On the Practice of Music

 

People don’t need an understanding of music theory to appreciate music. But I will qualify that by saying that having some understanding—or a curiosity about it—would do wonders for music in general. It would make us more sophisticated listeners, which we once were at one point. I noticed a drop in music appreciation around the time of Napster, which made music into a cheap disposable item in some ways. That revolt against music conglomerates overcharging for music backfired on the music itself.

9/17/2017
 

[9/17/2024: I’m reminded of a diary entry circa 1820 when people were excited by solo flute performances and going out to buy the sheet music to learn to play it. This was the case up until print publishing faded out around the advent of the internet, when you could find some remnants of it online. It’s ironic that people still attempt to teach music on YouTube, but the point is not in the practice of it, but rather the making of the video, so it has shifted attention away from music itself. No one is actually spending hours every day practicing as they once did. There is nothing to practice, no skills to develop–like chord-shifting on guitar: once you watch a video about it, you still have to drill it. As to overcharging, I think AI-music subscription plans are moving back to a time pre-Napster when the internet was the revolution that supposedly would save it from hegemonic forces, when, in fact, those forces keep re-emerging].