Musician
For a couple years now I have been getting together with a group of friends from work to play music. It all started when C decided to learn guitar. I played piano, C played guitar, and V sang. We weren't amazing but overall it sounded pretty good. As time went on, others joined the group for some impromptu music making.
Now, the group has grown to upwards of 10 people -- usually not all at once -- and includes instruments like piano, guitar, drums, synthesizer, and saxophone. We have 4 vocalists who take turns or join each other. It is quite an impressive group and there is a ton of potential. But, despite all of this, I still prefer the old group.
The interesting thing about playing music is that it involves a lot of listening. In order to sound good, there has to be some coordination between the members of the music group. Modern music seems to favor effects and post-processing, which is all fine and good, but still everything is very carefully layered. I think this is kind of lacking in our group.
The tough part about rehearsals is that everyone wants to hear what they are playing/singing. The more people you add, the louder it gets and the harder it is to distinguish what is happening. This is an unfortunate phenomenon because I think everyone recognizes that, if the music were being produced, certain tracks would be louder at certain times and nobody would be loud all of the time. But, then it is harder to hear when playing live! So the natural tendency is to just play loud all the time.
I remember sitting in the room listening to this and thinking, "My god, we have so much potential but this just sounds awful". I couldn't hear what I was playing. Maybe it just wasn't clear that everyone needed to take turns being loud. After a couple sessions of this, it seemed like I was wasting my time. I decided it would be better if I just took a couple weeks off. Artistic differences.
So my comment is that musicians should spend more time listening and less time playing. Anyone who has played in a music group should know this. A lot of the people in our group haven't had this experience, unfortunately. I have played in several orchestras, and it was critical to listen to other people for cues and style. I also played solo viola for many years, and it was critical to listen to myself for tone and pitch. Most musicians get better by listening to other people.
Now, the group has grown to upwards of 10 people -- usually not all at once -- and includes instruments like piano, guitar, drums, synthesizer, and saxophone. We have 4 vocalists who take turns or join each other. It is quite an impressive group and there is a ton of potential. But, despite all of this, I still prefer the old group.
The interesting thing about playing music is that it involves a lot of listening. In order to sound good, there has to be some coordination between the members of the music group. Modern music seems to favor effects and post-processing, which is all fine and good, but still everything is very carefully layered. I think this is kind of lacking in our group.
The tough part about rehearsals is that everyone wants to hear what they are playing/singing. The more people you add, the louder it gets and the harder it is to distinguish what is happening. This is an unfortunate phenomenon because I think everyone recognizes that, if the music were being produced, certain tracks would be louder at certain times and nobody would be loud all of the time. But, then it is harder to hear when playing live! So the natural tendency is to just play loud all the time.
I remember sitting in the room listening to this and thinking, "My god, we have so much potential but this just sounds awful". I couldn't hear what I was playing. Maybe it just wasn't clear that everyone needed to take turns being loud. After a couple sessions of this, it seemed like I was wasting my time. I decided it would be better if I just took a couple weeks off. Artistic differences.
So my comment is that musicians should spend more time listening and less time playing. Anyone who has played in a music group should know this. A lot of the people in our group haven't had this experience, unfortunately. I have played in several orchestras, and it was critical to listen to other people for cues and style. I also played solo viola for many years, and it was critical to listen to myself for tone and pitch. Most musicians get better by listening to other people.