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rdtprog 
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 Topic: S. Wilson comment on Professional Musicians
Posted: January 20 2016 at 17:19 |
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On the cd/dvd of his latest release HCE, Wilson said something that make me think about what he meant when he said : "89% of professional musicians that i know stop listening to music when they become musicians, which it's not my case". Because it was a quick comment throw at the interviewer without any further explanation, i was curious to know what the community thinks about this. My own understanding right now is that he must think that to do "good music" , you have to be inspired by the music you're listening while you're trying to create your own music. Am i on the right track? Maybe musicians can have a better understanding of this...
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Music is the refuge of souls ulcerated by happiness.
Emile M. Cioran
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omphaloskepsis
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Posted: January 20 2016 at 18:05 |
I remember a mid 80's interview Ian Anderson did in Goldmine magazine. Ian said he had listened to maybe 5 albums since 80. One of which was Captain Beefheart's "Trout Mask Replica". Funny the things you remember.
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rdtprog
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Posted: January 20 2016 at 18:14 |
 omphaloskepsis wrote:
I remember a mid 80's interview Ian Anderson did in Goldmine magazine. Ian said he had listened to maybe 5 albums since 80. One of which was Captain Beefheart's "Trout Mask Replica". Funny the things you remember.
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Must be boring listening only to your own music... He must be very busy recording, writing and playing. Funny that you pick this example, because if there's one of those old musicians that i am not much in love with is Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull, not that i hate it, but i always have a little deception after listening to his music. Now i understand more why, he didn't listen to enough music and Captain Beefheart on top of that. 
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Music is the refuge of souls ulcerated by happiness.
Emile M. Cioran
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CCVP
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Posted: January 20 2016 at 18:56 |
rdtprog wrote:
omphaloskepsis wrote:
I remember a mid 80's interview Ian Anderson did in Goldmine magazine. Ian said he had listened to maybe 5 albums since 80. One of which was Captain Beefheart's "Trout Mask Replica". Funny the things you remember.
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Must be boring listening only to your own music... He must be very busy recording, writing and playing. Funny that you pick this example, because if there's one of those old musicians that i am not much in love with is Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull, not that i hate it, but i always have a little deception after listening to his music. Now i understand more why, he didn't listen to enough music and Captain Beefheart on top of that.
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It also explains why most people stop innovating or even bringing new things to the table, which is very unfortunate.
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cstack3
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Posted: January 20 2016 at 19:31 |
I've been a musician for years, although more of a hobbyist than professional (I turned down chances to tour & record).
I understand Wilson's sentiment, listening to other's music can be distracting and even painful. I have boxes of CDs that I rarely listen to.
My brain is a 24/7 music streaming site it seems, although I do enjoy listening to the old good stuff on occasion.
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Dellinger
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Posted: January 20 2016 at 21:25 |
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I guess it's got something to do with having or not time to listen to music. I guess professional musicians are often too busy writing music or practicing their own music and don't have much left for listening for pleasure. Also, perhaps some of them don't want their music to be "polluted", or even don't want the risk to end up stealing another's music by accident.
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Catcher10
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Posted: January 20 2016 at 22:41 |
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I wonder if he means he listens to his own music, which who knows. But I think he does listen to music, on his website he does publish a playlist and makes suggestions.
Not sure I read anything else into the quote
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rdtprog
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Posted: January 21 2016 at 04:02 |
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The Doors and Rush have many times show their love for others bands music and it didn't prevent them to make what i think innovative music.
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Music is the refuge of souls ulcerated by happiness.
Emile M. Cioran
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moshkito
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Posted: January 21 2016 at 10:18 |
rdtprog wrote:
On the cd/dvd of his latest release HCE, Wilson said something that make me think about what he meant when he said : "89% of professional musicians that i know stop listening to music when they become musicians, which it's not my case". ... |
Writers, Artists, Musicians that have a fairly good idea of who they are and what they are doing are not intimidated by listening to different things. You can use David Bowie as a very good recent example of that. Folks like Daevid Allen, not only played different things, he listened to even more of them. But I can see how some folks do not feel the need to hear others, or listen to different things, and Klaus Schulze would be a very good example, since what he does is so different than anything else anyone does. My experience has been that most musicians in the infancy of their musicianship, will try to concentrate on their craft, and listening to externals, other than their favorites, can be distracting. I think this is merely a lack of confidence on one's ability with the material/work they are doing, and not necessarily something that signals their tastes in music are askew. I think that what this really says is that some musicians are very "mental", and others are "instinctive". An instinctive musician won't have issues listening to externals, since they are concentrating on something else at the moment. A very "mental" musician, has to work in maintaining the focus, and normally that would be scales and various notes, and timing. Wish I had more experience with musicians for this, but this is not an issue in theater and film. A Shakespearean actor has no issues with modern theater or vice versa, thus suggesting that something within the learning process is not making the music ... an art form. It is simply a style that is being learned, not more.
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Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
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WeepingElf
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Posted: January 21 2016 at 15:57 |
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I think that a musician should listen to other people's music in order to stay in touch with his colleagues and receive inspiration for the development of his own musicianship. A musician who cares only for his own music will soon find himself out of touch with music in general and repeating himself.
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... brought to you by the Weeping Elf
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rdtprog
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Posted: January 21 2016 at 17:26 |
WeepingElf wrote:
I think that a musician should listen to other people's music in order to stay in touch with his colleagues and receive inspiration for the development of his own musicianship. A musician who cares only for his own music will soon find himself out of touch with music in general and repeating himself.
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I always thought the same thing, it never occurred to me the distracting factor as 2 posters said. I can understand the "Mental" and "Instinctive" dichotomy, not sure if it apply in music. If i were a musician, i would find it very hard to make music without being distracted. I know that the biggest writers (philosophers) are creating their work a lot by reference to the previous writers, and sometimes, it could be brilliant nonetheless. I would like to have more examples of artist like Klaus Schulze who have create something masterful without listening to others musicians.
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Music is the refuge of souls ulcerated by happiness.
Emile M. Cioran
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tboyd1802
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Posted: January 22 2016 at 07:37 |
Catcher10 wrote:
I wonder if he means he listens to his own music, which who knows. But I think he does listen to music, on his website he does publish a playlist and makes suggestions.
Not sure I read anything else into the quote
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In an interview before his Montreal gigs last year he stated that he listens to - on average - ten new CDs a week.
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He neither drank, smoked, nor rode a bicycle. Living frugally, saving his money, he died early, surrounded by greedy relatives. It was a great lesson to me -- John Barrymore
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BaldFriede
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Posted: January 22 2016 at 09:55 |
rdtprog wrote:
WeepingElf wrote:
I think that a musician should listen to other people's music in order to stay in touch with his colleagues and receive inspiration for the development of his own musicianship. A musician who cares only for his own music will soon find himself out of touch with music in general and repeating himself.
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I always thought the same thing, it never occurred to me the distracting factor as 2 posters said. I can understand the "Mental" and "Instinctive" dichotomy, not sure if it apply in music. If i were a musician, i would find it very hard to make music without being distracted. I know that the biggest writers (philosophers) are creating their work a lot by reference to the previous writers, and sometimes, it could be brilliant nonetheless. I would like to have more examples of artist like Klaus Schulze who have create something masterful without listening to others musicians.
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rogerthat
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Posted: January 22 2016 at 09:56 |
rdtprog wrote:
I know that the biggest writers (philosophers) are creating their work a lot by reference to the previous writers, and sometimes, it could be brilliant nonetheless.
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That's different from actively following the work of their contemporaries, though. Works both ways. If you get too absorbed in what your contemporaries are doing, you may get tempted to emulate them in certain aspects and lose your voice. A friend of mine is a musician and I know for a fact that he doesn't spend a whole lot of time listening to music because he spends all day singing and playing anyway and needs a break from the sound of music at the end of the day. Well, the album (or should I say EP) his band put out is pretty original which is not something I can say for huge swathes of current prog. Won praise from Classic Rock and I know for a fact that he can't afford to lobby them into paid reviews (if they do that at all) so it's legit. The band, by the by, is Rainburn.
I don't think there are any black and white answers to this question but based on the above I can believe what S Wilson says and don't find it surprising.
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dr wu23
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Posted: January 22 2016 at 10:38 |
I don't find it surprising either and I recall other musicians from the past saying similar things (don't have any ready quotes..) about not really paying that much attention to other artists music. But then I have read a few interviews where they did talk about bands they liked even current ones so it's probably 50/50...not sure what hole Wilson pulled that 89% figure out of . btw...I know no one here likes Rolling Stone but they have a very short regular column each month where professional musicians talk about what they are listening to and what has influenced them from new and old music.
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One does nothing yet nothing is left undone.
Haquin
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Tony R
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Posted: January 22 2016 at 10:41 |
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Strange how Wilson explicitly says that he does listen to music yet some here seem to have got the impression that he doesn't. Odd.
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cstack3
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Posted: January 22 2016 at 11:29 |
I once read a "Downbeat" interview with both Robert Fripp and John McLaughlin. Bob told John that he avoided listening to Mahavishnu Orchestra since he didn't want to be "seduced" by it.
I understand the sentiment. I've recorded little snippets of music that some have said "You sound just like Chris Squire!" and, upon analysis, I was using many of his techniques without realizing it.
That isn't necessarily bad, but pro musicians swim in their own music, and don't spin the platters as much as music hobbyists do. If anything, they listen to other influences such as classical or trad jazz music.
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Catcher10
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Posted: January 22 2016 at 11:50 |
Tony R wrote:
Strange how Wilson explicitly says that he does listen to music yet some here seem to have got the impression that he doesn't. Odd.
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rushfan4
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Posted: January 22 2016 at 12:05 |
Catcher10 wrote:
Tony R wrote:
Strange how Wilson explicitly says that he does listen to music yet some here seem to have got the impression that he doesn't. Odd.
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I think you might have misread the original post. Steve says that 89% of current musicians do not listen to other musicians, but that is not the case with him. i.e. he listens to other musicians. The 89% number is just a grab in the sky but I have also heard of other musicians who say that they don't listen to other music because it taints their own creative process.
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moshkito
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Posted: January 22 2016 at 12:06 |
WeepingElf wrote:
I think that a musician should listen to other people's music in order to stay in touch with his colleagues and receive inspiration for the development of his own musicianship. A musician who cares only for his own music will soon find himself out of touch with music in general and repeating himself.
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Not necessarily. If you listen to Klaus Schulze, you could say there are similarities, but it stops there ... there is nothing (just about) in common between "Kontinuum" and "Cyborg" ... or Vangelis ... there is a world of difference between "El Greco" and "Earth". These folks are too wound up around their own orchestrations of their work, and if you see the Rheingold DVD with the extra stuff, you will find ... ohhh wow ... didn't know there was more here ... and it is very deep and insane. Steven is aware of this A LOT ... because he was there and also interviewed Klaus Schulze and he even saw/heard a lot of the defining moments in mixing and mastering the work. It takes "inner dedication" sometimes, to define the work you do. This is different with every person, and we would not want to assume one is better than the other or vice versa. However, when a famous song writer still sounds the same, and composes exactly the same thing 30 years later, yeah ... I would question how good/great that person is, but NEVER their musical ability per se, because that might not even be visible to us. Think of folks like Neil Young, who is not afraid to get on a stage with hard rockers and can make them look like children on a stage! That's the mark of a musician that is more interested in listening and adjusting and having fun with it, than anything else ... and in essence that is a very progressive concept ... except that we have decided that some folks don't fit, and we don't like what they do. Look who's talking and not listening!
Edited by moshkito - January 22 2016 at 12:40
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Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
www.pedrosena.com
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S. Wilson comment on Professional Musicians
