What’s the Word: Music truly a great art form
Music is a wondrous thing. It’s as varied as any art, delving into the realistic and surrealistic as easily as a Rembrandt or Dali. While some music is obscure and experimental, it still seems to find an audience if, by definition, it is good music on some level.
It’s the definition of good that escapes many of us when we hear the latest conglomeration of sound that the demi-gods of criticism tell us should be totally enthralling to all of us.
I’ve always had a problem with someone telling me what I should and should not like, so I’m not generally a fan of criticism in any of its forms.
The word itself has a somewhat negative connotation, and it has always seemed to me that critics take considerably more delight in panning someone’s work than they do in applauding it.
And while all art is subjective, music seems to me to be especially so. Most art is fairly static. Drawing, painting, photography and writing are all, once done, there forever, or at least hopefully forever, for all to see.
They have a permanence and are infinitely reproducible. They can be distributed easily, particularly in this, the age of communication.
Being an avid photographer and writer, I am fascinated with the permanence and potential for widespread dissemination of this kind of creativity.
Consider the portable nature of the book. What a fascinating device. Gutenberg is my hero. Movable type conceivably changed the face of society by making the printed word available to the general public, where it had once been the domain of the wealthy and the clergy.
Much later, photography and the offset printing process did the same thing for painting and sculpture, making works of art that one once had to travel thousands of miles to see available to everyone.
And certainly, music is also reproducible and easily distributed, so it fits into that paradigm as well, but unlike arts and letters, music has one aspect that, though reproducible, is still nothing like experiencing the real thing.
And that is live performance.
Sitting in front of a stage and watching someone create a moment in time that is art in its purest form can engender one of the most satisfying feelings the lover of creativity can experience.
In an instant we can be transported to a different plane, taking a ride on an artists charisma and talent, swept up in the moment.
It can be a heady experience. There is a feedback from the crowd that makes each of those experiences one of a kind, for the artist and the listener. One can film it, admittedly in some amazingly artistic ways that can be very pleasing of their own accord, but it’s still not like being there.
There is nothing like being there.
Of course, there are those who will grouse that a terrible performer can destroy that feeling just as quickly, but we don’t usually listen to those for very long do we?
And in truth, live performance is somewhat of a masochistic endeavor, as any performer will tell you. One never knows how a crowd will react, or whether or not you can win them over. Every performer, no matter how good, will tell you of nightmare experiences in live performance.
That’s why I have so much respect for the artists who performed at Songwriter’s Night with Jacky Jack and friends Friday. Each and every one put themselves out there for all to see, sharing their music in the most intimate way of all, live performance, leading me to say this:
You won us over. Nice job all.
(Charlie Johnson is a reporter for the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].)