4 Nov
2010
4 Nov
'10
5:33 p.m.
On Thu, 4 Nov 2010 16:16:26 +0100
fons(a)kokkinizita.net wrote:
On Thu, Nov 04, 2010 at 10:43:12AM -0400, David
Santamauro wrote:
Like I wrote to Drew earlier, I'm a firm believer that music is a
language and any parallels drawn between the two are justified.
I see that analogy as very fitting but the
conclusion as simply
wrong. A novelist or poet does, indeed, spend years (a lifetime
even) gaining a mastery of not only the "pencil", but also the
words and sentence structure. My 8-year old daughter will attest to
the difficulty involved and the years it takes to master moving her
writing instrument to produce the correct glyph--not to mention
putting all those glyphs together to form words, sentences and
ultimately a coherent story that expresses her intent.
I don't think the analogy is fitting at all. A novelist's or poet's
art does not consist of being able to write or push keys on a
keyboard. It consists of creating a good text. He/she could just
dictate it to someone writing it down or typing it, and nothing would
be lost.
But wouldn't there have to be some initial investment in learning in
order to even be able to dictate?
Now you could argue that a composer's art does not consist of being
able to play all the instruments he/she writes for. So why not use
a computer to find out how things sound. Simple fact is that anyone
deserving to be called a composer does not depend on being able to
hear the exact reproduction of what he/she writes. Entire songs,
musicals, symphonies have been orchestrated or arranged rather well
by composers (not only the classical ones) just sitting at their desk,
or at most using a piano. They can do this because they know their
trade. Which takes some time to learn.
Absolutely. They can do this because the vocabulary and syntax is
ingrained deep in the brain.
What we see today is a lot of people 1) unable to play any instrument
or sing and 2) unable to create any music except by trial and error
aided by technology. Yet they'd call themselves a musician. By that
measure, they could call themselves painters, sculptors, writers,
dancers, and whatever they want.
And I'm sure many do.
David