Music a quest or passion?

[Mr. C]

Morning gents, a mid week question for those members of this most entertaining of forums
Music, what does it mean to you?, how does it effort you personally? (if it does)
What is that draws you to a collection of sounds that make a pattern?
Why (if) do speak passionately about it.
In essence what does music give you, both good and bad.
I await your responses we anticipation.

Tony

[Haselsh1]

I think it's all down to chemicals in one's brain. For me it's a fabulous filter sweep and a gorgeous squelchy bassline. It's also a beautiful female voice like Sarah McLaughlan's. One thing though, it's effect is different at different times of the day.

[Alan]

I don't know how to answer this at all, and I don't just mean in prose but even to myself. It just does, and how it does!

"writing about music is like dancing about architecture" - Laurie Anderson.

[Spectral Morn]

Hi Mr C

To answer the title question YES....YES. Both a quest and a passion. A quest to find as much new music that I may have missed or just don't know about and both a passion and a quest to do so....perhaps its the Hunter/gather in us/me/men. And there is both in listening to it and perfecting a system to listen to it on. It is however to serve my love of music that I do all these things.

Well music for me is all about pleasure. Its the way a piece can transport you to a different place, time, emotional memory or mood. Music has that ability to generate extreme emotions, joy, pain, sadness, euphoria and enhance or change your mood/s. Music can also generate extreme negative reactions. Why should this be so in some and not in others. I don't know I know what I like and what I don't. I have sometimes re-visted something I once didn't like and found myself liking it, but generally if I hate something I usually stay that way. Trust me I do try to work on most things that perhaps have artistic merit. I will give an example Sigor Ros. I love some of their music but other bits is discordant noise. I have tried hard to find away of appreciating all of it and I can't. I take the bad with the good and skip what I don't like.

A trend/tendency does exist within me in that I like music that builds from a simple start and ends in pomp. This probably explains why I love a lot of symphonic music. I am thinking of Prog rock, electronica and dance music and In classical music say the like of adagios by Barber etc you know the type of thing. I love a strong melody and if its full of keyboard(this can be electronic or say an organ) parts. If its got a strong tune I will usually like it.

I love to be carried away on a wave of sensual sound...when I was a kid I heard the like of Holsts Planets (love all of it but Jupiter is a strong fave as is Mars), I also like Vaughn Williams. Elgars Enigma is a great example of the kind of structure I love in music and as I wrote earlier I tend to gravitate toward similar in other genre. If I said Kansas Hopelessly Human John will know what I mean, or Pat Metheny September 13th.

Above all for me music must have some structure and flow...I struggle with a lot of avant garde music.

For me music is a kind/type of aural sensuality. I could not live without it. For me music is a drug (the only one I take) and I could not live without it.

Sound quality is important as bad sound can ruin or defuse the experience...but interestingly the sound/vibe of a track can rise above this. I find myself lost in rapture listening to a tune on the radio or a You Tube clip. So sound quality is not always vital. I suppose it depends on how your brain is working at that moment in time. Is it about the sound or the music. Frankly I think this is why many can live with low-Fi sound.

Some questions still to be answered there....I don't know. Patterns of sound matching the brain patterns maybe. Sound, I think I am right in saying can alter brain waves. Maybe the music we like finds a match in the way our minds are wired and process data......anyone care to have a go at that ?

Perhaps music appreciation is based on our personality types and mix of them. Why do some people just not get it at all ?

Music which does not agree with you will put you/me in a bad mood, create irritation and ruin things. I can't think of an example now but bad music in movies...music which just does not fit.

Regards D S D L----Neil

[Haselsh1]

Davros, taking your example of Prog Rock which I share with you, for me it's the incredible complexity of the music whether that be synth or guitar work combined with highly complex time signature changes throughout the piece. Examples such as 'Heart of the Sunrise' 'Firth of Fifth' and 'Cygnus X-1' are fine pieces showing exactly what I'm referring to. There are also numerous pieces by King Crimson that show the complexity of this kind of music.

From a Hi-Fi point of view I think with me personally it all gets a bit OCD...! I want my music to sound a certain way but I listen to so many different kinds of the stuff that no one system seems capable of suiting it all. Alas, my funds these days are seriously limited and so therefore is my choice.

[Spectral Morn]

Davros, taking your example of Prog Rock which I share with you, for me it's the incredible complexity of the music whether that be synth or guitar work combined with highly complex time signature changes throughout the piece. Examples such as 'Heart of the Sunrise' 'Firth of Fifth' and 'Cygnus X-1' are fine pieces showing exactly what I'm referring to. There are also numerous pieces by King Crimson that show the complexity of this kind of music.

From a Hi-Fi point of view I think with me personally it all gets a bit OCD...! I want my music to sound a certain way but I listen to so many different kinds of the stuff that no one system seems capable of suiting it all. Alas, my funds these days are seriously limited and so therefore is my choice.

I agree with you these tracks fit exactly into what floats my boat in terms of musical structure. In the Court of the Crimson King by King Crimson is another example of the kind of song structure I love, when I listen to this track it takes me on a Tolkeinesk journey to the Court of the Crimson King. I saw ASIA perform this live, and while not KC it was excellent you would have had to scrape me of the ceiling....transported away.The ebb and flow of this track and Greg Lakes wonderful warm voice makes this tour de force into one of my all time faves. It is interesting that many of those musicians that make/made this type of music come from a classical or Jazz background and less so blues or rock (not saying that some don't). Thus in my opinion the feel/structure is more classical than pure rock.

Regards D S D L---Neil

PS We will try not to hi-jack this into a Prog thread

[John]

Music for me is a passion but also its a ongoing journey.
I have a real emotional bound to music which is part of my life.
I have often tried to understnd why music moves me so deeply; it somehow takes me deeper into my emotions but deeper than that it also adds colour and meaning it helps me to work through complex thoughts an emotions and somehow resonates. I sometimes quite happy going into the darkness music can provide for instance the work of Nick Cave Nick Drake or Jeff Buckley can be dark but also have beauty within the darkness it reminds me I am not alone, other times music is about celbration Its one of the things I like I can find music to help me connect or express. Often I listen to music alone but I also enjoy the sharing of music I been to about 2000 concerts and still love live music. A good concert somehow refreshes me in a similar way as good sex; it can take me somewhere primitive or even spiritual. Its also good chance to share the experience with friends and talk mostly about music
There is hardly a day that goes by without connecting to music its like its part of my life I thought over the years that feeling would die but its still burns just as bright as ever
I see music as really personnal I remember one night getting bunch of friends round and we all had to try and explain how music connected by listening to 3 pices each and talking about why we loved it; it was a strange night and I was left with no matter how much you try and explain words are not enough and guess maybe that is another reson why music can effect so deeply, it can go deeper than words
Sorry about this I am trying to communicate something and do not have the skills to do it justice

[Beechwoods]

It's a good question! I'm like Neil in that for me music is both quest and passion. I collect music like some people collect stamps. Both official releases and live recordings. I catalogue my stuff obsessively, at least the unofficial stuff, and go to by most standards extraordinary lengths to extract sound from old recordings... it's the love of music that led to an interest in the kit, and a need to reproduce it to a standard that pleases me.

Both the music and the machines give me a buzz. For me music is 'organised sound' - I like so much stuff from avant-garde artists like Merzbow and Otomo Yoshide through Bluegrass, Death Metal, Minimalists like Steve Reich and John Adams, Electronica from Boards of Canada to Ryoji Ikeda, Folk, Pop (the least credibility the better ), 70's Soul, Jazz - modern, avant garde, jazz-funk... Progressive rock a la Floyd, Marillion... The whole Canterbury Scene... indie and alternative stuff from when I was a teenager... the list is endless.

Different music affects me differently, and I'll listen to different stuff for different reasons. Sometimes it's for a visceral thrill - some of the noise and metal stuff literally takes your breath away. Othertimes relaxation, or while I'm concentrating on something else. Sometimes it's purely to enjoy the sound of the voices, the instruments. A lot of the time it's because I like the sound as much as the song. Others for a singalong and a wonder at the fantastic lyrical creativity (hello early Fish ).

i don't think music gives me anything bad... except maybe a hole in my pocket every so often. I once nearly (a lost auction) spent £130 on two 10 minute demo cassettes by a band very few have heard of. They sold to someone who already had 2 copies of each tape and for more than I could go to Sometimes I get obsessed about a certain band and obtaining everything they've ever done, but it's generally not too harmful.

I did once seriously entertain spending over £500 recovering 400Gb's worth of live digital audio from a HD that failed. Perhaps that was going a little too far. Unfortunately (fortunately for my pocket) the data was irrecoverable, even by professionals. I was completely gutted when it happened - I'd spent years collecting the stuff. In the end it took over a year to replace what I'd lost, but I made some great friends in the process

[Spectral Morn]

HI Nick


Yes I think we are very alike in many ways but....I don't trust Hard drives and would never store my music that way. I know you can do back ups but for me its the real physical media that I like working with and listening to. I know you do too but HDs are very prone to fail. My first Sky + box failed and I lost some good stuff on it .....I normally archive to SVHS tapes but I had been lazy....bang lost the lot. Never again. There may be a day I have no choice but its not here yet.

I catalogue and have my collection in genre and alphabetical. I once had some one say "Boy your C section must be very big....." Huh....... He smiled C for crap. Short to say he didn't like my taste in music.


Regards D S D L----Neil

[Beechwoods]

For some reason I seem to have rather a lot of 'M's