Life

"Listen with an open mind, but don't try to remember this stuff. There's no quiz at the end." Jack Kornfield







Sunday, June 5, 2011

What's Live Music? or who cares?

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Funny how a day or so goes by with nothing I want to chat about... then I suddenly find topics calling my name.
This post won't take long... it concerns a "subject" that's just worn out.
The subject?   LIVE MUSIC in Secondlife... or what is live music?
I saw a tweet today from a self appointed music critic/aficionado that came to Secondlife the month after I did (co signed by a very smart person that came to Secondlife six months before I did).
Their on going shtick is that if everything you hear on a stream at a music venue isn't being performed live, "then it's not live" music. To me that says that every venue that only has only one instrument playing (or rarely a group) is the sole criteria for "live".
One of my residents is a professional vocalist that performs with a group of great musicians in Portland Oregon. Now FezFatale does occasionally do a live stream in world, and my resident, Porter Paquot, does occasionally play piano during her shows here, but most of her shows are sung to recorded music. That's "live"... live as in listen to the stage chatter during her performances, she has a degree in performance art if I remember right.
The bottom line?
People go to music venues for entertainment. If they aren't entertained they won't pay (tip), if they don't pay the venue will close for lack of revenue, it's totally self limiting.
Over these last few years I have heard this subject come up every few months... at least one musician has told me that he just lets this drivel  go in one ear and out the other.
I offer that if someone doesn't like a particular venue or performer...  don't tip, TP away, remind yourself to not return..... and please don't bother to tell us that the music wasn't "live".
Be direct enough to call the show out publicly if you choose, but perhaps save the screen space as far as repeating that same tired stuff about, "it wasn't live".
Who cares if it is or isn't if  people enjoy it.

And so it goes
My love to you all, brinda
Namaste
नमस्ते


                 

2 comments:

  1. haha funny, because these people seem to have never attended a modern live performance. There's reasons for those huge racks of blinking, winking machinery to the side or offstage; they are processing sound in realtime. Echo, reverb, pitch correction, syncronized orchestral backing tracks... you don't think U2 is doing all that with 3 guitars and a drumkit do you?

    Silly, snobbish, dismissable.

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  2. True, the most beautiful soundscapes can be wrought when electronic devices, voices and traditional instruments meet. But it does seem that the preference of the general SL audience is geared towards musicians who simply play an instrument and sing along with it. Preferably songs that everybody knows.

    Never really understood the aversion against backing tracks. I never use them, but I've heard some amazing singers who do.

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