Sunday, June 24, 2012

Week One

Week-end wrap up:

It is the end of the first week of Ky Governor's School for the Arts.  As of right now I have two things to say.

1) It is true what Lieb said, "We can always go to them, but they can't always come to us"
2) I'm proud that I am a musician.

On the first point, Lieb was talking about Jazz musicians vs. Classical musicians.  But I am talking about musician (instrumental and vocal) in general vs. the other disciplines.  Though they all have equal merit and weight... I feel that we possess the capacity to understand better than others.  WHY??

In architecture, the building you are creating serves a static function and aesthetic.  Visual Art,  New Media and so on share a similar attitude.  But with musicians and dancers and writers... we have to know our audience IMMEDIATELY... we have to be able to read the room.  They are witnessing the prep and performance all at once.

But musicians have another element of intangibility to add... We can't physically see music like we can see static art forms.  Yet... music effects us heavily.

The second point is just a statement I wanted to make.
I witnessed some great music by Ensemble Interface last night that blew me away.  Yet, the "open-minded" environment we want to send these kids into doesn't even exist amongst the faculty.

May I remind you that the founder of this group is a GSA alum... where do you think he got the ideas from!!!

I understand that the Cage style music is hard to understand... but you really have to know what Cage was about... and at the end of the day... he is always going to be much more of a musician than any of us.

The way I looked at last night's performance (which was insanely awesome) was that the performers beat the audience in the first round.  The vibe started out accepting.. then became curious... then accepted defeat.  I don't think Cage expected people to understand his music... but at least accept it..


The Instrumental Music kids were there and present.  But that is only a fraction of people... at the end of the day... if all we are going to do is keep looking back and playing the same old shit over and over again... why live... why learn... why take risks... why grow.

Just sit in your comfort zone and just let the rest of us move on without you.