Are you a composer or a technoid?

[CypherOne]

no Phil, that was one for me.

[Sicklecell666]

Actually I have a life too. But unlike yours (it seems, sorry if I am wrong), mine primarily takes place outside of this forum, you know, in the real world.

where you're now sitting with sweat on your lip & freetos crumbs all over your keyboard waiting for rabbyt's next response so you can again attempt to assert a false sense of dominance..



You go, girl..

[Ja.x]

I'm a composer when trying to be a technoid, and a technoid when trying to be a composer

[autodidactic]

Hi people. This might be long, but it will be my only post here as I have things I need to get done.

My personal opinion: Melody is not necessary to make music in the strictest sense. Your music however will have a stronger and clearer message with it than without it.

Melody is the message in music. It is the statement the artist makes to his/her listeners. The rest is support for the melody. No melody, no message. I think of it this way. If a "sound designer"-(I heard this term used in here earlier, wasn't sure how to address a musician that doesn't use melody at all)- was given a plain white wall to work with. He/she would put up wallpaper. Interesting and colourful and really cool wallpaper, but wallpaper nonetheless. A composer/musician would give you a mural. Don't get me wrong, wallpaper can be great. It gives ambience, it sets a mood and does a lot of great things,might even make you dance ..... but the mural will have much more to say.

I am not writing this to disrespect "sound designers" or electronic musicians in the least. It is in reaction to some previous posts. I got annoyed when reading whyterabbit's posts attacking jens and that other guy just for recognizing the importance of melody.

So I'll state this one more time, with "feeling". You can make "music" without it, but you have to respect the concept of melody and it's role in music. You can go on the defensive and attack everyone that dares to state this, but you will have thousands of years of music history and the works of the Mozarts and Bachs and Coltranes counted against you.

cheers.

PS ....to the person who's friend said that she wasn't a musician. Your friend should get a backhand across the face for 2 reasons.
1. You helped create and perform the music and therefore are a musician.
2.He passed up an opportunity to gain both a collaborator and access to better gear.

[vurt]

elitist twoddle.

[CypherOne]

and who's Murial?

[whyterabbyt]

Wopelka quoth
aimed at me?

God, no. Responding to Cypher, for (rightly) pointing out that I'd (somewhat ironically) screwed up my post.

so sorry, if you want perfect syntax, can i write in french?

If you want. Wont have a bloody clue what you're writing, but that shouldnt stop you. As I was implying, though, there sometimes seems to be a better grasp of written English in Europe than there is in the UK....

[Wopelka]

i was having my daily minute of stupid unnecessary susceptibility

[xander]

The rest is support for the melody.

No melody, no message.

...the importance of melody.

... you have to respect the concept of melody and it's role in music.

Yeah yeah yeah...

So, can you tell me whose definition of "melody" we should use? Yours?

Are you saying that what you're calling "wallpaper" isn't melody? Is it maybe that you think everyone should try to sound like Abba?

Are you in any way related to the people responsible for 'Elevator Muzac'??

[xander]

and who's Murial?

[Amberience]

So Schoneberg was wrong to devise the 12 tone theory huh? Because it doesn't have a classical "melody" ??

I'm agreed with Vurt. Elitist twaddle. There is PLENTY of music that has melody and NO feeling - too much to even count!

Feeling isn't about melody. Feeling isn't even about music. Feeling is about how someone interprets a song. I think Bach is f**king shit. I hate his music. I just don't LIKE it. But many others ascribe "feelings" to the music that I just don't get myself.

Does that make Bach any less talented or musical? Of course not, its just my asshole opinion.

[Sicklecell666]

I don't want my stuff labeled as 'music' anyways..the term's outdated & overwhelmed.

[Amberience]

One more nail in the coffin of melody.

Why is it that horror movies are MUCH more scarier when they use industrial/electronic music rather than an orchestra???

Perhaps because the electronic music can induces more frightening imaginations than a string orchestra can.

[herodotus]

Has it occured to anyone else here that perhaps the much loved but very, very old word "music" just isn't big enough to mean all of the things people want it to mean?

I, personally, think that 'music' without melody or even definite pitches is as "valid" (which, strictly speaking, doesn't apply here) as any other form of artistic utterance.

To say that what Prince makes is "music" while what Edgard Varese made was not, is personally offensive to me. But in terms of standard english usage, calling a Varese piece like "Deserts" 'music' is on the verge of being misleading.

This is not an indictment of Varese, who is a personal hero. Nor is it an indictment of standard english usage, which goes its own way, whatever we might say.

It is simply a question of definitions. Perhaps if we could find another word than "Music" (and NOT "Wallpaper") to describe the work of those who make experimental/ambient/sound sculpture/avant garde/cutting edge what have you type sound art, there would be fewer of these fruitless (and frequently nasty) fights around here.

Just a suggestion.




And what the hell is a "Technoid" anyway?

[M'Snah]

Hans, this should fit really well with your idea of writing music based on my stories. Let me know what you think of this combination.

I read, and I listened. The music sure fits the writing. You could even say that it fits very well with the mood in the story . It's the type of composition that I'm not really good at (yet), to catch a specific type of mood in music. My style would more be like (in the style of 'I woke up one morning/blues' )

Code: Select all

You can use my organ,
to play a concert if you like
I'll do a lot of tuning, 
for every key you want to strike
But whatever you want to play
and whatever song you choose
please don't make it
a one note blues

Well the baddest thing happened,
it felt like musical theft
The only note you needed
was the bass pedal on the left
<chorus>