Ooh, we're more or less polar opposites here, Aro. Not in the sense that "I'm so clever and I know all the rules", mind you! There are so many things I don't know, it's scary. But I'm a sponge, musical knowledge is the ultimate liquid, and I love to learn about new stuff. And for each new thing I learn, new and untraveled roads will appear - stuff I never even imagined before.Aro wrote: ↑Sun Apr 17, 2022 9:39 pmSometimes this forum makes me feel so far away from being an actual musician. I like where I come from. I love that musical impulse that comes from not knowing what I'm doing at all. I like my simplicity. I realize I have room to improve, but I also realize that I never want to know the language fluently, because I'd never surprise myself. Rules, conventions, I'm not sure I want to learn them. Just use my ears. Not intellectualize. I think its a lot easier to break a rule if you don't know it in the first place. Just my opinion.Taron wrote: ↑Sun Apr 17, 2022 11:05 am
Oh, no, absolutely. It's not about whether or not music is tied to emotion, that goes without saying. It's about how we explore or arrive at the music we make, like where we draw from. And even there are different phases we go through as we become more well-versed in our ability to compose. Knowing or realizing that it is about communication can help to accept certain conventions and/or break them deliberately. For professionals like you and those, who are merely experienced, like myself, it is much less trouble to "speak music", but many just feel the passion to make music without fully understanding what it really is, occasionally stumbling about in some sort of confusion or afraid to submit to "conventions". Knowing that it is communication helps to accept the idea of musical words, structure, arcs and what they are for. The more our vocabulary increases, the more not only can we express our ideas, but actually recognize and understand our own ideas to the point when things can simply flow through us. "Make stuff pretty" isn't really much of a guidance for many, you know, hehehe.
I remember how I used to be afraid of conventions, like they were confinements. Took me a long time to realize that they were grammar, really.
I don't think knowledge will stifle your imagination or your musical freedom. Sure, the convenience of an orderly argument, barricading yourself in an ivory tower, hiding behind highfalutin jargon, putting all your faith in a particular theory, or presenting yourself as some sort of Super Locrian superhero - all of those things might do that. But never knowledge in and of itself.
Please forgive me if I'm wrong, but reading your comment I get the feeling that you willfully close your eyes and ears to the world at large in order to maintain a pure and unfiltered musical mind within. That seems counterintuitive to me. A bit like settling for a tangible strait jacket to avoid an imaginary one.
But apologies in advance – I'm probably overthinking your original points to build a platform for my own hot takes. That's the internet for you!