The Idea Machine - December 12, 2005
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I'm glad I went to Graduate school when I did. It was really by happenstance than anything else and I turned thirty in the middle of it. Being surrounded by twenty something under grads taught me as much as classes. Their experiences, opinions and approach to the craft of music making were so widely varied, I spent lots of time just listening to them talk. Hearing them talk about the universal nature of hip hop because of the practice of sampling. Watching the cellists and violin players completely view their career arcs with a teaching position, 'somewhere small, and playing a little on the side.' Hearing publishing, downloading and sample rate debated more than the minor two-five, the plagal cadence, sub dominant resolution or species counterpoint.
McClewaine (my advisor and mentor) said to me 'You were part of that in-between age, where paper and pen or sequencing were a choice. Now there is no option.' The digital revolution of art production happened just after my generation. My early decision to straddle both worlds still holds me in good stead. But knowing something of both makes me wish I understood and were a part of each one more completely. I'm never sure which I should budget more time and energy to, Pro Tools (which I will upgrade by the end of January) or piano (which I'm finally beginning to understand now, after learning exactly HOW and WHAT to practice for the very first time. Thanks Google.)
Okay, I'll give you one more music example. Know the main reason for Beethoven's rock star death vs Mozart's pauper's funeral ? (Fact: They actually knew each other.) Mozart wrote in the popular operatic style of the day. But the classical repertoire begins with 'The Cult of Beethoven', as it was called. Ready? Beethoven's music was published in movable type. Mozart's was all written by hand. Mass media trumps the boy wonder.
Gutenberg's press spread the bible faster making it one of the most influential books on the planet. His moveable type rose in the 1450’s. (I wonder what the literacy rate was then?) 'Wired' talks about the events of the last 10 years alone changing the world. Those are the ten years I had between my BA and today, with Grad school exactly in-between.
And this phenomenal rise of technology has given birth to a new animal. 'Creatives' are able to not only connect but 'inter'- connect unlike any time in the past. It has become the simplest matter to reach out and touch the mind of another. But there is a byproduct no one imagined. You talk to the idea machine, and it will talk back. People are able to be exposed to, well, other people and think about more ideas than before. I think this cross breeding of idea and practice is reaching a critical mass. To create what, I'm not sure.
I do have a few thoughts though.....
It is like standing in a well laid out hardware store and saying, not what can I merely BUILD but what can I build WITH. We have so many choices and points of view 'infinite diversity in infinite combination' just doesn't hold it all.
And it makes me understand why orthodoxy is so appealing.
HPK
Hugh Klitzke is the creative director and producer of HPK Music. He wants goldfish for Christmas. In a Mac Tank. He also wishes he got an MBA with a concentration in marketing.
I'm glad I went to Graduate school when I did. It was really by happenstance than anything else and I turned thirty in the middle of it. Being surrounded by twenty something under grads taught me as much as classes. Their experiences, opinions and approach to the craft of music making were so widely varied, I spent lots of time just listening to them talk. Hearing them talk about the universal nature of hip hop because of the practice of sampling. Watching the cellists and violin players completely view their career arcs with a teaching position, 'somewhere small, and playing a little on the side.' Hearing publishing, downloading and sample rate debated more than the minor two-five, the plagal cadence, sub dominant resolution or species counterpoint.
McClewaine (my advisor and mentor) said to me 'You were part of that in-between age, where paper and pen or sequencing were a choice. Now there is no option.' The digital revolution of art production happened just after my generation. My early decision to straddle both worlds still holds me in good stead. But knowing something of both makes me wish I understood and were a part of each one more completely. I'm never sure which I should budget more time and energy to, Pro Tools (which I will upgrade by the end of January) or piano (which I'm finally beginning to understand now, after learning exactly HOW and WHAT to practice for the very first time. Thanks Google.)
Okay, I'll give you one more music example. Know the main reason for Beethoven's rock star death vs Mozart's pauper's funeral ? (Fact: They actually knew each other.) Mozart wrote in the popular operatic style of the day. But the classical repertoire begins with 'The Cult of Beethoven', as it was called. Ready? Beethoven's music was published in movable type. Mozart's was all written by hand. Mass media trumps the boy wonder.
Gutenberg's press spread the bible faster making it one of the most influential books on the planet. His moveable type rose in the 1450’s. (I wonder what the literacy rate was then?) 'Wired' talks about the events of the last 10 years alone changing the world. Those are the ten years I had between my BA and today, with Grad school exactly in-between.
And this phenomenal rise of technology has given birth to a new animal. 'Creatives' are able to not only connect but 'inter'- connect unlike any time in the past. It has become the simplest matter to reach out and touch the mind of another. But there is a byproduct no one imagined. You talk to the idea machine, and it will talk back. People are able to be exposed to, well, other people and think about more ideas than before. I think this cross breeding of idea and practice is reaching a critical mass. To create what, I'm not sure.
I do have a few thoughts though.....
It is like standing in a well laid out hardware store and saying, not what can I merely BUILD but what can I build WITH. We have so many choices and points of view 'infinite diversity in infinite combination' just doesn't hold it all.
And it makes me understand why orthodoxy is so appealing.
HPK
Hugh Klitzke is the creative director and producer of HPK Music. He wants goldfish for Christmas. In a Mac Tank. He also wishes he got an MBA with a concentration in marketing.