Is Music a Language?

"I don't call it dancing, I call it sparkling."

Lately I've gotten in the mindset of thinking of music as a language. Studying jazz piano, I felt like I was learning a new language and was at the baby gibberish stage, where all I was doing was making noises trying to copy those around me but not making much sense.

Where I thought the metaphor began to fall down was in the concept of "right and wrong." While trying to improvise, I was wondering if I what I was playing was "right." I mean, I knew "right and wrong" could be different in this context, but if music was a language, then I wondered if I could be wrong musically when I was playing certain things.

In other words, if I was learning Chinese and trying to speak it, was I making any sense, or was I randomly putting words together? I thought about this for a while and came to the conclusion that there wasn't a right and wrong like there is with language.

I discussed this with Paul English, and he pointed out that yes, music was a language with an idiom and there were accepted norms. Going back to the language metaphor, there are accepted ways to say things that we all agree upon. Of course, he was right, which meant I was wrong. Or at least, I was not on the right track.

Thinking about this conversation and what Paul said, it hit me. I'm not just learning the language but also how to use it. Little kids don't write novels. People start out with essays and move on to short stories before tackling novels or dissertations. In order to write certain things in certain styles, you have to learn the idioms associated with that style. Along the way they get better at the language in general. If you want to write a story about something, there isn't a wrong way to tell the story so long as you do so in an understandable fashion. This is where the accepted norms come in. If you are writing for a certain audience, then you should also write in the style they expect or require.

I think the metaphor of music as a language does work, but you have to look at it on several levels. You're not just learning to speak the language, you're learning to write it and compose more than just conversationally. I haven't determined where actual compositions fit in all of this however.

The important thing that came from all of this was that it got me away from the "right and wrong" I was worried about. That's not to say I don't have a lot to learn about music, but it gave me the freedom to tell my story my way. As I go along, I'll find better and better ways to tell it.

Tue, 2010 04 27 at 6:51 AM |Permalink for this entry

Playing for Exposure

My friend Kevin says, "man, people die from exposure…"

A lot of times musicians will be asked to play a free gig, being told they won't be paid, but "it's good exposure." My short answer is never play for free, you devalue yourself, your music, and other artists. That being said, there are situations that make sense and everyone has to judge whether it is worth it. I think one important thing to remember is that many times people expect musicians to play for free or cheap, while others such as caterers and other staff get full pay. This is a topic that often leads to much debate that I'm not going to enter here.

Aside from that, I have three things I want to post in response to the playing for free or exposure question. The first is my friend Kevin's response above.

The second is the writer Harlan Ellison's response to when he was asked to do something for free for a DVD. (Note that this is NSFW and may be rough for sensitive ears.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE

Third is this post that was recently found on a Massachusetts-area Craigslist. Unfortunately, I do not know who wrote it so I cannot give credit.

Hi,

We are a group of professional musicians who will be street performing this coming Sunday afternoon in Cambridge. We would like to offer our event as an avenue for a local restaurant or club to come and provide food for us, and our audience. We will play for about 2 hours, and the traffic count will be at least 100 people, more if the weather is sunny. We would prefer food that is healthy, good tasting and versatile as our audience has a wide variety of tastes.

Also, we would prefer that you send at least 2 pretty waitresses to help serve the food, this is negotiable as not everyone has the same definition of pretty. I'm actually fine if they are at least "friendly", because honestly I'm not that good looking myself.

Sorry we won't be able to pay you any money, our budget is tight. But, you will be able to hand out your brochures and get some great exposure for your restaurant. If things go well, we will invite you back for our next performance, and possibly include a gift coupon that you may use to attend one of our future shows. Come on down, you will have FUN feeding people, and again you will have great exposure for your restaurant.

If interested, please respond quickly with your menu, as we would like to make our selections and complete our summer schedule.

Mon, 2010 04 19 at 6:56 AM |Permalink for this entry