When does it become “Art”?

When does it become “Art”?

Les Paul was in his club in NYC one evening and a young fellow came in and wanted to play, So Les let him play his guitar. He burned up and down the neck, fingers flying, playing his well-practiced scales at lightning speeds. When he finally stopped, Les looked at him and said, “That’s great kid, but let me ask you something. If your mother heard your song on the radio someday, would she know it was you?”

I think this speaks to the heart of the issue. In order for your efforts to be “Art”, I believe that you need to invest some of yourself into it. It has to say something about you, and it has to speak to other people. If it conveys your emotions to them, or if it sparks emotions within the observer, then that is art. I would go further to say that the quality of the art can probably be measured by the degree to which these emotions are conveyed or invoked. It’s the difference between a framed painting and mere wallpaper. One speaks to you, while the other is mere background decoration.

In music, despite what most teenage guitar players think, it’s not all about playing fast. Playing fast is merely a practiced mechanical skill. On youtube, you can find 8 year old kids that can shred at alarming speeds. But that is not music, really. That is just circus. Amazing geek tricks. For it to be truly music, to be art, there has to be a lot more to it. Not that playing fast is wrong or bad – but it can’t be the only aspect of it that has any merit. Sometimes, playing fast IS part of the art of a piece. It can convey a type of energy, or invoke a sense of urgency, a welling up of emotions to a crescendo, etc. But, to have any artistic effect, it needs to be used deliberately, cognitively, and sparingly.

It’s not so important how fast you speak- It’s more important to have something to say.

So then the question becomes, “How do I ‘say something’ musically?” Consider a movie soundtrack. You can tell the scary parts of the film just from the music alone. You can see how certain types of music enhance the sense of a pleasant afternoon at the beach, or in a field, or floating on a quiet lake. Also, you can see how certain other types of music give a sense of foreboding, and danger, or love, desire, despair, even more subtle abstracts such as overcoming an obstacle through will and determination. Still others convey a sense of crisp clockwork efficiency, others denote laziness, sloppiness, drunkenness.

We don’t have to be taught these things, the musical sounds are sympathetic to the inner feelings we have when in these situations. That said, an argument could also be made that we ARE taught these things by association within the movies we see. After you’ve seen the part where the monster jumps out of the dark 50 times, you learn to recognize the rising, tense, discordant music as a precursor to danger situations. Eventually, you are conditioned, like Pavlov’s bell, to be afraid every time you hear it. These movie / soundtrack multimedia compositions have created a Rosetta stone to help us decode what music devices reflect what emotional responses. Either way, we all learn to associate certain sounds with certain emotions.

There are archetypes in music, just as there are in literature. Dissonance indicates tension, and usually fear and distrust. Long, flowing, easy, notes and tones denote calmness, pleasure, satisfaction. Major chords denote happy, strong, minor chords usually denote sadness and weakness. Short, staccato lines can invoke a sense of urgency, or quick movement. Heavy sounds, loads of distortion can bring a sense of evil, rage, or military action. This is part of the vocabulary of musical artistry.

As musical artists, we must learn to use these tools to tell our story. Don’t just rely on the lyrics to tell the story. Imagine a tender love song filled with words of devotion and intimacy, but yelled out over a cacophony of heavy metal drums, bass, and screaming guitars. Completely incongruous. It doesn’t work either musically or artistically.

Think about what you want to say, then choose then choose the musical archetypes to use to say it. That will resonate with your audience best. If you do this, it really doesn’t matter how fast your fingers can move.