I'm more into music than I let on around Hubski, or much of anywhere, really. I have a very strong background in it, mostly against my will, but nonetheless; I have played, over the course of my childhood, seven instruments, four of which I would classify myself as 'above proficient' and to some classified today based off that talent as 'a disappointment'.
I've forgotten most of the instruments I played as a willful rebellion in some regards, and to be honest, I only vaguely regret losing most of that. I miss not being able to sit down and sight read a piece on the piano, or play in by ear in a matter of minutes, and especially that I never got to use that talent to throw down at a party and bust out an astounding rendition of Bach or Shastakovich, depending on my audience and what will impress them (Mussorgsky: always Mussorgsky for bombast, by the way, especially the Great Gates of Kiev), but what thing that will stick no matter what happens are the concepts. The theory stays around, and your understanding of music is always there. I can still hear a piece of music for the first time and hear the next two measures in my head before they play, I can still identify an era and probably a composer for a piece in seconds, and the philosophy of music nags at me all the time.
I wrote an essay for university at one point on if music is truly a representative form of art or not. It seems absurd to me that many philosophers don't believe that it is, but it's a debate that's been going on for a long time. That's the point I've been slowly making my way to: music as a reflection of the state of a time frame, and more specifically, representing the general outlook of a generation. Music is a facet of our everyday lives, but 'classical' music is still very alive and as powerfully moving and indicative as it has ever been, and even more so in the contemporary era than in any other music era. Philip Glass represented everything in the 80's with his more electronic works (and here will begin the debate on Glass' merits. I welcome them) with large scores that took on new mediums and brought them to logical extremes, used absolute minimalism while seeming extravagant, and were overall upbeat with some dark undertones. George Gershwin captured 1920's and 30's wildness, jazz culture, and escapement of the Lost Generation. Aaron Copland captured America's obsession around world war two with freedom, especially with the wild west as an epitomized form of this fantasy, filled with hope and adventure.
Our generation has, in my opinion, some of the absolute best composers we've ever had, but what we have is considerably darker. We don't... have as much hope as previous generations had, at least not yet, but we've got some incredible music from all of it. Penderecki, despite being from another dark generation through world war two, found a new audience in recent years with his dark, erratic music. Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead has made haunting soundtracks for masterpieces (There Will Be Blood and The Master, hell he even remade Penderecki's Threnody), and (what spawned this post), Bryce Dessen from The National is putting out astounding work. It's all sullen, it's an assault on your senses and your sense of music, and it's angry, but my god is it beautiful under all that. It's complex and technical and takes directions rarely seen before, or drawn subtlety with nods to predecessors from disparate sources unseen in their styles previously, or not taken seriously at least.
Anyway, here's a song that was done by Kronos Quartet today. Actually, a whole Tiny Desk Concert, but the first song is what I want you all to hear. If you don't know, Kronos Quartet has been bringing new 'classical' music to the scence for 40 years now. They're astounding people in everything they do, and here they have a piece by Bryce Dessen, mentioned above. I want to know what Hubski thinks about representation in music and idea of a generation defined by their music (really, any music, I suppose. I feel that classical is the best way to truly get a glimpse, but others may disagree. Maybe indie or electronic is. I agree to extent: I think Sufjan Stevens Age of Adz, a mix of all three of those, is absolutely one of the most representative pieces for us, a mix of our despair, ingenuity, absolute access to information and joy, and ambiguity for the future.)
Apologies for rambling with a short ending there, I've been at work for 13 hours and needed something to focus my energy into afterward.
I think it's interesting that the 20th century saw a shift in attention from musical periods to music of particular generations. I do wonder though, if that is changing. Music is of course, still something teens latch on to as a way of defining themselves, but for non-teens, it certainly seems like people are freely selecting music from any and all generations and periods. In fact, a lot of new music seems to take that as a given, as styles are mixed and altered in any number of configurations. It almost seems like there is a desire to move beyond the concept of musical style. As to the question "is music representative or not?" well, I don't know. I certainly think that a lot can be inferred about the people who created that music, but inferences are not necessarily representations. I guess I'm not so clear on what is meant by "representative" in this context.
That ends up being a crux of the debate as well: how does one define 'representative'. One of the oft sited arguments for representation in music is Handel's Messiah. Without expressly stating in lyrics what is happening, you can stil understand the intention, depict scenes, etc., etc., but the other side is that any representation given is given based on what is wanted to be portrayed by the listener or who assigns the scene, not that it inherently has that meaning. For example, if someone called Messiah Richard III, people would still find correlations, and the rebuttal for that is that representation is still there, but more ethereal. It continues on likewise. On top of that there are those that argue that evne without specific scenes or concepts, the mere conveyance of emotion through music is itself a form of representation; a musical measure or piece isn't inherently sad or happy, and yet you can hear a singer in Portuguese and know exactly what she wants you to without hearing a single word.
I recall an interview with Thom and - I believe - Johnny about what kind of music Radiohead makes. They said that they've been going against the mood of society, as their darkest albums (Amnesiac, Kid A) were released when everything seemed prosperous. Now, with the financial crisis and a lot of hope lost, they respond by making much more optimistic songs. I don't know how accurate it all is but what I'm trying to say is that music responds to society. Music represents society's response. Not just that of generations.Our generation has, in my opinion, some of the absolute best composers we've ever had, but what we have is considerably darker. We don't... have as much hope as previous generations had, at least not yet, but we've got some incredible music from all of it. Penderecki, despite being from another dark generation through world war two, found a new audience in recent years with his dark, erratic music. Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead has made haunting soundtracks for masterpieces
Great post and an interesting question. I absolutely think that people define their generation by the music they deem representative. Do I think that it's a uniform answer for a specific generation? No. But I do think some generalities can be made. Also, what ends up happening is that many music lovers will continue to enjoy the emerging sounds of the generations to come. I'm not sure what would music/style would be considered my generations? Probably grunge or something like that. But that absolutely doesn't encapsulate me, as much as I liked it when I was 16. Thank you for the Tiny Desk Concert link, I'm a fan of the series. While in DC we toured the NPR studios and met Bob Boilen. Pretty cool to see the "tiny desk". Wish we could have heard some music too. edit: That first song from Kronos Quartet is absolutely amazing. Dark, full of energy and amazingly in time/tune with one another while seemingly just enough out of tune to make it interesting. Great stuff. edit: Owl, you might be interested in this tiny desk concert.
Fun anecdote about meeting Bob: My housemate's friend works for NPR and always releases the list of the upcoming Tiny Desk concerts, and they can give out a ticket or two to friends. Always fun. But apparently my housemate went to a show with their friend at one point and didn't know they were going specifically because it was one of Bob's favorite bands. My housemate LOVES Bob, but had never seen a picture of him, and ended up talking to him for a while about how much he thinks the band sucks. Oops.
Ha. I didn't get to talk to Bob much. I told him that I loved the TDC and that when I was a kid MTV's Unplugged was really exciting because it presented music I liked and was already familiar with in a new way. I told him I thought TDC filled this role today. I don't think it went over well.