Klarinet Archive - Posting 000213.txt from 1996/02

From: Lisa Clayton <clayton@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: MUSIC (fwd)
Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 18:10:25 -0500

> I'm not your age but I have watched my own kids grow up. They liked Rock
> and Roll. My oldest son is a trumpet player and fell in love with the
> Beatles (from my generation) because of the piccolo trumpet licks in Penny
> Lane. At the risk of being a "geezer" I would venture to guess that you play
> clarinet or you wouldn't belong to this listserve. I watched my kids
> study privately and learn to dislike rap and rock. Why? They have
> played Mozart, Hindemith, Beethoven to name just a few. If you are looking
> for true beauty of song turn to Schubert. Shepherd on the Rock is true
> beauty and so is his lieder. I like the Trout Quintet so much I arranged
> it for clarinet and piano.
>
> Keep on listening to Rock but try to expand your horizons by comparing
> the complexity (do you know how few chords there are in rap) and melodic
> content of music of the masters.
>
>> I know this has absolutely nothing to with Clarinets but I wanted to know
>> other opinions on this issue. I'm a 13 year old female. I'm listening to
>> a rap and R&B station. A nasty song just came on. It was by Salt N' Pepa.
>> Yeah, I like some of the music on this station, but I think that with a
>> little output on this music, we can change it. I love rap. But, if has
>> nasty swears or something about sex, no matter what the rythm might be, I
>> hate it. I think that art and expressing yourself through music doesn't
>> have to involve immature words. I think that in a few years, no matter how
>> hard we start to try, the world will be trash. The least we can do is get
>> this garbage off the radio. I would LOVE to hear EVERYONE'S opinion,
>> please. I want to know if anyone else feels this way. Also, if anybody,
>> close to my age, has to say anything, PLEASE DO!!!!!!!!!

I don't usually play Devil's advocate, but didn't Mozart and Schubert
do some things that were considered fairly, ah, crude for their time?
Schubert, for instance, wrote a very sly, funny song about impotency,
and from what I've gathered, Mozart wasn't below using some pretty
blue language.

On the flip side, there are rap artists like Ice-T, Queen Latifah,
Ice Cube and Public Enemy that have absolutely brilliant lyrics.
They take on racism, gangs, violence, poverty and other issues
in their raps, and they are worth a hard listen. Musically,
rappers may not be very complex, but they certainly are rhythmically
complex and their use of sampling and overdubs are definitely
creative in their own right. The song Bethany may have heard-- "Let's
Talk About Sex"-- I hear as a very sane plea by very strong women
about the need for communication and self-respect around sex. It's
very necessary message for adolescent girls to hear with AIDS and
pregnancy on one side and lots of peer and relationship pressures on
the other.

Granted, a good percentage of rap is pure junk, crude just to be crude.
Frankly, a lot of music is like that, and I really value my musical
education for not only exposing me to the incredible beauty of great
classical and jazz, but for also teaching me how to listen to all types
of music. There are all kinds of music from all types of cultures and
countries that are worth digging into. I'm grateful that I can
appreciate great musicians and lyricists from rock, rap, heck, even
country-western and can ignore the other 95% of the junk out there.
But the 5% worth listening to is *definitely* worth listening to.

Back to our regularly scheduled Klarinetting...

____ Lisa K. Canjura-Clayton The obligatory homepage:
/ clayton@-----.edu/~clayton
/ Band=Life COMING SOON: Virtual Barstow!
"There is nothing more onanistic than playing the bass clarinet by yourself"
-Steve Trier