Klarinet Archive - Posting 000424.txt from 2001/07

From: "Tony Wakefield" <tony-wakefield@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Another musician honoured!
Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 14:40:12 -0400

I was perhaps being a bit too conservative for some, in my view that a lot
of the early rock`n`rollers were not <real> musicians, but little more than
3 chord merchants.
They made music, yes, but buskers on the street make music, and they would
be the first to admit that they are not musicians.

Would you classify Elvis as a musician? Or Roy Orbison? They both were
guitarists in that era and were both enormously successful. Or even the very
early jazz players? Certainly the very early jazz "musicians" were not
<real> "musicians", but gifted soloists` and improvisers who joined forces
to <eventually> become more learned enough to then enable them to become,
and call themselves musicians.

If you listen quite carefully, (but perhaps there is even no need to do
<this>), you will hear/discover that the Beatles as <musicians> were really
quite rough, out of tune, and quite lacking in technique, let alone
musicianship.

Their obvious talent was in their song writing, singing, and visual
dynamite. 60/70% of America`s and U.K.`s finest song writers could not be
really be classified as "musicians" in the strictest meaning of the word -
they were and are "song writers" and song writer/performers. Give them
someone else`s songs or music to read or perform and they would flounder.

I believe that we all too readily confuse these two different talents enough
to frequently embarrass, unwittingly the rock and pop "musicians", (perhaps
"performers" is a better term), but who have now taken this "non
musicianship" several stages further down the line to think nothing of
engaging <real> musicians to record their backing tracks, and still further
down the line to record their backing tracks with no musicians at all
present, but sequenced computer generated backings, not to mention the
miming on "live"? performances. But some rock`n`rollers have taken up
learning how to become fine musicians in their own right. Some now write
serious music. Others write film scores etc. I don`t consider that John
Lennon was of this calibre, - this is not a criticism, but due to the era
and the demand for new music, opportunities that prevailed at that time
allowed him and others to reap rewards for little <real musical> talent.

Best,

Tony W.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Charette" <charette@-----.org>
Subject: Re: [kl] Another musician honoured!

> From: "Tony Wakefield" <tony-wakefield@-----.net>
> > I do know that he was <never> a <musician
>
> Ow! Your definition and mine of a "musician" must have a heck of a gap.
>
> Mark C.

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