RE: tradition

From: Dan Gutwein (dfgutw@prodigy.net)
Date: Sun Jan 13 2002 - 09:23:54 PST


I've been debating about getting involved in the discussion of
"musical taste", especially since I'm involved in a profession that,
in the minds of most people, is about teaching "great" music. But,
with this email list I feel freer about speaking from the heart
rather than from a "politically correct" perspective (i.e. every
musical activity is equally worthwhile because every human is equally
valuable). Music means more to me than the sensual experience of
figuratively or literally bathing or dancing in vibrating air. Its
meaning for me is inextricably linked to being actively aware of and
engaged in using set of skills and concepts that have taken hundreds
if not thousands of years to evolve and develop. Skill-sets and
concepts that require my concentration and discipline in order to
use, and to which countless numbers of practitioners over the
centuries have dedicated their lives. When a person engages in an
activity that is this rich for both mind and body, it not only
produces a strong sense of connectedness to history in the person,
but the challenge and discipline of acquiring the skill-set produces
"Flow" for the person (i.e. the book "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal
Experience", by Mihaly Cskszentmihalyi (1990) Harper Collins). Being
in "flow" is healing -- not because the music experienced or produced
is "good music" -- but because of the self-enriching and centering
experience created by the concentration required. There are many
musics throughout the world that are this rich and deep (classical
music of almost every tradition as well as popular musics such as
jazz and bluegrass) . There are also many types of music throughout
the world (especially in the pop-culture of the West) that produce
little "flow", and instead produce the kind of psychological anxiety
that watching too much TV produces. For me, I play and listen to
shakuhachi, John Coltrane, Bach, Schoenberg, Paul Lansky
(computer-music) etc. because I want to enter into the form of
"active flow" described above. So, rather than asking "Is a
particular musical-object meritorious?", shouldn't we really be
asking "How deeply and actively am I committed to and engaged in the
musical act?"

>While I enjoy immensely the traditional shakuhachi music and feel it truly
>is a healing experience, I also feel that "pop shakuhachi" music like John
>Neptune's Take Dake is quite pleasant. While I have trouble listening to
>some "techno" music (especially if it is fast paced) or hard rock, I feel
>that is a matter of personal taste.... after all, I happen to love
>traditional bluegrass music and I know of at least a few people who do not
>share my love of Emmylou Harris. ;*) And I'm sure that my love of pygmy
>music is an acquired taste as well... ;*)
>
>
>Brett "Bud" Breitwieser ( bud@zenbud.com <mailto:bud@zenbud.com> )
>please visit my zen site at http://zenbud.com
>zen hermit mailing list: http://www.coollist.com/group.cgi?l=zenhermit
>
>Impermanence:
>"To what shall
>I liken the world?
>Moonlight, reflected
>In dewdrops,
>Shaken from a crane's bill."
> -Dogen-Zenji
>
>
>
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Mark Miller [mailto:markm@naropa.edu]
>> Sent: Friday, January 11, 2002 1:39 PM
>> To: Stav Tapuch
>> Cc: shakahuna@yahoo.com; shakuhachi@weber.ucsd.edu
>> Subject: Re: tradition
>>
>>
>> Stav,
>>
>> My turn to rant...
>>
>> I know what you mean by "traditional" music, but what do you
>> mean by the word
>> "authentic"?
>>
>> I think music that honestly reflects and directly communicates
>> the experience of
>> the musician would have to be called "authentic". Although hip
>> hop and rap
>> continue to be co-opted by the likes of Time Warner, they began
>> as the very
>> powerful and original artistic voice of a neglected cultural
>> subgroup, made by
>> musicians who relied "on their own creative capacities". It is
>> (or at least it
>> was) very authentic!
>>
>> While I tend to agree with you about techno, there is creativity
>> in that music,
>> also. It seems to me that we can't have it both ways. How can
>> we expect others
>> to be open-minded about honkyoku music while we maintain an
>> intolerance of other
>> musical forms such as rap or techno?
>>
>> As shakuhachi players, we should promote an attitude of openness,
>> tolerance and
>> exploration, thereby making the world safe for all neglected
>> forms, including
>> our own. We can celebrate the richness of the banquet even if we
>> don't partake
>> of every dish.
>>
>> I agree, this has been an interesting thread!
>>
>> Mark Miller
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Stav Tapuch wrote:
>>
>> > What an intresting conversation! It has been a pleasure to read
>> all of these
>> > perspectives. Of course these themes connect to much larger
>> issues beyond
>> > that of the shakuhachi and the classical arts in Japan.
>> >
>> > I am of the opinion that the arts that are popular at a
>> particular moment of
>> > time are reflctive of the mood and psychological mind set of its host
>> > country. I find it fascinating, and deeply disturbing, that
>> youth all over
>> > the world love techno 'music' - probably the biggest artistic crime the
>> > world has ever known. To sit in a bar or cafe with friends I am often
>> > forced to endure the endless mindless thump, thump, thumping of techno
>> > "music" that is deviod of even the slighest hint of grace and
>> beauty. Why,
>> > why why would people listen to techno in a world that has
>> produced Bach? And
>> > when I say techno, you can throw in rap, hip-hop and 98% of its other
>> > twisted, ill-begotten kin.
>> >
>> > And so in Japan the people grow disdainful for their nation's
>> most precious
>> > cultural fruits, and instead wait in line to buy CDs of N'Sync
>> and The Back
>> > Street Boys. Very sad. This is the ugly side of globalism - the
>> > destruction of non-mass producable culture. When the powers of
>> the world
>> > mixes us all up, we inevitably sink to the lowest common denominator.
>> >
>> > And likewise this also connects to the "surgance" of shakuhachi
>> in the west
>> > - which is not really a rise, but an appearance. In the US- a
>> country more
>> > characterized by the mass production of culture - including
>> fashion, music,
>> > literature, art, even speech patterns, expressions and sense of
>> humor - than
>> > any other country -there is a small minority of people who crave the
>> > authentic, and the traditional. People who are moved by a cultural
>> > tradition that goes back farther than the previous meeting of
>> the marketing
>> > execs of Time / Warner / AOL.
>> >
>> > I read the other day about why John Walker was moved to seek
>> out a school to
>> > study 'true 'Islam - he claimed that he was searching for something
>> > "authentic." There are a lot of Americans who can understand
>> that feeling
>> > -but who obviously have a more active moral compass - who are finding
>> > authenticity by relying on their own creative capacities as
>> opposed to just
>> > depending on television, mass produced music and block buster video to
>> > provide for the cultural and spiritual content of their lives.
>> >
>> > Sorry for the rant - but these were the associations that this
>> conversation
>> > brougt up.
>> >
>> > _________________________________________________________________
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>>



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