Phenomenal

Arcticguitar

What a great thread. This is why I lurk in internet forums! Jazzaferri, I think the thing about music school is it helps you develop tools, reshapes the way you think about music and forces you to learn about how you learn. Music is a this goofy lifelong journey (insert other tired but true cliches here) so the idea that the actual things you learn in music school are the things you are going to play for the rest of your life is just not realistic. Ideally music school teaches you how to practice your instrument and practice music. That is it. From there it is up to you. I think the reason the number of artists stays small despite the numbers coming out of music school is that 1) music school doesn't teach how to "tell a story" and 2) lots of folks have nothing to say. For example I can speak and write english, I know the rules of grammar and I am very comfortable expressing ideas with words, but even though I have these skills I can't just sit down and write a great novel. Music school might give people the "grammar" of music and the ability to express ideas/thoughts/concepts, but generating and connecting those ideas is a whole 'nuther kettle of fish. Just like learning to write, speak and formulate a sentence does not make one a novelist. I am of the mind that all this stuff can be practiced and anyone can develop it, it is just a matter of finding the time and doing it.

On the whole jazz thing I think the terminology is problematic. Maybe it is better to use period specific terms like swing, bop, or fusion. When someone says Jazz to me, without any context, I usually assume they mean bop or cool jazz. I think the general public and maybe many musicians too are skewed to view Jazz as just the music between 1945-1965 or thereabouts. As time goes on and Jazz continues to develop the term is going to become more diluted. I come from a classical music background and it drives me nuts when people say they like "classical music" and then start talking about Bach. Bach is baroque for cripes sake. But I just kind of accept that when most folks say classical music the mean music that spans the baroque, classical and romantic periods. I like using the term "common practice period" to define this music(baroque-classical-romantic). Maybe jazz should start calling the stuff from about 1945-1965 common practice period jazz. Then we could all say things like "I don't dig common practice period jazz, but I love Django". Great discussion.

Teddy Dupont

spatzo wrote: »

For me on my opinion both Joscho/friends and Tcha/Robin videos are not very interesting.

I must admit I agree. It has nothing to do with pushing boundaries, the music just does not work for me. Quite frankly, although I appreciate the technical ability shown in the Tcha/Robin videos, the music itself sound amateurish to me.