Are we going the way of the dodo?

[steve mac]

It appears that we live In a time of instant gratification, "Do you want to lose weight? Don't spend months dieting and exercising just pop a pill" or "Want to be rich, don't spend years working, just buy a scratch card".

For another example closer to home look at current popular song structure, gone are intros and solos, I mean who has time for those,"don't bore us get to the chorus" Oh and add in more hooks than you find In a fisher mans jacket to keep our interest.

So what brought these ramblings about? Well this morning I was walking about in Rome (the Italian one not the Georgia one, although I like that one as well as it has good wings) and the city is packed with tourists from all over the world, I mean rammed and it's not even school holiday time.

Like everyone else me and the missus where strolling down small cobbled streets which invariably open out into large piazzas or squares and in one of those we found a street entertainer. He was a young chap playing a Strat and getting good clear volume and tone through a battery powered amp. Parked nearby was a police car, so obviously busking is not illegal.

Now I am not going to disrespect any musician but he simply wasn't very good. It felt like someone who had been practicing hard since maybe last Christmas. However he had a crowd hanging of his every fluffed note and what a crowd, I estimate in excess of two hundred, certainly more than was at the Trevi fountain which was around the corner.

He had a tip box in front of him and as we joined the crowd we watched as the guy's friend had to keep emptying his takings into a large backpack as the money kept flowing. Did I mention he wasn't very good?

So there was the crowd apparently monumented out and desperately in need of entertainment and willing to pay for it and only one individual with the skill and business acumen to provide it.

It's hard to estimate this particular chap's takings but it must run into hundreds a day if not more. Now others must see this and think I should do this but all that learning how to play an instrument is too hard so I will spray my old coat silver and stand still like a statue that's far easier and yes there are those "living statues" as well but hardly anyone was taking any notice of them.

So the question is "are musicians a dying breed" because an instrument takes too long to learn and is a bit hard?

[daddymack]

but...there may have been mitigating circumstances..he may have been operating for charity, he may have been a well known television personality, they may have all been his relatives, he may be the village idiot...

-OR- you could have taken the guitar away from him...smashed it, and told him he had insulted and demeaned every working musician in the world with his antics.

 

But, to answer the question: Yes, we are a dying breed. It isn't about the dodo type extinction, it is about he ruination of the value, quality and appreciation of music. We've been in this downward spiral for a generation, and it continues, unabated, allowing pusillanimous labels to foist mediocrity and worse on the public.

[pogo97]

“My only deep sorrow is the unrelenting insistence of recording and motion picture companies upon purveying the most brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious form of expression it has been my displeasure to hear—naturally I refer to the bulk of rock ‘n’ roll.

“It fosters almost totally negative and destructive reactions in young people. It smells phony and false. It is sung, played and written for the most part by cretinous goons and by means of its almost imbecilic reiterations and sly, lewd—in plain fact dirty—lyrics, and as I said before, it manages to be the martial music of every sideburned delinquent on the face of the earth.

“This rancid smelling aphrodisiac I deplore. But, in spite of it, the contribution of American music to the world could be said to have one of the healthiest effects of all our contributions.”

 

Frank Sinatra

 

Lucky Frank, he never heard Rap.

 

[Idunno]

Music is always changing and sometimes to an extent that prompts some to argue it isn't music (rap, for example). When it isn't something you appreciate you will make with the negative noise, and vice versa. The problem with the music changing is it may not be to your liking at that important part of your life when music is an integral part of it, or could be, and you feel artistically deficit. It becomes a negative thing and you think no one can appreciate good music, or your music. Relative stuff, but the audience will always be the last word and their majority speaks plainly enough.

 

The solo and duo acts can't party it up on stage. People want to party and more so than ever. I don't see that going away, ever. The pint-sized venues able to afford cheap live entertainment are the haunts for those acts. But, that's been the reality for a long, long time. I'm happy enough to attend open mics and that's my mainstream music social connection. The occasional wine bar white noise gig is less socially rewarding but it pays. I'm not an entertainer, though. It isn't in my make-up (ego). While the idea of getting compensated for messing around with a guitar is having cake and eating it too, it takes more than that to get me to even think of being "a side show at a flea circus" (George Harrison). Besides, I like groveling around with the rest of the starving artist clan. There's something precious in it I need to keep in my life.

[Dingoist]

I was in Florence in 2001. During one of the nice evening time walks, we came across a bunch of buskers working the plazas. One guy was doing a fire act. Perhaps I should mention, that to earn extra money in University I also busked as a fire entertainer -- fire eating, breathing and "fire proof skin". I had a pretty good act down, and performed at some large festivals.

 

Now this guy, was mediocre, and had little "safety" about him. I considered his act amature and dangerous to the audience (and himself). When I performed, I always had a guy watching my back, fire extinguisher and first aid kit in hand (I shouldn't also fail to mention that I was also a first aid instructor too, so safety was a key concern). I always paid my safety guy half of my earnings because they were also trained professionals as well (that's not really a part of the story but how I ran things when I performed).

 

Anyhow, this guy was raking in the dough from the tourists, but I couldn't help but cringe. But they wouldn't know the difference between how I chose to perform, and how this guy did (well, they might if things went "wrong").

 

Honestly, working performers and musicians, can see things in further depths then the general audience. The "everyman" audience won't necessarily hear the tonal difference between my old $350 washburn and the Martin I gig with now. I notice it, and I notice the difference in playability.

 

(The only exception I remember during my fire act, was I moved over to play to a Royal Canadian Legion sponsored site, and I while I often used audience members to help build up how "dangerous" my act was, the guy I picked from the audience was actually an old Carnie, who toured as a hired hand to circuses, and he knew exactly how I was doing things and made some rather choice comments which dramatically reduced my busking "take" for the site... Like the experienced musician trying to school a street performer with little music experience publically).

 

Though in general I agree with Daddymack, there is a ruination in the quality and appreciation of music, and performance in general, but we are also jaded by our growth as performers and musicians, We've worked at getting better, more technical, etc, but then are disappointed when our efforts aren't necessarily reflected by people (the audience) who don't know or seem to appreciate the extra care, skill and effort we put into our performances.

 

Looking back at the history of performers, actors, musicians, what we have now probably isn't much different than 60-100 years ago and before. Playing to the punters, hoping that someone with $$$ and taste looks down upon us and smiles.

 

 

[pogo97]

Who's to say? Poetry has declined to irrelevance -- possibly because the poets have been writing song lyrics or possibly because people demand their verses be sugar coated in a melody. Other forms of the arts are becoming less relevant too -- it seems virtually all graphic artists are designing packages and internet ads and "drama" has sunk into "television." Ugh. However, someone once pointed out that most of the "great masters" were in the biz of aggrandizing their clients, be they nobles, wealthy merchants or the church.

 

Once upon a time, I thought my music would make the world a better place. It does, actually, but in such a tiny way that it's embarrassing.

[daddymack]

And yet...Robert Zimmerman [aka Bob Dylan] received a Nobel prize for literature...and rap/hip-hop is nothing if not poetry, be it gangsta, misogynistic, bareknuckle boasting, social commentary, or even blank verse.

The real issue here, I believe, is the lowering of the performance standard, not the quality of the material.

 

Never be embarrassed; if you connect with even one other person through your music, then you have made a change!

 

To be fair, Sinatra's 1957 comment was aimed at the fact he was being outsold regularly by the likes of Elvis, playing 'race music' to white kids. Frank, having been a teenage idol at the beginning of his career [and not that long before], had forgotten about what teenagers were doing when he hit the stage...and that the post war world was rapidly becoming an 'uglier' place, with changing mores and rapid advances in technology and social upheaval.

 

Fast forward to three years later, and the Chairman of the Board and The King were singing duets on Sinatra's 1960 TV special...$ talks....

[Notes_Norton]

When Jack Kerouac read poetry to music performed by jazz greats, he didn't call what he did music. He called it Beat Poetry.

 

I think Rap isn't music, because it lacks one of the main components, melody. It's poetry and there isn't anything wrong with it, but I don't call it music. Beatbox poetry? Of course you can disagree, it's fine with me, but I won't change my mind. Music needs melody, rhythm and harmony. A mockingbird sings a lot of melody, but without rhythm and harmony it's just a nice bird call. My washing machine has lots of rhythm, but without melody and harmony it isn't music. You need all three, and rap has only two components.

 

And yes, we musicians are a dying breed. Places that used to hire bands 6 or 7 nights a week used to be common, now they are rare. Open mic nights, Karaoke, Sports Bars, DJs, all are taking a piece of the pie that was once ours.

 

And Cable TV is the biggest offender. When my parents were of age, TV was 3 channels, black and white, with tinny sound. During my youth it was 4 or 5 channels, grainy color picture, and tinny sound. If you wanted to hear and see live music being performed, you had to go out. Plus TV was free.

 

Now we have a gazillion channels, 50+ inch HDTV with 7.1 surround sound and a cable bill that can easily be $300 per month ($3,600 per year) -- there goes the entertainment budget.

 

I'm lucky to be older. I've played through the era when music was important, did 6 nights a week from 9 to 2AM, and now playing to the Senior Citizen crowd, can still make a living playing for people who grew up thinking music was important.

 

But what about the next generation? I feel sorry for young musicians, it must be tough making a living at it, as the doors of opportunity are fewer and farther between.

 

Plus when I was young and before, the Top40 music was the aural icon of the generation. Like it or not, everybody heard the same music, the newest Beatles song, before that, the newest Elvis song, the newest Bing Crosby song, the newest Al Jolson song. But after the Beatles, the record companies split the market up. Not everybody listened to the newest Michael Jackson song, even fewer the newest Metallica song, and even fewer the newest Brittney song. Without the music being the soundtrack of an entire generation, it isn't as important as it once was.

 

And yes, I've heard some mediocre buskers too. Last month we were in Niagara Falls, Quebec City, and Montreal. In Quebec City I noticed a sax busker playing his set, moving to another location and playing the same set there - repeat as necessary. The buskers are licensed and pay for their slots. When they move on, the next renter takes their place. A tough way to make a living, no wonder there weren't any excellent musicians doing it.

 

It's tough getting people out of their homes and back in the bars where they belong - any suggestions?

 

Insights and incites by Notes

[daddymack]

FREE BEER!!! [always wanted to have band named that!]

 

The reality is that drunk driving laws and non-smoking/vaping laws have taken the 'fun' out of 'sinning', or more to the point, put the inherent risks up front...one club I work regularly, the LAPD make regular rounds on band nights about every hour after 10PM, looking for tipsy wheel jockeys.

 

getting people to go out requires providing them something they can't get at home. Not an easy task these days. I started a 7 piece band last month hosting a Pro Jam because I sensed a need for it in my area...turnout has been lackluster...after two shows. The band itself [dr/kb/gtr/bs/sax/trmpt/trmbn] totally kicks butt...[considering we rehearsed once, it is actually a testament to the quality of the guys I picked for this]. But getting the word out is hard, and getting people to go out, drink [we are all booze salespeople in the great scheme of things], have fun and drive home is the challenge.

[Chris Loeffler]

I doubt music is dying... nor is musicianship.

 

Classical music fans could argue that rock is terrible because of reduced musical complexity when compared to 18th century composers. Entertainment and musicianship, while not mutually exclusive, aren't necessarily related in any way.

 

My wife loves country music; according to her they "get in, tell their story, make you feel something, and end the song". That's what she wants. I could bring her to a Steve Vai concert and she would have zero appreciation for it (admittedly, that's a case where my admiration for talent also wouldn't equal being entertained).

 

Better musicianship doesn't mean "more entertaining", it simply suggests the player has more tools in their chest to make music.

 

When I was putting together a song list for my wedding years ago, I realized that most of the music I loved had no place at a public reception... who wants to dance to Radiohead or Mars Volta after a wedding ceremony?

 

Being entertaining is its own thing, and while we've all had "Shoot, I could play better than that guy" moments, but if it isn't resonating with the crowd, you aren't being an entertainer.

 

Be an artist for yourself and those who appreciate it, but let the people who just want to be entertained enjoy it!

 

:-)

[Notes_Norton]

FREE BEER!!! [always wanted to have band named that!]

 

The reality is that drunk driving laws and non-smoking/vaping laws have taken the 'fun' out of 'sinning', or more to the point, put the inherent risks up front..<...snip...>

Yes, that is a big factor. I remember when the MADD Mothers were on their temperance rant. And yes, in retrospect I realize it was nothing but a temperance movement in disguise. But it changed the business forever.

 

Temperance in disguise? Sure. It really had nothing to do with saving lives, but to keep their husbands from getting drunk. Why do I say that? Most insurance companies rate talking on the phone while driving every bit as dangerous as driving drunk. And what are the MADD Mothers doing about that? Driving around while talking on the phone.

 

If it were about saving lives, they would be ranting about phone driving instead of doing just that.

 

But it did put a damper on how much money one person can spend in the bar, and the only instrument the owner really wants to hear is the "Jewish Piano" - I realize that's not a PC term, but it's what I grew up hearing it called. No offense meant by me.

 

No, I don't think we are going the way of the Dodo anytime soon, but I do think the opportunities are a fraction of what they were decades ago, and the supply of musicians even greater. I guess that's what the previous generation to the rock era thought who were brought up in the "Big Band" days.

 

6 or 7 night live music clubs are all gone in South Florida, jazz clubs are fewer and farther in between, country music bars are going DJ, and even symphony orchestras are going belly-up.

 

If I were coming of age today, I don't know that I would have chosen a career as a performing musician. I'm glad I had the opportunities to make a living doing music and nothing but music.

 

Life is to be enjoyed, and I had two 'real' jobs when testing out what it is to be 'normal'. I found normal is so over-rated. Instead, I'm living life on my own terms, not domesticated by some corporation, looking forward to every gig, having the time of my life while working (it's a party and I'm the life of the party), and still making enough to pay off the mortgage. Life is good.

 

I feel for the younger people who would want to do this but don't have the opportunity.

 

But Uber puts the Taxi driver out of work, Turbo Tax puts accountants out of work, the Internet put the Encyclopedia companies and salesmen out of work, e-mail is putting many mailmen/women out of work, cell phones are putting telephone installer/repairmen out of work, and so on.

 

We need to adapt to change with the times, or go extinct.

 

I started a business in the 1990s by accident. I bought Band-in-a-Box from pgmusic.com. BiaB came out with the ability for the end users like me to write styles. I wrote a couple of dozen for the fun of it, because it involved playing music into the computer and using the arranging and theory skills I learned in school. It was fun. http://www.nortonmusic.com

 

I gave my 'user styles' to a few of my friends, and they told me they liked them better than the ones that were built into Band-in-a-Box (aren't friends wonderful?). So I took out an ad in Electronics Musician magazine, and to my delight, they started selling.

 

Almost 25 years later, they are still selling, I've written 27 style "disks" (they started out on 5.25" floppies, then 3.25" floppies, but are now direct download), and 36 fake "disks".

 

I learned to write my own websites, I learned how to run a mail order business that evolved to an Internet business, and I've sold my wares to musicians in over 100 different countries. So I have become a content supplier to other musicians.

 

A weatherman uses my tracks on his TV station temperature crawl, I've heard YouTube videos using my styles, and have had people they got published using my styles for successful songwriting demos.

 

I write new products in the summer, when the gigging business is slow in Florida, and it generates enough income so that I don't have to travel in the slow season. Before the BiaB business, I did cruise ships in the summertime. It was nice but after a few years it got old.

 

I also started a duo http://www.s-cats.com when the MADD Mothers (back on topic) got the laws stricter and band pay started diminishing. I actually started this before the BiaB business (1985) using those same skills to make my own backing tracks. First using actual drums, bass, and other instruments, and when the Atari ST computer came out, I learned how to do digital. Leilani and I made 4/5 what our 5 piece band made, but only had to split it between two people.

 

Another stroke of luck started this. We lost a bass player, spent a couple of unemployed weeks breaking in a new one. A few months later we lost a drummer. Got a new one, played our first gig in a country club, and the crowd was so big they opened the accordion doors and set us up in the lounge. The new drummer said, "God won't forgive me if I play in a Bar" and I told her "God will have to forgive me for homicide if you don't play in that bar." The next day I bought a 4 track Teac reel-to-reel tape deck and started making backing tracks.

 

Survival goes to the fittest. And the fittest isn't necessarily the biggest, strongest, or any other physical attributes. The fittest is the one who can adapt to the new reality. I want to be a survivor, and live my life doing music and nothing but music. So far so good. I'm of retirement age, and have no plans to retire. Artists don't retire. They quit working when they can no longer fog a mirror.

 

BTW DaddyM - I wanted to name a band "They're Back By Popular Demand" because I thought they could put that in the newspaper and it would draw a crowd. That was when we had newspapers, the Internet is putting them out of business.

 

Insights, incites and long winded posts by Notes

 

[Dingoist]

It seems to always have been dying, as noted by those trying to make a living at it.

 

Though one could say that the time period of the 50s through 80s, that saw the rise of the baby boomers, also say increased disposable income, better transportation, more access to music (including the rise of stadium concerts) to be somewhat of an anomaly. So the perception of today, by those that experienced the boon time is that it is dying.

 

One of the reasons for classical composers composing for quartets, was not purely aesthetic, but also less number of musicians to divide the bring home pay, especially when playing cafes and non-sponsored venues. Patrons helped the lucky few. Populist entertainers were often not nearly as lucky as those as the established gentry with musical training and financial means to be able to become serious musicians and composers.

 

One often forgets that Shakespeare was also written for the punters as well. It's often a big bloody soap opera, with enough meat and praise to appease the patrons as well.

 

And yes, there is a difference between entertainers and musician as well.

 

 

 

 

 

[daddymack]

One band I was in many years ago was called 'Special Guest', because as the guy who chose it said, 'we'll be in all the papers...'

 

I agree about needing to be adaptable...hence my solo act, trio and 6-7 piece bands...fill every niche I can find.

[Notes_Norton]

I know I would have made more money if I had continued the Electronics Engineering path that I was also schooled for. But I wouldn't have had as happy a life. And as far as I'm concerned, having a happy life is of utmost importance.

 

I did Cable TV (Radio Frequency Electronics) Engineering for 5 years. Oh, I could get along with it, but it wasn't my bliss. Music is my bliss, and I'm living my bliss.

 

We don't know if the afterlife promised to us is real or not. There is no way to know. So my philosophy is to have as much fun as I can, while using the generally acceptable rules to keep me from preying on others. That way if there is no "better place", I've had a fun life, and if there is that better place, I should be admitted.

 

Insights and incites by Notes.

[pogo97]

Ah, the afterlife. If it exists (and why would it?) will I be rewarded for playing the organ at church or punished for not believing any of it? I don't expect to find out.

[Notes_Norton]

Doesn't sound logical to me. Almost every culture seems to believe in one. Of course that could be just denial of the great nothingness. We won't know while alive. We can't know. So I remain very agnostic in the true sense of the word.

 

But there is no harm for trying to be good. In fact, I find it quite enjoyable. And on the off chance ... ... ... ...

[Vito Corleone]

On a related and contrasting note---the wife and I just returned from a vacation in Portugal. And we stayed in the old Alfalma district of Lisbon, where tiny cobblestone streets open to larger squares. It seemed that anytime some one had a stove and was able to put a table out in the street, they called it a "restaurante" and went into business. And most all had the beautiful and sad music of Fado pouring from their doors at night. Wonderful singers accompanied by two guitarists, many of whom seem to travel between venues for a song or two here and then to sing a song or two there.

 

I don't know if or how anyone makes a living doing this, but the talent was surprisingly solid and strong throughout. No bad karaoke-style singing. No playing to tracks. Just beautiful, traditional music. And lots of it. Very heart-warming to see and hear.

[pogo97]

Sounds lovely! The way music should be.

[pogo97]

We have a few in-their-20s performers in my small town, playing mostly current (not that I'd know) and "classic" rock from the 70s up. I hope they understand that they have a limited number of paths:

• move to Toronto, where there's at least a chance of a full-time music career

• find -- and inspire -- a serious band in Kingston in the hopes of becoming the next Tragically Hip (good luck!)

• keep playing solo and get a day job

• join a hobby band and get a day job

• cash in on the chicks-like-musicians thing and then get a day job to support the family

• give it up and get a day job

• my favorite: go back to school and study to become a music teacher (teachers here are respected and well-paid) or other non-performance music professional

• retail

 

As they say: "Many are called, few are chosen."

[daddymack]

many are called...few can make a living at it...

[Vito Corleone]

Here's a bit my wife recorded of a Fado singer and guitarists set up next to our table at a Lisbon restaurant.

 

[video=youtube_share;zujRx6NfwrA]

[Notes_Norton]

I feel for them. The opportunities are fewer than they were decades ago and the supply of musicians are greater.

 

Here in this part of the US music teachers are also going the way of the dodo. Sadly, the emphasis is on wage-slave training or sports. The humanities are not suitable for corporate employment.

[Pat'sStrat]

My uncle was a classical music aficionado and a quite accomplished piano player. He used to lament that the worst thing that ever happened to mankind is when electricity and music were combined.

[Pat'sStrat]

I'm 61 now. I have made it a mission in life to use whatever time I have left here to help the next generation come up and take their place. I have helped some really talented kids get booked at concerts and festivals. I sometimes split gigs with them so the venue owners who regularly hire me can hear these guys and book them too. It occurred to me awhile ago that the opportunities just don't exist for kids to break in like they did when I was young. And because the live music business can be such a closed club and jealously guarded turf to protect access to what gigs remain, these kids have no idea about how to even go about it. But I'll tell you, when I see an 18-year-old kid who went from playing in his bedroom and in church to performing in a songwriter's round with some veteran writers and players, or I see them opening a local concert in front of 5 or 600 people, it really make me feel good to be alive.

[Shaster]

I believe it's been mentioned here, but I feel musicians have to share a piece of the ever shrinking pie. Folks still want music, but how, when, where and what kind is no longer as it was. Even when we do gig, we have to share... I can't count the times I've taken a break because someone has blasted their iPad playing a game, or listening to the latest cat video. Every room I play (no matter how classy) has TV screens. And casinos - forget about it. Playing solo in a casino is self torture, even though folks are usually quite receptive to good music. It's just the slots, the sports, the background music they don't turn off, and everything else can drive you to distraction.

 

An example of the shrinking pie... My agent called to say he wanted to book me for Xmas Eve and Xmas Day. It would be a duo, instead of the usual solo thing. A few days later, I was talking to the manager of the venue and he said (quite happily) that because I had tracks, and could get people dancing, they didn't need a duo, and would just have me play solo. Oh great, now even I'm putting musicians out of work!

 

Unfortunately, I can't argue with the fact that sometimes a single is as functional as two or more (not as good, just as functional).. For instance, I do a gig where I play the first set solo, and then "my" seven piece band comes on afterwards. The guys in the band were joking that I should have just kept playing because I already had the dance floor packed. Now IMHO people were much more livelier with the band, and probably stayed longer because of it, but it is interesting to see a direct comparison from solo to a band. It makes on ponder...