[GearMe]

Some 'young person' music!







Well...at least it's a young person playing it...

 

[bigshot]

Jake Shimabukuro (Another young musician with incredible skills)

 

[Steve999]

Scott Joplin and George Harrison—both of these musicians are misunderstood and their musical styles as generally perceived are skeletal caricatures of what they accomplished.

I looked around on the Internet for sources that could put my thinking into words, without it being construed through the lens of how other people view me.

Edit: For my unfiltered feelings you can read my thoughts about eight posts down.


Gladiolus Rag

https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200033259/

On the first page of the music Joplin writes, "Note. Do not play this piece fast. It is never right to play 'ragtime' fast."

I've seen similar comments on other sheet music of his.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maple_Leaf_Rag

"Gladiolus Rag", a later composition by Joplin, is a developed variant of the "Maple Leaf Rag," showcasing Joplin's increasing musical sophistication, and is usually played at a somewhat slower tempo. In addition, the first strain of Joplin's "The Cascades," "Leola," and "Sugar Cane" are modeled on the structure used in the composition.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Joplin


What is Life

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Harrison

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Is_Life

What I feel, I can't say
But my love is there for you any time of day
But if it's not love that you need
Then I'll try my best to make everything succeed.

Tell me, what is my life without your love?
And tell me, who am I without you, by my side?


"The track is deceptively simple, and more layers become apparent the more often you play it."

 

[bigshot]

Tell us why you think the songs you're posting are important. The idea is to give some sort of context to why you think this particular song is great.

 

[Glmoneydawg]

pretty complete album...good start to finish.....most of the album is really different compared to music comming out at the time...oh and they are Canadian

 

[Glmoneydawg]

another Canadian band that didn't get much international exposure...with a little help fom Rush on this one.Bust the busters, screw the feeders, make the healers feel the way i feel.

 

[Glmoneydawg]

a classic S T Coleridge poem as reinterpreted by Rush

 

[tansand]

Damn that's a good record.

https://www.discogs.com/Eleventh-Dream-Day-Prairie-School-Freakout-Wayne-EP/release/1673519

 

[Whazzzup]

The rush tune that broke all further rush tunes. After creating this monster the band swore they would never do this again. At times they would forget where they are and where they were going..

 

[GearMe]

Tell us why you think the songs you're posting are important. The idea is to give some sort of context to why you think this particular song is great.

Yeah...saw that in your initial post...thanks for adding your comment about Jake Shimabukuro on your post.

Gotta say though, it's a tad obvious (imo) for us to post stuff like that

Am hopeful, that people on this thread could listen/watch that video of Jake and not only know he's got great skills but that he's a solid artist who is leveraging those skills to deliver a pretty cool rendition of a classic rock song...even if you don't like the Uke or George Harrison!

Prefer this version myself (btw...the old guy has some skills as well) but then I love watching great artists play together...especially covering other artists songs...'young' or 'old' music!



a couple more just for grins...

 

[Steve999]

@GearMe: Thanks for your first point there. I did not want to make that point because it may have put me in the position of starting an argument I did not care for. You were able to come at it from a softer angle so that is good. I watch all of these videos. It’s like getting to know the people who post here better.

I like to find the young people music that I like. To me it’s more exciting than digging up old music that I already know I like or am very likely to like. It is a special and unique pleasure for me. So I have been through a few decades of always trying to soak in new angles in music, and by that I do not mean young people playing old people music, but young people with fertile minds going in new directions.

Scott Joplin (see the music about eight posts up) took a huge amount of flak for taking popular music in a revolutionary new direction in his day, and he changed the world’s music forever. And by many accounts he, just like George Harrison, was a little weak on his instrument. Their contribution was not virtuosity, but vision and depth. Joplin played slow. Harrison played slow, On purpose. For Joplin his intention in this regard is documented in his original sheet music.

See the post by @bigshot of a video of Bill Evans talking about the pitfalls of playing too many notes to approximate a style, rather than playing what you know more slowly. By his account, if you are playing too many notes to approximate a style you never get to depth that way. Even his own brother, a skilled classical and jazz musician, didn’t get it. So in their own day people took what Joplin and Harrison did and emulated them and even took pride in one-upping them but concentrated on virtuosity and lost almost all of the depth.

When I see the virtuoso stuff in these idioms on one level my jaw drops and I love it but on another level it sounds like people banging on their instruments and what I search out is the depth, the misunderstood, the brave, those with new ways of musical expression, those speaking from pain or joy or a metaphysical concept or latent ironies and communicating on several levels. And even most musicians still don’t get it and never will. Universities are getting better and better at methodically cranking out folks with great virtuosity in jazz and classical, but the depth is getting lost. Virtuosity is turning into orthodoxy and a commodity, even in improvisation. IMHO.

So I am not advocating against old people music, far from it, I listen to a lot of it, but I am also looking for the new directions, the new angles, the new depth. I do see it in some cases in twenty one pilots and London Grammar. Those just popped in my head as I was going about my day so I posted some songs of theirs. Not everything is going to be a "hit" for posterity, and to complicate things further I don't have 20/20 hindsight when I look at the present and some people will close their minds reflexively.

So that’s my sermon for the day. There, everything is off of my chest now. If you made it this far thanks for reading.

Yeah...saw that in your initial post...thanks for adding your comment about Jake Shimabukuro on your post.

Gotta say though, it's a tad obvious (imo) for us to post stuff like that

Am hopeful, that people on this thread could listen/watch that video of Jake and not only know he's got great skills but that he's a solid artist who is leveraging those skills to deliver a pretty cool rendition of a classic rock song...even if you don't like the Uke or George Harrison!

Prefer this version myself (btw...the old guy has some skills as well) but then I love watching great artists play together...especially covering other artists songs...'young' or 'old' music!



a couple more just for grins...

 

[Steve999]

See post directly above & nine posts up &

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Something_(Beatles_song) :

"Something" drew praise from the Beatles' primary songwriters John Lennon and Paul McCartney; Lennon stated that "Something" was the best song on Abbey Road, and McCartney considered it the best song Harrison had written.[2] The single topped the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, and made the top five in the United Kingdom. It has been covered by over 150 artists, making it the second-most covered Beatles song after "Yesterday". Artists who have covered it include Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Peggy Lee, James Brown, Shirley Bassey, Tony Bennett, Andy Williams, Smokey Robinson, Ike & Tina Turner, Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker, Isaac Hayes, Julio Iglesias and Neil Diamond.

Now I am going to go looking for some young people music, and I will enjoy doing it.

 

[Steve999]

Originality & pain & major social issues head-on, from a brave and troubling and surreal artistic perspective.

 

[GearMe]

Here's some songs that fit the Bill...love the way he conveys the emotion!

 

[GearMe]

@GearMe: ...Their contribution was not virtuosity, but vision and depth. Joplin played slow. Harrison played slow, On purpose. For Joplin his intention in this regard is documented in his original sheet music.

See the post by @bigshot of a video of Bill Evans talking about the pitfalls of playing too many notes to approximate a style, rather than playing what you know more slowly. By his account, if you are playing too many notes to approximate a style you never get to depth that way.

When I see the virtuoso stuff in these idioms on one level my jaw drops and I love it but on another level it sounds like people banging on their instruments and what I search out is the depth, the misunderstood, the brave, those with new ways of musical expression, those speaking from pain or joy or a metaphysical concept or latent ironies and communicating on several levels. And even most musicians still don’t get it and never will. Universities are getting better and better at methodically cranking out folks with great virtuosity in jazz and classical, but the depth is getting lost. Virtuosity is turning into orthodoxy and a commodity, even in improvisation. IMHO.

Yes...how you play/sing a piece of music (emotion, timing of notes/silence, cadence, emphasis, etc.) can definitely make up for 'lack of virtuosity'.

I still smile every time I play this Brubeck song...at 1:39 he basically plays the same note repeatedly for 25 seconds...but my foot doesn't stop tapping!

...not that Brubeck lacked talent