interpreting other's works and such

You know, I am having a hard time trying to understand why folks are
so passionate about this subject...it made me examine my own beliefs,
and what I found was: on some deep, fundamental Universal level, I
really don't feel like my music is "my" music. I mean, sure it is, for
copyright protection and other legalities in a modern society. And yes,
the music does get played/composed by "me"; but, I truly feel like ideas
are given to artists from "somewhere else," so to speak...I know mine
are. I think of art as a gift, and such a gift should always be shared.
Once a composition goes out into the physical world, I don't feel like I
"own" it. I really don't know why I feel like this, it seems like a part
of what I am as a musician.( Maybe it's because I've played so much
blues and jazz, where the emphasis is always on individual
interpretation of certain basic materials. In fact, you try and AVOID
sounding like someone else, if possible...to have individual style is
the thing.) Yeah, I'd rather hear somebody do something good with it, if
possible; but, I don't even feel like I have the right to tell someone
else what to do with art. To me, imagination is the most powerful part
of art, so if something happens that is imaginative, I don't really care
how they got there...Weird Al's version of Michael Jackson's "Beat It"
is a mighty creative use of someone else's material, for instance. And
Kazuhito Yamashita does solo guitar transcriptions of symphonic works,
to make them accessible for everybody to experience...I like that
concept of music; it seems very heartfelt.. I am honored if someone
likes my stuff enough to even want to do it in the first place..what a
nice tribute. Far be it from me to say no in such a circumstance...but,
it really isn't an issue to me if folks have another approach. I'd like
to think we can respect each other's ideas in a peaceful way....Hstick
PS Miles said that Mingus used to do weird stuff, like play "My Funny
Valentine" in a major key...has anybody done Partch in 12 eq yet?)

>
> and what I found was: on some deep, fundamental Universal level, I
> really don't feel like my music is "my" music.

Thanks Neil, for coming back to the list, and also for writing this.
I guess I see "my music" like my children, beyond a certain point
they are their own thing and will go off and be whatever they'll be
whether I like it or not.

> Yeah, I'd rather hear somebody do something good with it, if
> possible; but, I don't even feel like I have the right to tell someone
> else what to do with art.

Something good, or at least, honest and respectful. Unfortunately, all
these terms are purely subjective. If you are lucky enough
to have people care about your music, then some of them will care enough
to pan it, and maybe even, through ignorance or maliciousness, play it
in a manner that that you disagree with (whether the specifics of that
are key, tempo, timbre, tuning, etc... doesn't really make any difference,
you don't LIKE it).

Oh well, I would rather my daughter not smoke. What am I going to do about
it when shes 35?

Bob Valentine

Neil Haverstick wrote:

> but, I truly feel like ideas
> are given to artists from "somewhere else," so to speak...I know mine
> are. I think of art as a gift, and such a gift should always be shared.

I think many of us are sympathetic with these ideas and agree. The music is
shared by the listening experience. My father as I mentioned before, was a
psychic among other things, my own relationship to such things, I rather
not make public. Music comes from somewhere else, maybe mine comes from
Anaphoria. That these sound children have a life of there own is a fact of
life. Still I would rather prefer to give them a good head start especially
if they involve uncommon elements. Samuel Becket made sure he had some
involvement in every production of his work even if it was only via the
phone. As far as my works lasting beyond myself, I would hope that others
would just do as i do in spirit more than reproducing what has already been
done. Partch's work is so tied in with the man, especially the vocal works,
that i consider the gate 5 recordings the "finished" product. I really
don't need or desire new recordings. Hopefully his works will be done in
collaboration with those trained in theater and I don't mean broadway. This
other side of the man (there is more than 2) requires a director at least
who can understand those aspects of his work. I am not criticizing the
reproductions that have been done, but unless you have this dual
background, a director would be capable of seeing what you cannot.

> ...Hstick
> PS Miles said that Mingus used to do weird stuff, like play "My Funny
> Valentine" in a major key...has anybody done Partch in 12 eq yet?)

As Ben Johnson pointed out that the reason Diana Ross Failed at Billy
Holiday was she sang the wrong intonation. to suggest it with Partch (I
know you are not serious)
DEM UR FIGHTIN WURDS DER MISTAR :)

-- Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island
http://www.anaphoria.com

> [Neil Haverstick, TD 430.4]
>
> ... on some deep, fundamental Universal level, I really
> don't feel like my music is "my" music. I mean, sure it is,
> for copyright protection and other legalities in a modern
> society. And yes, the music does get played/composed by "me";
> but, I truly feel like ideas are given to artists from
> "somewhere else," so to speak...I know mine are.

Thanks for adding this to the discussion, Neil. I know
exactly where you're coming from. Sometimes I listen to
some of my favorites of my own stuff and they don't even
seem like mine - I experience the same kind of thing as when
I listen to someone else's work.

That not to say that I can't respect the attitude of
Wolf, Grady, Szanto, Reinhard, et al. My compositions
are my 'children', and always will be, as long as I'm
alive, so, on the one hand, there's a sense of protection
about them, and a feeling that, if I felt it was good
enough to be let out into the public in the first place,
it's good enough to stay as it was when I let it go.

But on the other hand, just like with real children, time
has a way of altering circumstances and issues, and the
works themselves, if they strike a 'chord' of response
from anyone out there in the listening audience, will
tend to 'grow' just like real children too.

OK, I'm not going to stretch that metaphor any farther...

> ...has anybody done Partch in 12 eq yet?)

Uh... (duck Monzo, here comes a brick!)... I have a MIDI
file of the beginning of _Barstow_ in 12-eq.

-monz

Joseph L. Monzo Philadelphia monz@juno.com
http://www.ixpres.com/interval/monzo/homepage.html
|"...I had broken thru the lattice barrier..."|
| - Erv Wilson |
--------------------------------------------------

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