RE: elitism, etc.

Neil, how right you are and how often I have experienced that. If another
opera singer tells me, "I can sing the blues, it's easy, I'm classically
trained, I can sing anything," I'm going to punch 'em in the nose. I grew up
with Bach around the house, so that works its way into my playing more than
anything, but the kind of technique involved there has nothing to do with
the blues. Over the last few years, I have had some real blues moments,
where it just came out, and sounded so perfect, and then at other times it
just sounds like a lame transcription of the blues. Of course, it's all
about feeling, and getting a beer in you can help too.

You literally have to approach the instrument in a different way depending
on the style of music you're playing. Physically, mentally, emotionally, the
act of playing one style of music is different from any other style. That is
not to say one can't mix elements of different styles to produce something
new and great, but to do that takes a grounding in all of those styles.
Being a musician alive in the world today, one should strive for more than
just to be the best flugelhorn player in the conservatory, or the meanest
blues harpist in town. One should listen to different styles, and really
listen, with soul as well as ears.

I think the problem with a lot of classical music is that it perpetuates
itself in written form, and that most teachers and conservatories simply
can't immerse the students in a true representation of original playing
styles. Occasionally a musician will come along and breathe life into the
music, but this takes an unusual amount of sensitivity. So what you get is
lots of bad performances of classical music -- and the sad thing is that few
people notice. Most people who go to classical concerts do it as a show of
social and intellectual status, and most classical soloists these days are
nothing more than acrobats. The same thing seems to be happening to jazz
here in Boston -- it's very scary. Not to say that the state of popular
music around here a lot better. But the point is that the elitism associated
with certain styles of music is as unfounded as the popularity associated
with certain other styles.

A lot of us are interested in the intellectual games of finding new sounds
to compose and improvise with. That's what keeps music alive, keeps it from
getting boring. But that doesn't mean that some guy with two whistles and
three bells isn't going to come along and blow us all away with the depth of
his music. Instead of closing our ears to "simple" music, such a blues tune,
I think we should all listen a lot more closely to the subtleties of
expression there, and how much meaning those subtleties have -- more
meaning, sometimes, than an hour-long symphony. If it doesn't have enough
chords for those highbrow folks, it's too bad they can't just listen to the
music and understand it for what it is, or at least appreciate the fact that
in pitch inflection, rhythm, and dynamics, there can be a lot more subtlety
there than in your average classical performance. Subscribing to the
attitude that one style of music is "better," that's what I call elitism.
There are blues elitists too, and rock elitists and country elitists and
Indian music elitists and Japanese music elitists I'm sure, and all of it
stinks.


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