TDPRI - Home for Musicians or Not?

[Rabog]

A couple of threads has got me thinking here. I'm amazed that so many 'musicians' or at least folk that own and supposedly play the guitar, are so unaware of the musical landscape in the world.

There was the thread about being hip, and now the one about Rihanna - I cannot believe so many appear to have not heard of her. I'm not expecting people to like her music, just amazed that so few seem to give anything new the time of day.

Why is this? Are so many people really that blinkered that they either live in the past or are so stuck in their musical genre to exclude everything else?

On a personal note, I hope I never get so out of touch of what is happening today and across many musical styles.

[BritishBluesBoy]

You're under 30 right?

[tiktok]

Originally Posted by Rabog

Why is this? Are so many people really that blinkered that they either live in the past or are so stuck in their musical genre to exclude everything else?

On a personal note, I hope I never get so out of touch of what is happening today and across many musical styles.

Quick question: how much of your regular listening fare features vocals in a language other than...English?

[superchicken_VI]

Classical music people don't know pop performers. Traditional jazz people don't know pop performers. I'm sure rap and hip-hop folk don't know bluegrass performers. People get in their own little gaps and stay there.

[Rabog]

Originally Posted by BritishBluesBoy

You're under 30 right?

Certainly not!

[Rabog]

Originally Posted by tiktok

Quick question: how much of your regular listening fare features vocals in a language other than...English?

Just listened to Buena Vista Social Club live at Carnegie Hall on the way home from work....and on the way there.....Mano Chao, La Radiolina....oddly enough!

[Rabog]

Originally Posted by superchicken_VI

Classical music people don't know pop performers. Traditional jazz people don't know pop performers. I'm sure rap and hip-hop folk don't know bluegrass performers. People get in their own little gaps and stay there.

And I would say the same to them also, it just seems so limiting. Maybe it's me, I don't feel the need to pigeon hole myself.....

[Kewk]

Are you kidding me?

I'm not trying to be rude, but I just don't see the connection between musical skill (if that is indeed what makes a musician) and appreciating a wide range of music. Someone who can perfectly play Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, but never heard of p-diddy is a lousy musician in your eyes?

I've known two professional musicians, one Jazz and mostly rock studio, in my life and both would probably proudly declare they've never heard of Rihanna.

[tiktok]

Originally Posted by Rabog

Just listened to Buena Vista Social Club live at Carnegie Hall on the way home from work....and on the way there.....Mano Chao, La Radiolina....oddly enough!

That's not the question I was asking.

Consider: how many albums do you own?
How many of those feature singing in English?

[Fendrcaster]

I'm very happy being stuck in the genres that I enjoy. I have no interest in finding out who Rihanna, Chris Brown or any of the other current rap/hip-hop/pop artists are.

[Rabog]

Originally Posted by Kewk

Are you kidding me?

I'm not trying to be rude, but I just don't see the connection between musical skill (if that is indeed what makes a musician) and appreciating a wide range of music. Someone who can perfectly play Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, but never heard of p-diddy is a lousy musician in your eyes?

I've known two professional musicians, one Jazz and mostly rock studio, in my life and both would probably proudly declare they've never heard of Rihanna.

I don't think I ever suggested that at all - merely suprised that so many don't know what's about in the mainstream. Not sure how you ended up suggesting that if you don't know rap then you're cRap. Never my intention - sorry if it read that way...

[djinn1973]

Originally Posted by BritishBluesBoy

You're under 30 right?

beat me to it...

[Rabog]

Originally Posted by tiktok

That's not the question I was asking.

Consider: how many albums do you own?
How many of those feature singing in English?

Maybe about 95% is in English, but still leaves a lot of albums that I own which are not. I also have many instrumental albums from around the world...

I was really using the word World as a sort of expression rather than a geographical reference, but no matter.....

[emu!]

I personally make a mental note to purposely disregard musicians with the "one name" moniker. I mean, if they want to be known in the world of entertainment as a household name, maybe they should first cut the ego crap until there is a reason for them to feel superior. JMO.

I just hope that one day a great musician becomes a household name and his name is Bob. Wouldn't that be hilarious?

[Joe-Bob]

Originally Posted by Rabog

I don't think I ever suggested that at all - merely suprised that so many don't know what's about in the mainstream. Not sure how you ended up suggesting that if you don't know rap then you're cRap. Never my intention - sorry if it read that way...

I kinda read it that way, too.

The reason so many of us aren't hip to the current "mainstream" is that about 20 years ago, it honestly got SO bad that we just couldn't bear to listen to it.

I submit that what you consider the "mainstream" isn't, and that what young people consider "hip" isn't.

[mrmorrison]

Who is this Rihanna you speak of? Bring her to me! I will make her kneel before Zod!

[T_red7882]

Originally Posted by Kewk

Are you kidding me?

I'm not trying to be rude, but I just don't see the connection between musical skill (if that is indeed what makes a musician) and appreciating a wide range of music. Someone who can perfectly play Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, but never heard of p-diddy is a lousy musician in your eyes?

I've known two professional musicians, one Jazz and mostly rock studio, in my life and both would probably proudly declare they've never heard of Rihanna.

that's nothing to be proud of, its called snobbery.

Take my mom for instance, classical, concert pianist, majored in music and composition. She graduated from college in 72, and sure as hell knew who bob dylan, joan baez, stevie wonder, the beatles, and led zeppelin were. today, she knows the music of eminem, rihanna, u2, my morning jacket, and many many more. The only act that I've turned her on to is my morning jacket (otherwise, she pays attention to the mainstream and just below the mainstream pretty well). Her thought, as well as many of her classical musician friends, is that there is something to be learned from every form of music, whether or not you find the genre to be your favorite. Last week i got in her car twice, one time is was a radio top 40 station, the other time it was a cd of african hymnals. She admittedly doesn't care for rap or hip hop very much, but she does like the beats they come up with.

I don't think her musicianship has suffered in the slightest.

[ROADMAN]

Originally Posted by emu!

I personally make a mental note to purposely disregard musicians with the "one name" moniker. I mean, if they want to be known in the world of entertainment as a household name, maybe they should first cut the ego crap until there is a reason for them to feel superior. JMO.

I just hope that one day a great musician becomes a household name and his name is Bob. Wouldn't that be hilarious?

we have one ...his last name is Dylan

and another named Marley

[Big John]

Originally Posted by Rabog

On a personal note, I hope I never get so out of touch of what is happening today and across many musical styles.

Don't worry Rabog .......... it'll come soon enough

Yes, i'm a muso, yes, i've heard Rihanna (not my cup o' Tetleys) but i don't see what my or anyone's musicality has to do with what I or they listen to or like.

Looking at the whole "musical landscape" is fine, dandy and to be encouraged but sometimes you get pleasure just looking at the little nooks and crannies right on your door step that you might otherwise overlook.

[fakeocaster]

I like to think I listen to a wide range of music.It doesnt mean Im obliged to like all of it.There will allways be artists (mainstream or otherwise who I dont know)

Its a big world so most people (myself included) groove towards genres that we like over a period of years.I dont see that as been close minded,just selective

[stevieboy]

I think Rihanna probably targets an audience. And I'm not in it. I don't blame her for that, but that's the fact of it.

Why should I feel bad if I don't pay attention to her, she isn't trying to do anything for me.

[SimpleOne]

Amazing more people are not like me! Doug

[Jackson Jackson]

Originally Posted by mrmorrison

Who is this Rihanna you speak of? Bring her to me! I will make her kneel before Zod!

Post of the day.

[klasaine]

Originally Posted by superchicken_VI

Classical music people don't know pop performers. Traditional jazz people don't know pop performers. I'm sure rap and hip-hop folk don't know bluegrass performers. People get in their own little gaps and stay there.

Not the really good ones.
Those that are out there doing it tend to be a lot more aware of - exposed to? - what's out there (most of the time they're also really into something that may never, or rarely at least overtly rear it's head, either in recording or in performance). They may not like a lot of it ... or any of it(?). But they're usually aware of it. I'm certain that Jeff Koons knows who Bernini is. Just my own personal observations at work - ?

[davidge1]

that's nothing to be proud of, its called snobbery.

That's not the only kind of musical snobbery. There's another kind too, and I've seen it for as long as I've been playing music: people who love to flaunt how "open-minded" they are about music. They wear it like a badge of honor. They thumb their nose at anyone who dares to have a negative opinion of any given performer, song, or genre of music.

To me, the real definition of "open-minded" (if there is one) is being tolerant of other people's opinions... whether they're positive or negative.

[sax4blues]

Originally Posted by Rabog

...just amazed that so few seem to give anything new the time of day.

...Are so many people really that blinkered that they either live in the past or are so stuck in their musical genre to exclude everything else?

On a personal note, I hope I never get so out of touch of what is happening today and across many musical styles.

Whether intended or not, these are attacking statements.

My son is 17, an in demand death metal drummer, and I would not know any of the music he plays/listens to if he were not in my household. So I'm not sure if I'm open minded because most of my live concerts are metal, or blinkered because I personally can't stand the crap.

I'm also not sure that there has really been a main stream since we stopped having one AM station with Sinatra next to Led Zeppelin. The music landscape is really more of a delta with a lot of cross over.

[Buckocaster51]

24 hours in a day

60 minutes in an hour

1440 minutes in a day

3 minutes in a song

that lets you listen to 480 songs in a 24 hour day

you might be able to listen to 200 songs/day and still have time to sleep/eat/maybe have a job

more than 200 songs published every day (that is an estimate, but that is only 15-20 CDs or so, if anything it is a low estimate)

music is coming out faster than you can possibly listen to it

it is to be expected that no one person will be familiar with all artists, genres, collections of work, etc

listen to what you enjoy

enjoy what you listen to

nobody should ever be held even the slightest bit at fault for his/her musical tastes

If you know what I mean

[jbmando]

If there is such a person, I had not heard of her until I clicked open this thread. I am 57 and I play and listen to a lot of styles of music, the vocals of which are all in English, but I appreciate songs sung in other languages. I have a question for the OP - what do you think of Dan Crary?

[Tim Armstrong]

There's a profoundly huge amount of music out there in a very wide variety of styles that interests me. There aren't enough hours in the day for me to discover all of it.

edit: Buckocaster said it even better!

Modern, beat-corrected, autotuned pop music doesn't interest me in the slightest. Why would I waste any of the time that I already can't quite use to discover GREAT artists in rock, jazz, blues, country and folk on keeping up with pop stars?

I'd note that I actually DO know who Rhianna is, but only because of her recent troubles. Never heard of her before that...

Tim

[superchicken_VI]

I just don't think that Cecila Bartoli, Rihanna, and Dan Tominski appear on each others' iPod favorite lists. That doesn't diminish from any of them. There's a good chance that Yo-Yo Ma, Winton Marsalis, and Quincy Jones have them all on theirs--but they're different cats completely.

[Rabog]

Nice to know I hit a nerve.....

But to use Rihanna again as an example, she's pretty well known, with many hit singles and many awards in the US alone. To take my remarks as absolute is being a little harsh - in no way am I suggesting that you should listen to every track ever released, the general idea was to understand why so many folk don't try different music.

There is much that I don't care for, there are many, many acts that I will clearly never hear of, but some of the comments on other threads are just amazing to me.....sorry, it just occurred to me to raise the issue. My apologies if you find it threatening or challenging in some way.

And yes, I like what I like, and generally end up back listening to Hendrix and Pink Floyd and the Stones, but I'm open to it all! CHILLAX!

[weemikey]

I think folks are getting a bit snippy in this thread. I try (somewhat) to at least listen or YouTube some of the bands the kids are listening to, but I think the 'hours in the day' post is dead on. I'm lucky (?) to sit and write software all day, listening to music, so I can sample lots of different genres/time periods. That said, we all likes what we likes!

[Robert H.]

Let's not be too judgmental here---this is a Tele based website.
Do you know who Rosinha de Valenca is?
Do you listen to Bach? Mozart? Haydn? Chopin? Do you know what they don't have in common?
Do you listen to West African (Senegal let's say) Kora music?
Can you name the most highly regarded Classical guitarists still living in Spain (without searching on the internet)?
Do you know who Cleota Davis was?

What is the "musical landscape of the world" as you understand it?

[fretbuzzard]

There is a major difference between having some kind of musical filter that helps you decide where to spend your listening time on the one hand and being a snob on the other. Likewise there is a difference between being open minded and being completely indiscriminate. If being completely indiscriminate in musical tastes were a qualifier for being considered a musician [note to the OP on this score--look at your title for this thread] then I have a feeling that many TDPRIers would be happy to give up that title!

[Tim Armstrong]

Originally Posted by Rabog

Nice to know I hit a nerve.....

If it was your INTENTION to "hit a nerve", well, that's pretty much the definition of trolling.

It's funny, folks often get annoyed when someone tells they they aren't musicians because they don't know who some pop tart is!

Your original post pretty much branded a large percentage of the TDPRI as closed-minded ignorant slugs.

Tim

[Rabog]

Originally Posted by Tim Armstrong

If it was your INTENTION to "hit a nerve", well, that's pretty much the definition of trolling.

It's funny, folks often get annoyed when someone tells they they aren't musicians because they don't know who some pop tart is!

Your original post pretty much branded a large percentage of the TDPRI as closed-minded ignorant slugs.

Tim

Thanks for that! I hit a nerve because clearly some have got the wrong end of the stick. I've been a member here long enough not to cause a stink, I never branded any member here a closed minded slug.

Tim, your response sir suprises me.

Thanks for that.

[stevieboy]

Originally Posted by Rabog

My apologies if you find it threatening or challenging in some way.

You posted an idea, some people disagreed with it.

[Mark Moore]

I am a musician. I have heard of Rihanna.

I listen to the music I like, regardless of genre. No one but me gets to define what it is that I like.

Now ... what was the question?

[Mark Moore]

Originally Posted by Tim Armstrong

It's funny, folks often get annoyed when someone tells they they aren't musicians because they don't know who some pop tart is!

By the way, I do like Pop Tarts.

[ibobunot]

Originally Posted by Rabog

Nice to know I hit a nerve.....

....