A summer statement in the name of Music

By Sebastian of Son Kite

Author: Sebastian
Date: Sep 7, 2006
Views: 2344

Text: Sebastian
Date: Sep 7, 2006

\"I\'m in love and I can do anything for this love\". This feeling is called passion! You can have different passions in life, some people have an intense passion for music, art or books others have an extreme passion to create music, art or lyrics. If you have this passion for creating art you\'re an artist. To be an artist is very beautiful and I thank life every day for this gift BUT it\'s of course not an always easy gift. When you\'re an artist your creativity will never sleep and this creativity will push you forward, upwards, downwards, sideways ... always to new places, new discoveries and new experiences ... AND not only when \"you\" want but when it wants you to!

Music has many different stages, levels, moments and means. Different music have different aims, different music have different possibilities and ways to express feelings. This discussion is focused on dance music which is a good example on a music style with a very precise aim ... to dance!

When you\'re making music you always have to fight between the thought vs the feeling. Both are indispensable when you\'re making music but you have to separate them. A good example for you who love to dance; imagine yourself on the dancefloor ... getting into trance ... feeling something higher ... getting lost together with the music. This is hardly possible if you\'re at the same time are thinking about something concrete (like buying a beer or think about what you will do tomorrow). Exactly the same goes for making music or playing music. Here we reach the biggest problem with most electronic music, especially electronic dance music. Most dance music made today is strictly made around a computer/software interface, some are using external devices but most artists are still bound around the linear, click and cut – method provided in programs like Logic or Cubase. This way of working is a perfect example of an act by thought, not by feeling. If we compare that with playing an instrument we face a tremendously big difference. When you\'re play an instrument you know how to play and you don\'t need to think about how to play and then you either learn how to play a piece of music (so you don\'t need to think about the notes) or you improvise over given rules/patterns/chords ... while you\'re doing this you leave the thought behind and reach your feeling/your heart ... this is music!!! With this I don\'t mean that you must get limited while creating electronic music/electronic dance music ... rather the opposite! The development of electronic music equipment and computer based music equipment is the biggest revolutions in music making/playing/composing/producing of our time and even though the traps and pit holes are many you also have possibilities to use the new technology in a wise and musically healthy way. Wisely used it also enables you to leave the thought behind and let you play with your feelings even thou you can\'t play an instrument or have a musical training. (This is by the way one of the biggest steps in the democracy of the art). There are many artists doing amazing and innovative compositions with only a computer!!! Of course there will always be a big need of the thought when your composing or producing but to create something innovative and soulful you should work in a way that enables you to reach your inner feeling as many times as possible during the creative process.

Back to the subject; if the composing and producing part has an urgent need of using the thought, playing live is your best opportunity to perform a sessions using your feelings and leave your thought behind (as much as possible). To be able to do this you need a live platform that enables you to change the music on the fly ... this can be done in endless of ways, thru different software platforms, hardware platforms or combinations between the two. So step one is to create this platform but before you do that you should think about WHAT you want to do with your live set, what parameters you want to control and what your purpose with the live set? Step two is to practise with your platform so you don\'t need to think about what you\'re doing (to be able to go with the feelings/heart). Step three is to enter stage and try all the things you\'ve practice, handle your nervousness and solve all technical problems (you never stop to get surprised how many things that can go wrong). Who said that this would be easy and who thought that you would do a perfect job the first time? You have to practice, learn and get inspired. But this is the point ... if you have to create and work for something there are ALWAYS a possibility to continue the development you\'ve started and if you can continue to develop you never know what the end will be ... which bring us back to the meaning of art! Nor music or the way of performing music should be a fixed or static thing ... the key to creative happiness is to keep all possible doors open, and this is mostly an opposite thing to being lazy!

I would like describe a scenario, which I always thought was the truth, but got heavily reformed after years of touring. (Naivety is one of the beauties of the youth). Imagine all trance artists flying around the world every weekend, playing at different parties/festivals, meeting other artists, djs, music lovers and people. Imagine that all these artists did something unique, something different, something new, striving to always do something more and better ... imagine how much inspiration and motivation this would create, both between the artists but also to all the \"yet to be artists\" dancing to their music, looking at them on stage. There are million ways to perform electronic music ... it\'s hard to find a better ground for letting artists to be creative, not only in playing live but also HOW to play live. Just thinking about how you can play live will create new ideas how to create music ... new ways of creating music will lead to new ideas how to perform the music ... the circle becomes a spiral ... everything is possible. Imagine how much importance this could be for the parties but also for the music itself. I will not hide my sadness for the lack of innovation within the trance scene, but I still believe that things can change and I believe that this change is necessary to preserve trance music as something innovative, experimental and interesting and not let it become a fast food industry, which is the obvious tendency today. I believe the change will come from the young people, still blind by the love for the music and not infected by the ‘easy money\' one can earn.

Music and music activities, with a deeper goal, should always stay dynamic, unexpected and innovative ... it doesn\'t matter if the music activity is listening, producing, playing an instrument, dancing or playing live.

Don\'t restrict yourself by accepting a lazy behaviour just because it\'s a common thing to do, prize life and your own beauty by doing the best you can ... it\'s always more than you could ever believe.

Want to post your opinion: http://forum.isratrance.com/viewtopic.php/topic/91820/forum/1

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