centralcatchment
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I don’t entirely agree with that. I can’t say that practice is not important, but so many other things are more decisive.
There’s this book, “Outliers”, by Malcolm Gladwell which said that the Beatles are great because they practiced together as a band for a very long time. I thought that was wrong. The Beatles are not the greatest band because they are the most technically accomplished (Rolling Stones and Led Zep are better than them in this respect). They are the greatest because Lennon and McCartney are a fantastic songwriting team. I’ve always believed that even though so many factors are important, songwriting is the most crucial.
Songwriting is not about complex riffs. Let’s go back to the Beatles. They started out writing the simplest pieces. Why does “She Loves You” work? Why is it considered a masterpiece when there are other simple songs out there (let’s say – “I Kissed a Girl”) which are not? Being able to understand this is the crucial first step to being a good songwriter.
To be sure, I also believe that it takes a lot of practice to be good at songwriting. (By the way it’s not right that hardly anybody talks about songwriting. I know that it is black magic, but people must still try to talk about it.) Yes, you need music theory, you need to know why some sounds go with what. But you still have to step back and think about how everything fits together.
Basically there are 2 components of creativity: first is knowing what’s out there, what’s gone on before. Second is tearing up the rule book and coming up with something yourself. Singaporeans are great at the first part, but they falter at the second. Even though it is true that you must master the rules before you break them, I don’t think enough people are breaking the rules.
I don’t really think we should be that respectful of tradition. It’s no big deal that your students don’t know scat music or bluegrass. But it is more crucial that they know the “rules behind the rules”. That is, if you tell them the rules behind scat music, they should be able to conduct an intelligent discussion on why the rules were made like that. They should be able to listen people scatting, and be able to tell at once who’s doing it correctly and who’s doing it wrong. For there to be “rules” about scatting – the horror! Scatting is 90% instinct. One of my favourite scatters of today is Alice Glass of Crystal Castles, and I think she learnt it by any how hentam. There’s also Alison Krauss of Sleigh Bells.
I don’t even think that song structure is that important, but understanding song structure actually means that you understand how and why 1 part of this song segues into this other part of the song, why those 2 parts are put there side by side. Not because you need to teach your students a set of rules and they need to follow those rules blindly. For example the reason why “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey is a great song is because it successfully breaks the verse chorus verse rule of rock songs. (nb “Don’t Stop Believing” is verse verse verse verse chorus).
Of course, I think we agree on the fact that students need to listen to a lot of music, and they need to listen intelligently. They need to listen widely, possibly beyond their comfort level. They need to understand music production well. Technical mastery is one thing, but we need thinkers as well as doers.
Last of all, I don’t think that for a musician, you should be telling your students a prescription that they should try to do everything. Some things they will be good at, others they won’t. More important is to understand what they are good at, regardless of whether or not they’re going to explore far beyond that.
One reason I despair for the Singapore music scene is because the audiences are dumb. We come from a country where Timmy Thomas and Michael Learns to Rock go to number one in the pop charts. (OK, went, because that was 20 years ago) Of course Americans are also dumb because Katy Perry can go to number one there. But there is also a great music tradition where there is a critical mass of people with good music taste. I don’t see that. Of course musicians must strive on regardless and produce the best music. But they should also know where the glass ceiling is.
There’s this book, “Outliers”, by Malcolm Gladwell which said that the Beatles are great because they practiced together as a band for a very long time. I thought that was wrong. The Beatles are not the greatest band because they are the most technically accomplished (Rolling Stones and Led Zep are better than them in this respect). They are the greatest because Lennon and McCartney are a fantastic songwriting team. I’ve always believed that even though so many factors are important, songwriting is the most crucial.
Songwriting is not about complex riffs. Let’s go back to the Beatles. They started out writing the simplest pieces. Why does “She Loves You” work? Why is it considered a masterpiece when there are other simple songs out there (let’s say – “I Kissed a Girl”) which are not? Being able to understand this is the crucial first step to being a good songwriter.
To be sure, I also believe that it takes a lot of practice to be good at songwriting. (By the way it’s not right that hardly anybody talks about songwriting. I know that it is black magic, but people must still try to talk about it.) Yes, you need music theory, you need to know why some sounds go with what. But you still have to step back and think about how everything fits together.
Basically there are 2 components of creativity: first is knowing what’s out there, what’s gone on before. Second is tearing up the rule book and coming up with something yourself. Singaporeans are great at the first part, but they falter at the second. Even though it is true that you must master the rules before you break them, I don’t think enough people are breaking the rules.
I don’t really think we should be that respectful of tradition. It’s no big deal that your students don’t know scat music or bluegrass. But it is more crucial that they know the “rules behind the rules”. That is, if you tell them the rules behind scat music, they should be able to conduct an intelligent discussion on why the rules were made like that. They should be able to listen people scatting, and be able to tell at once who’s doing it correctly and who’s doing it wrong. For there to be “rules” about scatting – the horror! Scatting is 90% instinct. One of my favourite scatters of today is Alice Glass of Crystal Castles, and I think she learnt it by any how hentam. There’s also Alison Krauss of Sleigh Bells.
I don’t even think that song structure is that important, but understanding song structure actually means that you understand how and why 1 part of this song segues into this other part of the song, why those 2 parts are put there side by side. Not because you need to teach your students a set of rules and they need to follow those rules blindly. For example the reason why “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey is a great song is because it successfully breaks the verse chorus verse rule of rock songs. (nb “Don’t Stop Believing” is verse verse verse verse chorus).
Of course, I think we agree on the fact that students need to listen to a lot of music, and they need to listen intelligently. They need to listen widely, possibly beyond their comfort level. They need to understand music production well. Technical mastery is one thing, but we need thinkers as well as doers.
Last of all, I don’t think that for a musician, you should be telling your students a prescription that they should try to do everything. Some things they will be good at, others they won’t. More important is to understand what they are good at, regardless of whether or not they’re going to explore far beyond that.
One reason I despair for the Singapore music scene is because the audiences are dumb. We come from a country where Timmy Thomas and Michael Learns to Rock go to number one in the pop charts. (OK, went, because that was 20 years ago) Of course Americans are also dumb because Katy Perry can go to number one there. But there is also a great music tradition where there is a critical mass of people with good music taste. I don’t see that. Of course musicians must strive on regardless and produce the best music. But they should also know where the glass ceiling is.
