Where is human in music?
What is Music?
'An art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony and colour.'
At least this is what is stated in the dictionary. For many of us music is a very important part of our life, everyday life. We use it to express ourselves, to calm ourselves down or to make our body feel energised and alive. We use it to bring up memories from the past and to plan our future, to stretch our dreams not just beyond possible but probably beyond impossible. We like people who have similar music taste and we do not want to say out loud what we think about people on the opposite side of the spectrum. In conclusion we can say music is a very important factor of human life, and even if we do not realise it music has always changed history and helped shape the future.
There is no secret that music have been through a lot in the past decades, which is a pure consequence of what the human kind have been through. It developed in many different directions and through the media became as accessible as never before. But is it true?
Yes we can access music, or at least final product of it, quickly and for a very small price. Click, type, click play, here you go. You just got access to 87% of existent music products, varying though hundreds different genres and artists. Of course that is a huge bonus, no one will argue about that. We also became fussier, because the quality of the recordings and their computer corrections is as good as it has never been before which means with a bit of tiny corrections everyone can sound beautiful and interesting, and what we usually say in music, talented.
Here is another interesting word, talented. What does that mean? I could copy one of the dictionary explanation again but here I will allow myself to make it my own. We would usually describe someone as talented at certain subject, when they learn it in a faster way then the average population. In music that may be translated as someone having a very good connection between what they hear and their vocal response, very good coordination between hands, fast fingers, amazing stamina etc. Problem that musicians are coming across in the recent past is that there is someone who is better then anyone in the above written skills. Let me give you a bit of a hint, it starts with C and is definitely one of the main rulers of modern world (for all the cat lovers here I will need to disappoint you, it is not what you think).
Musicians especially classical ones, have a love-hate relationship with computers and all the options they offer. The hate usually comes from the side that you will never be as precised as a computer programme with your pitch but the love comes from all the hope and motivation we get from all already existent material. More and more young people gives up on music because they are not talented enough. Talented enough for what? Being perfectly in tune all the time, having an inner pulse of a metronome and never having a bad sound day is not humanly possible. And taking away the joy and benefits of creating music for yourself (as professional or as an amateur) is not worth it because you will never be as good as someone's youtube recording (with or without 'music photoshop').
This is maybe why I would say the biggest talent of them all is to be okay with being human and being humble enough to understand the music. To understand that music has never been in the history of all time meant to be perfect, it was a human response to the world, nature, life, people, everything around us. And it does not matter if you are a passive music listener or a very active music maker and performer, keeping music human in a less and less human world is crucial and it will become even more so in the generations to come.
