On the radio this morning, they interviewed some female about the "musi" she has produced to accompany a holographic representation of Her Majesty the Queen at an exhibition. It is in the form of some very tasteful unaccompnied choral "ooooohs" and "aaaaaahs".
During the interview, the lady who had created the music described herself as a "Sound Artist" (and also described the creator of the hologram as a "Light Artist".
So - we, as practitioners of Irish Traditional Music, are we musicians - or are we sound artists?
I heard that too but switched off when the interviewer said "Were you inspired by the Queen?"
...don't get me started about the Royal family
Grrrrr!
Sorry Showaddy, I almost started a fight in an empty room then.
We are musicians inasmuch as we interpret rather than create the tunes but I suppose if you write tunes you could call yourself a sound artist if you were really pretentious and didn't mind the occasional kicking
I like the odd pint or 2 of beer, but I wouldn't call my self a p**s artist. The Queen mother (God bless her) liked the odd G & T.
Just by calling her self a sound artist probably mean't she got twice the fee for her efforts, instead of saying, "I just wrote the music," in a squeaky voice.
Perhaps she chose to call herself a 'sound artist' for fear of what reactions she might get if she were to call herself a 'composer' or a 'musician'. After all, there is little or no precedent for the term 'sound artist'. Although, she still lays herself open to being deemed 'not an artist' and 'unsound'. But if the Queen likes her work, who's to argue?
Actually, "sound art" is a term quite often used in contemporary music, usually in connection with installations and so on. There's plenty of precedence.
well at least she had the taste to say 'sound artist' and not 'musician.'
i know a handful of DJs and independent dance music producers and most of 'em can't even walk and chew gum at the same time, but they all jump at the chance to wear the title of 'musician' on their sleeves. i always say: so you spin records.. that's great! must be loads of fun. but can you do ...this? <insert real music clip here>
i'm convinced that most DJs couldn't pick up dates if they didn't play music at clubs, but, disliking this dubious distinction in the animal kingdom, use the title 'musician' as a rouse to fool the unwitting female...
Showaddy-this just made me laugh! Thanks for the grin. Just goes to show, every cat has its own sandbox. File this one under News of the Weird and Ridiculous.
I was asked to help a 'sound artist' one time, when he visited a local school.
He was looking for kids to play a tune he'd written for this tv prog, but he was a classically trained musician & had no knowledge or experience of traditional irish music at all. However, he told me he'd written an 'Irish Jig' for the project, which was, surprise, surprise, total crap, & when I alluded to this fact & asked him why he hadn't just chosen one of the many thousand good Irish Jigs that already existed, he said - "ah, but there's more money in it for me if I write it myself."
So he'd just written a tune with the correct number of bars in it, which went dumpity dumpity, & then had the nerve to call it an Irish Jig.
Reminded me of a painter I knew, who was told that an old C19th landscape painting he was trying to sell, would be worth at least half as much again if it only had someone in it, as a focal point.
So what did he do?
Yes, he went home & painted in a man ploughing the field in the foreground .................& it worked.
But can we really call these people artists & musicians.
Surely, when they sell out like that, they are only, at best, entrepreneurs?
I'm prepared to let this "artist" not call herself a musician, under my definition that a musician can still perform when the power has failed - for those who remember the power cuts of the '70's in GB, I saw Steeleye Span play an early evening gig with an alarmclock by the foldback to remind them when the power cut was scheduled - when it finally came they sang us two sea-shanties without PA before sending us home happy in the darkness.
I would suggest that our "sound artist", and all DJs, are absolutley dependant on a level of technology that cannot function without the mains, unlike us sessioneers. I won't deny them a level of skill at what they do,but let's just not call it music.
"Droit de Seigneur" [forgive my mistakes in advance, it's a long time since I did school!] and all that sh**e; and in modern society where the world's poorest, OK, maybe second poorest nation, Mali had children DYING on TV whilst the royals wonder how many to invite to, and how to spin the next Royal Banquet!
Wasn't the late Queen Mother 94..96 something like that when Coutts gave her 4.5 million sterling overdraft? What about the poor boss of a small company/business who is waiting for the checque in the post and the bank manager decides to call in?
Sorry if I sound harsh, but I've seen so many images of people losing out whilst the privileged enjoy.
Christmas is coming, let's all remember that; it's supposed to be peace on Earth to All...but you won't get peace until there is justice.
Lads, sound artist does not equal DJ... And that guy in that school wasn't one either.
If you want to rip the p*ss out of DJs, work away, and I'll possibly join in, but sound installations are an entirely different thing. You don't have to like it, just stop equating things that aren't the same.
I had a friend who did an amazing piece of artwork for the world rowing championships in 2000. It was a series of oars, painted in a international theme, that had inconspicuous holes cut in to them in which there were speakers hidden in each. Each oar looped the sounds associted with a race from the perspective of the boat... heavy breathing, splashing, grunts, shouts from the coxswain, etc. All of this remixed and resampled to reflect the rhythm of the boat as the oars-people stroked through the race. It was very dramatic and created an exceptionally interesting perspective of rowing for all who looked and listened. He never once considered himself a musician... but I can say *I* would consider him a sound-artist. He also wrote a really great article for the local paper, I wish I still had it, about how he has always been close with sound in his immediate environment. He wrote about how much he was affected by sound, not music. So... sound artist, yes. What's the matter with that? I'm wondering here, on who the label of pretentious really should be applied... I think it's time for people to stop letting their fear of being perceived as a sellout stand in the way of their creativity.
If you like... all I'm trying to say is who the F-- cares. It's quible once again over some really insiginifi.... fergetit I don't even know why I'm here wasting my time again.
You are not a musician!
You are not a musician!
On the radio this morning, they interviewed some female about the "musi" she has produced to accompany a holographic representation of Her Majesty the Queen at an exhibition. It is in the form of some very tasteful unaccompnied choral "ooooohs" and "aaaaaahs".
During the interview, the lady who had created the music described herself as a "Sound Artist" (and also described the creator of the hologram as a "Light Artist".
So - we, as practitioners of Irish Traditional Music, are we musicians - or are we sound artists?
Discuss without fighting.
# Posted on November 28th 2005 by showaddydadito
Re: You are not a musician!
doh! - music
# Posted on November 28th 2005 by showaddydadito
Re: You are not a musician!
I heard that too but switched off when the interviewer said "Were you inspired by the Queen?"
...don't get me started about the Royal family
Grrrrr!
Sorry Showaddy, I almost started a fight in an empty room then.
We are musicians inasmuch as we interpret rather than create the tunes but I suppose if you write tunes you could call yourself a sound artist if you were really pretentious and didn't mind the occasional kicking
# Posted on November 28th 2005 by Geoff Pollitt
Re: You are not a musician!
I like the odd pint or 2 of beer, but I wouldn't call my self a p**s artist. The Queen mother (God bless her) liked the odd G & T.
Just by calling her self a sound artist probably mean't she got twice the fee for her efforts, instead of saying, "I just wrote the music," in a squeaky voice.
# Posted on November 28th 2005 by Justintime
Re: You are not a musician!
Geoff - I'm sure that pretentiousness just never came into it.
Talking of p*** artists, it's snowing here. Must go and sign the flat roof.
# Posted on November 28th 2005 by showaddydadito
Re: You are not a musician!
I look the discussions here a lot---I'm a "site" artist.
# Posted on November 28th 2005 by dmarie
Re: You are not a musician!
Perhaps she chose to call herself a 'sound artist' for fear of what reactions she might get if she were to call herself a 'composer' or a 'musician'. After all, there is little or no precedent for the term 'sound artist'. Although, she still lays herself open to being deemed 'not an artist' and 'unsound'. But if the Queen likes her work, who's to argue?
# Posted on November 28th 2005 by granama
Re: You are not a musician!
Actually, "sound art" is a term quite often used in contemporary music, usually in connection with installations and so on. There's plenty of precedence.
# Posted on November 28th 2005 by tumeltyni
Re: You are not a musician!
Maybe she doesn't regard the soundscape she has put together as music. Not all sound is music ...
I'm definitely an Unsound Artist.
# Posted on November 28th 2005 by Ottery
Re: You are not a musician!
More like painting with sound, an extension of the exhibition. Usually electroacoustic stuff in my experience, but I'm open to correction...
# Posted on November 28th 2005 by tumeltyni
Re: You are not a musician!
well at least she had the taste to say 'sound artist' and not 'musician.'
i know a handful of DJs and independent dance music producers and most of 'em can't even walk and chew gum at the same time, but they all jump at the chance to wear the title of 'musician' on their sleeves. i always say: so you spin records.. that's great! must be loads of fun. but can you do ...this? <insert real music clip here>
i'm convinced that most DJs couldn't pick up dates if they didn't play music at clubs, but, disliking this dubious distinction in the animal kingdom, use the title 'musician' as a rouse to fool the unwitting female...
# Posted on November 28th 2005 by gravelwalks
Re: You are not a musician!
Slight difference - with sound art it would be more closely related to composition than performance, unless live electronics are being used...
# Posted on November 28th 2005 by tumeltyni
Re: You are not a musician!
Don't hold back Gravel! tell us if you respect and admire these DJ's or not.
# Posted on November 28th 2005 by showaddydadito
Re: You are not a musician!
DJ's? I'm with gravelwalk. Exterminate them all now to prohibit their further pollution of the gene pool.
# Posted on November 28th 2005 by Hanley
Re: You are not a musician!
Showaddy-this just made me laugh! Thanks for the grin. Just goes to show, every cat has its own sandbox. File this one under News of the Weird and Ridiculous.
# Posted on November 28th 2005 by rainog
Re: You are not a musician!
Yeah, it's all about money, isn't it?
I was asked to help a 'sound artist' one time, when he visited a local school.
He was looking for kids to play a tune he'd written for this tv prog, but he was a classically trained musician & had no knowledge or experience of traditional irish music at all. However, he told me he'd written an 'Irish Jig' for the project, which was, surprise, surprise, total crap, & when I alluded to this fact & asked him why he hadn't just chosen one of the many thousand good Irish Jigs that already existed, he said - "ah, but there's more money in it for me if I write it myself."
So he'd just written a tune with the correct number of bars in it, which went dumpity dumpity, & then had the nerve to call it an Irish Jig.
Reminded me of a painter I knew, who was told that an old C19th landscape painting he was trying to sell, would be worth at least half as much again if it only had someone in it, as a focal point.
So what did he do?
Yes, he went home & painted in a man ploughing the field in the foreground .................& it worked.
But can we really call these people artists & musicians.
Surely, when they sell out like that, they are only, at best, entrepreneurs?
# Posted on November 29th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: You are not a musician!
I've been told my skills at doing the sound for bands that come through is an art. I guess I'm a "sound artist" too.
# Posted on November 29th 2005 by Phantom Button
Re: You are not a musician!
I'm prepared to let this "artist" not call herself a musician, under my definition that a musician can still perform when the power has failed - for those who remember the power cuts of the '70's in GB, I saw Steeleye Span play an early evening gig with an alarmclock by the foldback to remind them when the power cut was scheduled - when it finally came they sang us two sea-shanties without PA before sending us home happy in the darkness.
I would suggest that our "sound artist", and all DJs, are absolutley dependant on a level of technology that cannot function without the mains, unlike us sessioneers. I won't deny them a level of skill at what they do,but let's just not call it music.
# Posted on November 29th 2005 by Guernsey Pete
Re: You are not a musician!
Can I tell my DJ joke? (Maybe I nicked it from here in the first place)
--- Two "celebrity" club DJs were chatting after a hard set announcing records at the local night spot.
"Phew! We played a blinder there didn't we?" says one.
"Yeah, great gig", says the other, "How about we chill out at that all night cinema across the street? They've got a cool movie on"
"I dunno" says the first one "Who's the projectionist?"
Got my coat already thanks ..
# Posted on November 29th 2005 by Bren
Re: You are not a musician!
Gene pools .... Now I like that!
Dysfunctional bunch the lot!
"Droit de Seigneur" [forgive my mistakes in advance, it's a long time since I did school!] and all that sh**e; and in modern society where the world's poorest, OK, maybe second poorest nation, Mali had children DYING on TV whilst the royals wonder how many to invite to, and how to spin the next Royal Banquet!
Wasn't the late Queen Mother 94..96 something like that when Coutts gave her 4.5 million sterling overdraft? What about the poor boss of a small company/business who is waiting for the checque in the post and the bank manager decides to call in?
Sorry if I sound harsh, but I've seen so many images of people losing out whilst the privileged enjoy.
Christmas is coming, let's all remember that; it's supposed to be peace on Earth to All...but you won't get peace until there is justice.
Brianx
# Posted on November 29th 2005 by briantheflute
Re: You are not a musician!
I have always considered myself a "tunesmith" - I can "do things" with tunes already written - I wrought them into sets - an art in itself.
# Posted on November 29th 2005 by geoffwright
Re: You are not a musician!
Are any musicians of your acquaintance artless?
# Posted on November 29th 2005 by drone
Re: You are not a musician!
Lads, sound artist does not equal DJ... And that guy in that school wasn't one either.
If you want to rip the p*ss out of DJs, work away, and I'll possibly join in, but sound installations are an entirely different thing. You don't have to like it, just stop equating things that aren't the same.
# Posted on November 29th 2005 by tumeltyni
Re: You are not a musician!
I had a friend who did an amazing piece of artwork for the world rowing championships in 2000. It was a series of oars, painted in a international theme, that had inconspicuous holes cut in to them in which there were speakers hidden in each. Each oar looped the sounds associted with a race from the perspective of the boat... heavy breathing, splashing, grunts, shouts from the coxswain, etc. All of this remixed and resampled to reflect the rhythm of the boat as the oars-people stroked through the race. It was very dramatic and created an exceptionally interesting perspective of rowing for all who looked and listened. He never once considered himself a musician... but I can say *I* would consider him a sound-artist. He also wrote a really great article for the local paper, I wish I still had it, about how he has always been close with sound in his immediate environment. He wrote about how much he was affected by sound, not music. So... sound artist, yes. What's the matter with that? I'm wondering here, on who the label of pretentious really should be applied... I think it's time for people to stop letting their fear of being perceived as a sellout stand in the way of their creativity.
# Posted on November 30th 2005 by tulloch
Re: You are not a musician!
...and he was a damn fine DJ too... always made for a really great party.
# Posted on November 30th 2005 by tulloch
Re: You are not a musician!
im a bodhran player so that must make me a bash artist....
# Posted on December 1st 2005 by rythymbucket
Re: You are not a musician!
If you like... all I'm trying to say is who the F-- cares. It's quible once again over some really insiginifi.... fergetit I don't even know why I'm here wasting my time again.
# Posted on December 1st 2005 by tulloch
Re: You are not a musician!
Sounds like a really cool installation Tulloch, what's the artist's name?
# Posted on December 1st 2005 by tumeltyni