipment , all we need is somebody who knows a song that has a good chorus - The thing is, this doesn't sit very well in a consumer society, where our success is measured by the expense of our possessions and the cost of our leisure time activities - there is no money to be made from social singing, so it does not have a value in the consumer society. In the consumer society, we are also made to view society as a hierarchy, so an activity that we can all take part in on a equal basis which offers no scope for class distinction or elitism is also not going to be held up or supported.

Lets break the mould, have some friends over for food, drinks, a good chat and a sing song - It's the ultimate anti-capitalist pursuit!!!

Re: The ultimate anti-capitalist pursuit

[khbrown.livejournal.com]

I agree with your analysis to a degree, but wonder if singing songs with good choruses would also mean that music was thereby limited to simple structures that could be picked up easily. Also, I wonder where such songs would come from, as this is what capitalism has historically been good at.

Maybe a somewhat mangled Frankfurt School type argument, of Second Viennese School vs Tin Pan Alley and "jazz", modified by Bourdieu's analysis of hierarchy of taste?

[khbrown.livejournal.com]

One thing about Sousa's quote that is interesting to me is the role of technology: Conlon Nancarrow wrote music for the player piano that exploited its ability, as a mechanical device, to do things that would be very difficult if not impossible for a human pianist. It's the same now with the likes of glitch techno and grindcore that uses drum machines to play 1000BPM blast beats.