|   What makes music such a unique artform... | RPM
Aug 15, 2002 9:39 AM | | In that we choose to enjoy it repetitively? Pwrpoguys recent post about which albums we've spun most, got me wondering this. I mean you see a great movie, read a fantastic book, view paintings, etc. but none of the above even come close to the amount of time given to a great piece of music. One of my favorite movies is "Little Big Man" and I've only watched it about 5 or so times, while I've probably listened to Animals or Close to the Edge 50?, 60? 100? times.
Is it because we can enjoy music while doing other tasks (working, driving, exercising, etc.). I'm sure that's part of the explanation, but there's got to be more to the explanation than just that....
Rick |
| The power of music is unkown to most | Dave_G
Aug 15, 2002 9:50 AM | | Most people don't like music like us nuts at this place.
My guess is that if you were exposed to music as a kid, it either hit you or it didn't.
If it did hit you, it stuck.
Plus we grew up in a time that music was really starting to become available and affordable and reproduced sound quality got better every day.
Most people I know are content with a shitty rack system and FM fodder.
Most people buy greatest hits.
Like you, I might watch a favorite film MAYBE 3 times total for forever, with the exception of Blazing Saddles and Spaceballs and Terminator.
I know the power of music and use it every day to bring some peace to my stress filled world.
Most people I know think I'm a nut with all my stereo gear and cd's and lp's all over the place.
I keep 'em guessing.
Music is almost as good as sex.
Dave |
| Oh yeah, I forgot about sex (I guess that can be considered an artform) | RPM
Aug 15, 2002 10:05 AM | | and I've probably done that 50-100 times too. ;-)
good reply Dave, btw Terminator (the original) is one of my fav's too!
Rick |
| The power of music is unkown to most | A
Aug 15, 2002 10:06 AM | | You state:
] Music is almost as good as sex.
I enjoy music very much, and have ever since I was a child. I have about 600-700 CDs, and had many LPs before (if I stacked them flat on the floor, they would stand about 2 1/2 feet tall). I would, if I had more money, have a much larger collection of music. But music is not even close to good sex. |
| Music & Sex | jack70
Aug 17, 2002 2:32 AM | | <i>But music is not even close to good sex.</i>
For the <b>musicians</b> out here, I think they'd all agree that "Music", when more specifically described as 'playing live to an audience', is as good or better than sex. We could argue on whether it's <i>always</i> true, or argue the differences of "good sex" or "poor sex", but there's a "communication" between one's-self and the many people in an audience that's as (more) powerful as that between 2 people sexually. Whether it's "better" or not, depends on where your head is at (Robert Pirsig, where art thou?).
BTW A,
...<i>and had many LPs before (if I stacked them flat on the floor, they would stand about 2 1/2 feet tall.</i>
You should know that some of us don't count LPs in feet anymore... we measure by (10x10ft) WALLS ! LOL! |
| "Take this shovel and put her to some good use" | PwrPopGuy
Aug 15, 2002 10:27 AM | | Recognize that line, Geezer? I can trade lines from this movie with you for a while... |
| "They're always coming and going, and going and coming, and always too soon. | Slosh
Aug 16, 2002 3:15 AM | | Music is of the moment <i>and</i> timeless. Can bring back fond memories <i>and</i> take you somewhere you've never been. It's primitive <i>and</i> sophisticated. It's instinctual <i>and</i> cerebral. It's delicate <i>and</i> barbaric. It's sympathetic <i>and</i> empathetic.
I could go on and on. You get the idea. |
| "I didn't know your grandmother was Dutch!" | PwrPopGuy
Aug 16, 2002 11:32 AM | | Who can give me another line from "Blazing Saddles"? How long can we keep this going??! |
| Your ass looks like about 150 lbs of chewed bubblegum. | Slosh
Aug 16, 2002 1:49 PM | | Sorry Rick, switched movies on you.
"I like you. Hell, you can come over and fvck my sister."
Now that's an entertaining movie. :-) |
| You got me on that one | PwrPopGuy
Aug 16, 2002 8:54 PM | | I don't recognize the lines. Pretty funny! How about this somewhat obscure sci-fi flick from either the late 80's or early 90's:
"I've come to chew gum and kick ass, and I'm all outta chewing gum." |
| "I want this head so sanitary and squared away that the Virgin Mary herself would be proud to come in here and take a dump." | Slosh
Aug 17, 2002 4:39 AM | | Recognize it now?
I have no idea what your film is. Maybe I should visit Favorite Films once in a while. This is kinda fun. :-) |
| Praise, with faint damning | DustyChalk
Aug 15, 2002 4:11 PM | | Music is better than sex. Sex is completely overrated -- it's just a leftover instinct. (Does anyone besides me get depressed after sex? Or maybe that's just because it's over... ;-? )
And don't give me that, "you're doing it wrong" crap -- if music isn't better than sex, <i>you</I> are the one doing it wrong (music, that is).
Music uses...nee, stimulates both sides of the brain, the intellectual, and the emotional. Sex is purely emotional (and if it's intellectual, then you're definitely doing it wrong).
Music can heal the sick, and make the wealthy poor. It can stupify the intellectual elite, and enlighten the ignorant. It can cause habit-forming self-destructiveness in the most willful of people, and...well, you get the idea. Music can do anything. Sex? About all sex can do is make you feel good.
MHO |
| try it with a partner next time | RPM
Aug 15, 2002 5:23 PM | | ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) |
| Naw... | DustyChalk
Aug 15, 2002 8:43 PM | | ...haven't you ever heard the expression, "if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself"?
OTOH (pun intended)...actually, nothing, I just wanted to say "OTOH"... |
| Sex is much more important than you're giving it credit for. | Slosh
Aug 16, 2002 3:08 PM | | I agree 100% with everything you have to say about music, but sex is about more than just feeling good or the continuation of the species.
Sex <i>is</i> the core foundation of healthy partnership. Anyone who says otherwise is delusional. Yeah, admiration, respect, etc. is important but the sex comes first and if the sex goes bad, so does the relationship.
If you stop being sexually attracted to your partner it's the beginning of the end. Sex is the factor that keeps you together when you think you hate each other. Sex keeps you interested. Sex brings you home. Sex make all the bullshit worthwhile. We like to think we're beyond this primitive notion but we're not, and never will be.
MHO |
| re: What makes music such a unique artform... | A
Aug 15, 2002 10:18 AM | | Part of it is the fact that most music is shorter than a film, so it is possible to listen to it more often than it is possible to watch a film. And I think you are entirely correct when you say that you can enjoy music while doing other tasks. To be more of a fair comparison, think about the number of times you listen to music and do absolutely nothing else while listening to it. But being shorter, it is still not a far comparison.
In my case, I like some very long pieces of music. One of my favorites is Bach's Mass in B Minor (not a very exciting title, but the music is great; I like a version conducted by Philippe Herreweghe). It lasts almost 2 hours. I have only listened to it a few times, for obvious reasons. Sometimes, I want to hear it, but I only have about an hour, so I listen to something else instead. It gets played far less than other pieces I like less well, because of the time it takes to hear it.
There are, of course, pieces of music much longer, but I wanted to use an example something that is one of my favorite pieces of music.
Another thing to consider is the fact that many films are only completely effective if you don't know how it ends, so they can only be properly viewed once. Most music is equally effective whether you know how it ends or not. |
| good point about stories (films/books) having an "ending" | RPM
Aug 15, 2002 10:44 AM | | music is more of a journey, as opposed to a trip with a destination. |
| It's the expression of feeling that comes out of a good song.... | PwrPopGuy
Aug 15, 2002 11:43 AM | | ...that counts. Great music should emit emotions that equate a song to a mini-mental movie, and the repetitive part is trying to recapture that initial feeling the first time you heard the song. I think this is a big part of the uniqueness of the artform. |
| Music is my drug of choice... | Snowbunny
Aug 15, 2002 1:01 PM | | I know we've frowned upon that cliche in the past, but it really makes sense to me. (Oh, and for those of you who been hanging out here for a while, this post <b>will not</b> be as embarrassingly sexual, as my Music is Like Sex post!)
I can reliably change my mood, just by picking the right music. I am sure there is a chemical change in my brain when I listen to music I like! If I'm feeling tired after getting home from work, and I put on the right music, I am more physically rejuvenated than if I had taken a nap or drank a cup of coffee!
It affects me at such a level that it might even cause me to develop a little crush on someone who sends me music I really like. ;-)
Snowie |
| I hope that doesn't happen to everyone... | RPM
Aug 15, 2002 1:23 PM | | I recently sent out over a dozen copies of my comps.....most of them to guys. Yikes! |
| You could do a lot worse! | Snowbunny
Aug 15, 2002 10:55 PM | | This board has an unusually high percentage of hotties.
:-P |
| re: What makes music such a unique artform... | mawako
Aug 15, 2002 3:31 PM | | If I may...for me it's the property of music that enables my mind (imagination) to paint its own pictures as opposed to a film which is someone else's visual potrayal. And for books...I agree, knowing the end makes it a one-time go-through for me (excluding some of the heavier scientific stuff).
Everytime I kick back and listen to music, I can visualize something different depending on the instrument I'm keying on. I mean, there are times when I can imagine myself inside bass strings, or floating in space on some Bach organ works, or inside the club on tight-miked jazz rercordings, if you know what I mean.
Mawako |
| |
