Truth be told I am struggling with a terrible writer's block the past few days. Even with the guitar I am not getting anything new. To most people, music seems like a hobby for the lazy and not a profession. They don’t understand that it is a profession and a very demanding one as well. It squeezes the soul , it butchers the body, and the artist remains naked and beaten in front of an audience. The fact that we all learn music in school and maybe even know how to play a chord or two on the guitar or the piano, and the fact that we all listen to music and sometimes even sing with it, has given public access to the art of music, but at the same time we've bastardized it and executed it in Karaoke parties.
Yes Yes Karaoke killed the music and it is your fault for not stopping them, while your girl-friends were drunk and decided to sing Anouk, because they are nobody’s wife. This bestial act
of karaoke that happens at the bar or club; mind, honor and shame are vague under the cloud of alcohol, with a screen of cheap background and lyrics and cheap synth music that accompanies it, as they all descend to the underworld. I have no problem with them singing out of tune and I have no problem with the proficiency. I do have a problem with the contempt towards music, displayed by the participants. "What? they’re just enjoying themselves, what’s your problem?" How many times have I heard this line. Some people like stoning, hunting, massacring and gang raping, and all those are still legal in certain countries, just to remind you. I do not see social gatherings around alcohol to play doctors, engineers, crane operators, and truck drivers, honorable professions all around. Think about it for a moment, what will really be the difference? Everyone will be drunk and will play in another capacity for a few minutes and all of us will clap and cheer him up. Imagine Doctoroke, every Tuesday in your local bar. Symptoms will appear on the screen and the drunks will have to guess what illness is it. Or every Wednesday you could go to the bar next to the harbor and unload containers from a truck, to the cheering of the crowd. For some reason I don’t see these happening, as if they are more important or not fun, and I would beg the differ.
Most people don’t understand how much hard work it is to be a working musician. It starts with many years of learning and training, well over 3-4 years that are needed to get a profession in most countries. I have not encountered a working musician who has less than 10 years of playing and learning. I’ll continue by adding that a live show can be likened to a session with a psychologist before an audience when the patient’s naked and the audience examines every detail of his body and his words. Most musicians just got to have alcohol and drugs to cope with life. To play on the stage for an hour or two, drains the musician of every bit of energy he has, and the heat from the light on stage will finish the job and vaporize him slowly. If you look at the touring schedule of a working band, you will see that it is more intense and packed than any other team of professional football or basketball. Pearl Jam, playing for over twenty years now, are having shows at least twice a week and even four times a week on their current tour which will end in August. In their early years, they played over 100 concerts in one year while in every performance giving their soul and all their energy. And as the show was finished they headed to the next destination. Pearl Jam are just an example here, all working bands share the same workload. Have no doubt, there are musicians who are all talk and are not willing to work hard, and they must be condemned, because they give us all a bad name and kill the music for all of us.
My solution is; first of all, illegalize karaoke. The mob wants to sing? Let it go on open stage night. They don’t have to play, they can sing with an awesome covers band.
And now I turn to you musicians, everything depends on us, if we go on stage and not give the audience a real experience, they will remain in their minds that music is merely a hobby, and the music that we love will die. We owe music, the audience and ourselves to give it all heart and soul, and with all power take the audience where the music takes us, take them high, crush them down and leave a mark. Or we could just be Jazz players.
Yes Yes Karaoke killed the music and it is your fault for not stopping them, while your girl-friends were drunk and decided to sing Anouk, because they are nobody’s wife. This bestial act
of karaoke that happens at the bar or club; mind, honor and shame are vague under the cloud of alcohol, with a screen of cheap background and lyrics and cheap synth music that accompanies it, as they all descend to the underworld. I have no problem with them singing out of tune and I have no problem with the proficiency. I do have a problem with the contempt towards music, displayed by the participants. "What? they’re just enjoying themselves, what’s your problem?" How many times have I heard this line. Some people like stoning, hunting, massacring and gang raping, and all those are still legal in certain countries, just to remind you. I do not see social gatherings around alcohol to play doctors, engineers, crane operators, and truck drivers, honorable professions all around. Think about it for a moment, what will really be the difference? Everyone will be drunk and will play in another capacity for a few minutes and all of us will clap and cheer him up. Imagine Doctoroke, every Tuesday in your local bar. Symptoms will appear on the screen and the drunks will have to guess what illness is it. Or every Wednesday you could go to the bar next to the harbor and unload containers from a truck, to the cheering of the crowd. For some reason I don’t see these happening, as if they are more important or not fun, and I would beg the differ.
Most people don’t understand how much hard work it is to be a working musician. It starts with many years of learning and training, well over 3-4 years that are needed to get a profession in most countries. I have not encountered a working musician who has less than 10 years of playing and learning. I’ll continue by adding that a live show can be likened to a session with a psychologist before an audience when the patient’s naked and the audience examines every detail of his body and his words. Most musicians just got to have alcohol and drugs to cope with life. To play on the stage for an hour or two, drains the musician of every bit of energy he has, and the heat from the light on stage will finish the job and vaporize him slowly. If you look at the touring schedule of a working band, you will see that it is more intense and packed than any other team of professional football or basketball. Pearl Jam, playing for over twenty years now, are having shows at least twice a week and even four times a week on their current tour which will end in August. In their early years, they played over 100 concerts in one year while in every performance giving their soul and all their energy. And as the show was finished they headed to the next destination. Pearl Jam are just an example here, all working bands share the same workload. Have no doubt, there are musicians who are all talk and are not willing to work hard, and they must be condemned, because they give us all a bad name and kill the music for all of us.
My solution is; first of all, illegalize karaoke. The mob wants to sing? Let it go on open stage night. They don’t have to play, they can sing with an awesome covers band.
And now I turn to you musicians, everything depends on us, if we go on stage and not give the audience a real experience, they will remain in their minds that music is merely a hobby, and the music that we love will die. We owe music, the audience and ourselves to give it all heart and soul, and with all power take the audience where the music takes us, take them high, crush them down and leave a mark. Or we could just be Jazz players.