As A Musician, What Is Your Greatest Achivement

[TheSnowStorm]

To all my fellow musicians, during your journey as a musician, as you improved on your skills and earn your right as a true musician, what has been some of your greatest high points, your greatest achivement?

My List

*In 2002, I earn the honor of becoming one of the top ranking and most improved Strings/Orcestral (Violin) studnet at my middle school. I reciveved the "Most Improved Musician" in the Strings department.

*In April of 2005 and 2006, I played the the world famous Fabolus St. Louis Fox Theater with the St. Louis Public Schools!

*This fall, I will have achived ten years of playing the violin!

[prophetik]

in 2004, i became one of three students in NYSSMA (new york state school music association) to have a perfect score over 7 or more auditions, and reached all-state (first chair) for the second time, making me the top-ranked saxophonist overall in the state for the second year in a row.

^that's my musical high point so far. we'll see what grad school brings.

[Sole Signal]

Probably this so far:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGuBguF1Rt0

At the recent Butler game, It was standing room only all the way around the arena with a record crowd (I think like 6,300 or something); the place was loud and the intro sounded darn pretty sweet. :)

[Fishy]

Getting on this course:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonmeister

[Hausdog]

Probably being invited to sing in the high school choir by the music teacher when I was 12.

[Jillian Aversa]

For me, it would probably have to be a tie between singing on Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword (http://www.2kgames.com/civ4/beyondthesword/) in both solo and ensemble context, and winning the Mystic Soundscapes (http://mysticsoundscapes.com/about.asp) Best of 2007 Award for my original song "Hajime." Having Christopher Tin (http://www.christophertin.com/resume.html) as a returning client for my vocal services is a huge honor, too.

I'm hoping my album release next month will help me reach even more successes! :<

[TheSnowStorm]

Probably this so far:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGuBguF1Rt0

At the recent Butler game, It was standing room only all the way around the arena with a record crowd (I think like 6,300 or something); the place was loud and the intro sounded darn pretty sweet. :)

That's a pretty damn great track! 6,000+ in the stands, huh?

[Argle]

In all honesty I ain't done shit. :lol:

[DrumUltimA]

Overall, everyday I'm at Peabody is a huge accomplishment. However, there have been a few more notable ones, such as being the recipient for the Terry Gibbs Jazz Vibraphone scholarship this past year (http://www.pas.org/research/complete/Sept07/0809.pdf)

[Xenon Odyssey]

Probably having my teacher tell me on a daily basis that I'm the best composition student he has, and that I'm setting a pretty high standard for all of the other students to follow.

That and I won a "Best Improvisation" or something award at a festival last year when I was a senior in high school in the jazz ensemble (which totally should have gone to someone else but I ended up winning it).

[Skrypnyk]

Entering CBC's remix the ring contest and being one of the 10 finalists, earing 250 bucks.

Also, making a somewhat well received EP from the small amount or people who downloaded it. (No, I'm not talking about absolute music... (http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=10131))

[Dhsu]

This might sound silly to most of you guys, but I think finally forcing myself to try sequencing music (for kwakfest, of course) was a big step for me. I guess technically it's not my greatest achievement ever, but it's helped a lot to push me out of my comfort zone and bolster my creativity. It's very satisfying to be able to record my musical ideas now instead of just letting them float away like I did before.

[megadave]

Playing an original song live and having people in the audience sing it back to me.

Making kids mosh.

Hitting the high note on Aha's 'Take on me' one time.

Making songs that use chord progressions that I haven't heard before.

[The Pezman]

It will probably be once I get a song posted here.

I haven't done much with music lately..

[1337 1]

While I might not be up there with the big artists, I do come from a family of musicians. I also live in Newcastle, Australia, a place known for its music scene. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newcastle%2C_New_South_Wales#Music)

Even so, I've been able to teach others about music, and I've inspired others to take up music as a hobby. I've been able to get a message across.

Its a cheesy and lame list, but its my cheesy and lame list :)!!

Besides, is all for the fun of it. ^^

[The Damned]

This one time, at band camp...

(I really should find out what the rest of that line is...)

[Arek the Absolute]

Joining the Sacramento Mandarin Drum corp, even if it was just for a little bit.

[Kenobio]

Listening to Star Salzman's "stfu" 74 thousand times.

[The wingless]

For me it's a bunch of little things, since music is more a soothing hobby, than a career path to seize accolades.

-Fanmail is always a tiny accomplishment. No matter how short or... bizarre they may get, they're always little gems of kindness.

-Having somebody who's name escapes me transcribe my "There was a Hole Here" song and having THAT song be played live on youtube

-Having Mounty Oum, the guy that made the Haloid video, use one of my songs in his video.

-Just having people realize who I am once I give out my email address.

-People still dutifully worshipful of me even though I haven't released a song in like... 2, 3 years :/

[Moseph]

Graduating summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Music degree.

Also, this morning I came up with a music analysis idea that involves averaging the location of pitches in a piece of music ... possible thesis material?

[1337 1]

For me it's a bunch of little things, since music is more a soothing hobby, than a career path to seize accolades.

-Fanmail is always a tiny accomplishment. No matter how short or... bizarre they may get, they're always little gems of kindness.


Agreed :P


-Having Mounty Oum, the guy that made the Haloid video, use one of my songs in his video.


...8-O
YOU WERE THE ONE BEHIND IT?!
Very nice!

[prophetik]

This one time, at band camp...

(I really should find out what the rest of that line is...)

i honestly once dated a flutist from band camp, for like months and months and months. no shit.

[Brushfire]

Finishing Rock Band on Guitar on Medium. - 50 Gamerscore

My wife won't lemme play my real drums in the house cause they are really loud

[The Coop]

Getting four mixes on OCR from 2002-2003, and getting my Lunar remix hosted on Lunar-net in 2003. That's about it. No fan mail or videos for me to pimp.

[FlagshipAmadeus]

Did the majority of the composing for the four songs that my band performed in a Battle of the Bands
(although we didn't win...)

[dPaladin]

Man, I don't have any great singular accomplishments. Just a flurry of okay accomplishments.

I did all the homework for my music theory and ear training classes in a day this semester, for example.

[DarkeSword]

Having my Ancient Hero remix used in a bevy of crappy Zelda YouTube videos without any credit given.

[sephfire]

-Fanmail is always a tiny accomplishment. No matter how short or... bizarre they may get, they're always little gems of kindness.

You need to post that particularly insane email conversation again. It was a great laugh the first time you posted it here.

For me, it's this (http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01381/) remix right here. I don't think I'll ever be as proud of a piece of my own music as I am with this. I guess the achievement belongs to pixietricks and GrayLightning for taking my mix to the next level.

I know it's small as achievements go, but I always love getting to collaborate with some of the people here, particularly the ones who dwarf my own skill.

[The Pezman]

Having my Ancient Hero remix used in a bevy of crappy Zelda YouTube videos without any credit given.
...and in Nintendoworld...

[V___]

2 great acheivements:

1. Releasing my first CD last year
2. Recently changing styles from downtempo chill/ambient to hard dance/chunky electro, and getting used to the style very quickly, because I had the patience over the last 2 years to learn about synthesis, compression, etc, things which I persevered with - now THATS satisfaction; when you realize your knowledge is greater than you thought

[Drack]

Making All-State band 4 years. And placing as high as 4th chair.

I play Clarinet.

[OverCoat]

Biggest musical achievement is still this (http://waerloga.com/reviews.htm#tribute). 2004? Fuck. Some other things:

-Getting on OCR twice, both times barely scraping past the judges :D
-Warfreak2's "D:\Remix (http://warfreak2.org.uk/D_ReMiX/)" EP
-Recently, completion of my full length album Garden Art (http://www.archive.org/details.php?identifier=GardenArt) and OverCoat - A Cyberpunk Adventure EP (http://www.archive.org/details/Overcoat-ACyberpunkAdventureEp). I just wish I would get a little more in the way of reviews or feedback.
-Even more recently, an OHC with C64 God Jeroen Tel (http://soundtempest.net/soc/COMPOST72.zip), and then only trailing his win by 2 points (http://soundtempest.net/soc/CompoST72.txt). Then losing the next compo (http://soundtempest.net/soc/COMPOST73.zip) to Nario (http://soundtempest.net/soc/CompoST73.txt) [who actually made a fantastic song]

In general, people have started telling me they enjoy my music, like Mustin came up to me at Magfest 6 and was like "hey I heard your EP, I liked it." I didn't know he knew what I looked like. I'm still definitely not a crowdpleaser, nor do I want to be. I'm... not really used to people complimenting me. :V

[herograw]

-People still dutifully worshipful of me even though I haven't released a song in like... 2, 3 years :/

hey, some songs (http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01048/) just seem to net that kind of eternal gratitude!

Biggest musical achievement is still this (http://waerloga.com/reviews.htm#tribute). 2004? Fuck. Some other things:

-Getting on OCR twice, both times barely scraping past the judges :D
-Warfreak2's "D:\Remix (http://warfreak2.org.uk/D_ReMiX/)" EP
-Recently, completion of my full length album Garden Art (http://www.archive.org/details.php?identifier=GardenArt) and OverCoat - A Cyberpunk Adventure EP (http://www.archive.org/details/Overcoat-ACyberpunkAdventureEp). I just wish I would get a little more in the way of reviews or feedback.
-Even more recently, an OHC with C64 God Jeroen Tel (http://soundtempest.net/soc/COMPOST72.zip), and then only trailing his win by 2 points (http://soundtempest.net/soc/CompoST72.txt). Then losing the next compo (http://soundtempest.net/soc/COMPOST73.zip) to Nario (http://soundtempest.net/soc/CompoST73.txt) [who actually made a fantastic song]

!~soc

[Antipode]

I guess the most "notable" thing I've done is having my music used several times in the background for several segments on a local news channel. That was just indescribable.

My greatest personal achievement though is probably a song I've just finished recently called Fields of Black. I definitely believe it to be the best thing I've ever written, and that's a great feeling. I'll send it out once I've finished the rest of this new album I'm working on (though I believe there's a bit of it in that preview set I mention in my sig).

[John Revoredo]

In creating music, maybe these have been my favourite pieces.
Farewell http://media.putfile.com/Prometheus-Farewell
The Flying Machine http://media.putfile.com/Prometheus-TheFlyingMachine
Six years ago, one of my biggest dreams was to make music like Yasunori Mitsuda or Hiroki Kikuta. Those guys were some sort of gods to me. I think nowadays I'm somewhat close to their awesomeness (and I'd say im a bit further than nearer, because i'm only a hobbyist and not a pro)

Right now Im supposed to be the guy making the OST for Mystery of Albesila http://mysteryofalbesila.deviantart.com/ ... but I'm waiting for an animated script to write some real stuff.
Here's some kind of trailer of the concept art http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD1nRfXyAS8 ... there are more, but the music of the others sucked... it's really old stuff.

Also, it was great to be accepted in Doom: Delta-Q-Delta project, and in some others. I cant wait for them to be released, and see what happens! :D

[benprunty]

Finishing my first game soundtrack, a forty minute epic. Alas, I think the game will be canceled. You can hear a little bit of it on

http://myspace.com/jupitermanmusic

The three bottom songs, the ones from the album "The Regrets of Man"

It was a great learning experience to make an entire soundtrack. I can't wait to work on more.

[Salluz]

I taught myself how to play the keyboard in a short amount of time. I still need practice, but I learned!

[Nutritious]

-Making Regional Honors band my senior year of high school playing 3rd chair saxophone

-Getting a Superior at state for a saxophone solo that same year (even though I was so nervous, I couldn't even draw a full breath; only time in my life that's ever happened)

-Getting a song accepted here (though it won't be posted for a while)

[OA]

Three groupies at once.*











*ok, ok, it was just two. :<

[Leon K.]

This thread makes me QQ.

[prophetik]

lol oa

btw i'm bald as you now

[OA]

hah nice; it's a classy, timeless look, and great for summer :-)

just remember sunscreen if you go outside ;-)

[Barium]

I'd say mine would be winning the World Pipe Band Championships for grade 3B in 2003 (not a very high grade, I know, but we had beaten the band that won in 3A in prior competitions). So damn long ago...it's taking so much time to get back into the groove of all things musical.

[A-RoN]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v669/double_a_ron/cd_cover2.jpg

Go get the album FREE at www.reverbnation.com/aaronparsons (http://www.reverbnation.com/aaronparsons)

Shameless self-plug! :)

[DJ SymBiotiX]

hmm...
1. Releasing a CD and actually breaking even (with a little extra :P)
2. Getting chosen in the top 4 of SGX's 2nd remix album.
3. Fan mail
4. Random ppl using my music in a few youtube videos (w/ credit :P)
5. Random ppl adding me to msn/aim just to say they like my music <3
6. Getting some songs on FFR
7. uhh.. more random stuff like that.

I dont really have a huge accomplishment, but alot of little ones, but that definitely makes me happy :D

[Synchronicity]

I've never submitted to OCR before... at least not yet, but I play music with different people as often as I can at different places but as for a greatest achievement?

Hearing music in your head and then making the music in your head a reality and afterwards sitting back and hearing your creation with all its full movements is definitely a great achievement and is extremely gratifying... every time.

[eternal Zero]

An orchestra I was a part of went on tour in Russia and Finland one summer. It was amazing. I also got to play primary first clarinet in many of the pieces.

[Pushkin]

I've been playing guitar for a little over a year now, and i'm extremely happy with my daily improvment. I've just started learning the solo to stairway to heaven after being told it's not overly difficult. Teaching myself how to play the guitar (with help) has been my greatest and ongoing achievment.

[Groovemaster303]

Writing original music for a various homebrew games including.

Streets of Rage Remake (contributed 5 remixes)
Puzzle Carnival
Callisto
Nanotron

Comments from Richard Jacques, who was impressed by some of my work, that made my year. :razz:

Writing Foce of Light, which right i feel is my personal musical high.

Making a little money out of something i enjoy.

And last but not least the postive comments made by the many fans who enjoy my work both remixes and original, it is very nice to hear them and inspires me to work harder to improve myself constantly.

[Mr. Bottle Rocket]

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=566925

The most "recent album" I made...I really should get back into making music, that shit is fun.
Worked with dance ejay >.<
But some tracks (notably Insanity and Hell's Bass) had some main groove samples of my own creation.

[prophetik]

In the realm of classical music, too much emphasis is detracted from the composer and too much recognition is placed on the performer. None of the known performers do any composition whatsoever
this ain't true. there are a large number of famous performers who have done fantastic arrangements, adaptations, and original compositions that are well known. you saying this tells me that you're a well spoken but musically illiterate person...else you would have remembered liszt, paganini, bach, buxtehude, chopin, debussy...

Technical mastery is impressive, and especially so when carried out flawlessly, but anything that can be acquired through "monkey see, monkey do" should lose its sheen. The secret to technique lies in practice, carrying an oxymoronic connotation of sorts due to the rather simplistic nature of practice and the obvious relevance of its merits. The merits alone point toward the explanation behind practice's existence.
if there's one thing i've learned in college, it's that practice is in no way simplistic and easy. while your statement above says 'you get good by practicing, duh' with a bunch of bling added on to make it look good, you should know that practicing is in no way an easy thing to do. it's possibly one of the most learning to practice was one of the most valuable things i learned at college, in all reality. just because you're technically good doesn't mean that you're truly a good musician.

Strictly speaking in the classical realm, if performers don't compose, then all they have going for them on a musician's level is this laughably esoteric concept they always fall back on in arguments: interpretation. Interpretation is the sole determinant of a performer's depth. Interpretation basically entails three things: rubato, dynamics, and articulation, all at the performer's discretion. Does mastery over the trivialities (another oxymoron) that even infants could comprehend, make them so deserving of our respect? Does respect, garnered through competitions against other classical "musicians" and classical judges, carry any sort of weight or bearing, when classical music is an institution whose very foundation revolves around the ability to emulate rather than create, to be spoonfed skewed musical perceptions of what's right rather than self-realize? This is an industry that whores so much money by producing a jizzfest of knockoffs of the same piece when the only thing differing is this inane concept called interpretation. Training oneself to the point where one can dictate whether Horowitz or Wilhelm Kempff possesses a higher level of interpretation is somewhat like a mental placebo, so to speak.
this entire paragraph is an enormous load of bullshit, fyi. it also proves that your definition of music doesn't extend beyond HOSHIT INSANE GEETAR SOLO because you don't understand that. is the jazz pianist at your school as good as Herbie Hancock because he can comp chords too? of course not, and it's not because of Herbie's insane knowledge of style and his crazy technique. it's because Herbie's got a pocket so deep that a four-year-old could play in it and sound hot. interpretation is one of the most difficult things to really, truly understand for non-musicians because of the depth behind it, just like in an incredibly complex piece of artwork or a beautiful sunset or anything like that. and the fact that you're saying that a performer's ability is determined solely by interpretation is just as wrong. stage presence, interpretation, research skills, and the ability to theorize and execute a musical idea are all important aspects of a performer's ability - while we often laud interpretation because of the fact that it gets the lion's share of the time in the news, those are all just as important. interpretation is by no means trivialities, either - if someone went through to play a really great solo piece and hit every note, but it sounded lifeless and dead, is that a good performance? no! it's the interpretation that MAKES it art, not in spite of it.

That being said, at the end of the day, when I see the passion on Kempff's face while he's playing Beethoven's Third Movement of Moonlight Sonata, or just by hearing what came of Perlman's efforts to commit Paganini's 24 Caprices to audio, I can't help but respect them. The thing is though, I respect Beethoven and Paganini so much more. Perlman is incredible because he's the first person to be able to duplicate the 24 Caprices with enough accuracy to commit them to vinyl, but in the end all he hasn't composed a thing and all he's doing is calling forth an insane amount of pyro-technicality. It's not impressive when a computer plays it through midi, so by the same token it's only sensible that it's not impressive when a human does it, unless you think it's impressive being able to copy a computer (in which case I retract my entire argument and erase my account). If I copied David Blaine's entire act, I'd be called a knockoff and given no attention. If I copied Houdini's entire act, I'd be regarded as a genius because of my ability to mimic his unreal level of showmanship and finesse. If 50 people copied Houdini, we'd all experience what would happen if one person copied David Blaine. Funny thing is, no one bothers to call any classical musician a Beethoven knockoff, or a Chopin knockoff.
more bullshit. you're just writing words with no idea to what they mean. particularly since your first sentence screws with everything you just said. although i think your houdini metaphor raises an interesting question, you're forgetting something. houdini didn't do his act with the idea that people would do it over again. beethoven and wagner and bach and palestrina wrote music to be performed, over and over and over again - and the people we say are fantastic performers are the ones that can do that music EXACTLY as it was in the composer's head.

Most "art" these days is either completely meaningless or completely worthless. We live in a day and age where you can accurately call Stairway to Heaven a great form, the Mona Lisa an incredible song, and a beautiful samurai form a nice portrait. We live in a day and age where shit can pass as art. Art's been tainted by things such as MTV and it's acquired this strange, liberal, and too open-ended global understanding that's completely different than the understandings held by the artists themselves. A three chord song passes of as a genius composition that can top the charts, and you can probably find three paint blobs of contrasting colors in some avant-garde museum in France that's supposed to represent some obscure perception of reality, which is what the seller uses to argue his price of 5,000 euros. Whenever Houdini is as old as Beethoven is now, maybe we'll start seeing what's acceptable or not in the art of deception through a different lens.
don't get me wrong, i agree with you here. society has lost a lot of depth of understanding in the art work in the past few hundred years. that said, i'm a modernist when it comes to artwork. that does not mean, however, that all art nowadays is worthless, or that the art that's been done in previous times is not any good either.

do i understand the point you're attempting to get at? not really - as a performer it doesn't make much sense to depreciate your role. you saying that anyone can do what you do on guitar (which wasn't really all THAT impressive, honestly, learn more than one thing to do with a flat VI chord already) by just repeating endlessly. but you don't have soul when you do that, the spirit of the music is gone when you drill endlessly like that. there's more to a performance than notes and rhythms - and until you understand that (which, it's not a concept that an infant can understand, trust me on that), you really aren't as good as you think you are. in general, no one is, but you definitely aren't.

edit - argument and counterargument: done. let's restrain further posting to the PM box to prevent this thread from getting off-topic.

[Moseph]

edit - argument and counterargument: done. let's restrain further posting to the PM box to prevent this thread from getting off-topic.

Maybe we could start a new thread? I'm interested in seeing where this discussion leads.

[xRisingForce]

Maybe we could start a new thread? I'm interested in seeing where this discussion leads.

The funniest part is that I was just about to delete all that, because it wasn't really relevant to the thread. I guess I can't really delete it now. :|

But that's a really good idea. Could we get a moderator to move it, or would it be too arrogant of an underling like me to PM a request to one of them?

[Less Ashamed Of Self]

-Being a decent contributor to PRC winning twice and coming close many times: covering as many genres as possible like fusion, polka, piano solo, orchestral, rock, rap, blues, techno, and my favourite of all: musical theatre.

-Arranging beware of the forest mushrooms for my guitar ensemble in high school. It never came together because I wrote too much in high ranges for the lead melody (14th-16th frets range on classical guitars) but they got the sheet music and we gave it a shot.

-Performing the, inarguably most innovative/highest quality... artistic... abstract... whatever the project was in guitar class.

We were supposed to find unique ways to make new sounds with the guitar. Mine included pens and chopsticks and lasted about 8 minutes but people stood and applauded at the end. Wish I had a video.

[xRisingForce]

this ain't true. there are a large number of famous performers who have done fantastic arrangements, adaptations, and original compositions that are well known. you saying this tells me that you're a well spoken but musically illiterate person...else you would have remembered liszt, paganini, bach, buxtehude, chopin, debussy...

I definitely know all of them, and I'm glad you know them too. They're really great composers. Kinda why I didn't include them in my argument against musicians that stick to exclusively performing (which include most of, if not all, members of most philharmonics for example). Paganini's a rather special case, because he was probably more known for his electrifying performances and showmanship than his amazing compositions (which are amazing beyond a doubt, but his ability to write polyphonic music is questionable and if he can't graduate beyond writing single-line violin pieces.. he sorta loses some of his grandness.) And I also recognize that all of these composers are performers, but I thought it was just kinda understood that a composer be able to perform his own works. The inverse isn't true, however, which was kinda my initial point.


if there's one thing i've learned in college, it's that practice is in no way simplistic and easy. while your statement above says 'you get good by practicing, duh' with a bunch of bling added on to make it look good, you should know that practicing is in no way an easy thing to do. it's possibly one of the most learning to practice was one of the most valuable things i learned at college, in all reality. just because you're technically good doesn't mean that you're truly a good musician.

You're preaching to the choir dawg, I couldn't give two shits less about how fast someone is. On top of just playing fast, I listen to how it's used (whether its for its own sake or whether it serves to make a good melody), and I listen for an "organicness", to see whether or not that speed was something innate or acquired artificially (i.e. drilling dumb speed exercises to a metronome for hours on end). That "organic" characteristic usually shows itself in the quality of an artist's composition anyways, and I'm pretty sure they're two sides of the same coin. You do get good by practicing, and it looks like you agree with me. We just differ in the ease of doing it. Ever hear, "Practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect?" Well I definitely stand by that. The only thing you can build on a crooked foundation is an unstable building. But I think practice starts and ends with technique, and only serves to further technique. You don't learn how to better interpret a piece by practicing it, that's a result of either the teacher telling you that the Moonlight Sonatas are supposed to be played in quicker and quicker succession, or you realizing it on your own. Technique is all about expressing a phrase the most efficiently, kinda like how I wouldn't downpick an entire arpeggio if I had sweep picking at my disposal.. but I don't think I would be any better off in that regard (or any, really) if I had a teacher. You'd have to be pretty short of just retarded to try and downpick and Yngwie song or try and play Fantasie Impromptu with just four fingers. In the end, technique is just a means of efficiency.

The catch is, I've never practiced a day in my life, at least by conventional means. Practice entails repetition; I hate just the thought of wasting my time in front of some stupid exercise book. I just play a lot, or at least, I used to, and that was the easiest thing in the world. What you guys do, cooped up in small practice rooms playing songs you probably don't even want to play and having to perfect them over the course of several months, yeah, that's tons of work, grueling work that I'd hate to be doing. So, kudos, I guess. I kinda wish I'd played more when I had the chance, because for playing for four years I'm not really where I want to be. I'd agree with anyone that a lot of my licks are sloppy.


this entire paragraph is an enormous load of bullshit, fyi. it also proves that your definition of music doesn't extend beyond HOSHIT INSANE GEETAR SOLO because you don't understand that. is the jazz pianist at your school as good as Herbie Hancock because he can comp chords too? of course not, and it's not because of Herbie's insane knowledge of style and his crazy technique. it's because Herbie's got a pocket so deep that a four-year-old could play in it and sound hot. interpretation is one of the most difficult things to really, truly understand for non-musicians because of the depth behind it, just like in an incredibly complex piece of artwork or a beautiful sunset or anything like that. and the fact that you're saying that a performer's ability is determined solely by interpretation is just as wrong. stage presence, interpretation, research skills, and the ability to theorize and execute a musical idea are all important aspects of a performer's ability - while we often laud interpretation because of the fact that it gets the lion's share of the time in the news, those are all just as important.

Wow. Just wow. Look at yourself man, what do you know about me and how dare you make these presumptuous claims about how I view music. Yngwie, out of 260 artists in my music library, is the only guitar driven artist I have. I mean I could just stop there. Seriously.

Aside from that, let me clarify my definitions to you such that they're beyond a shadow of a doubt. Composer: one who composes. Performer: one who performs. LOL. Nowhere in there did I mean for you to take any implication of live performance. I guess I can understand the misconception, but I'm not going to call the performer a player, because that'd sound stupid. However, someone who merely plays and doesn't compose is what I originally meant by "performer." Music is an auditory art, so I'm talking from a purely auditory perspective. As for the Herbie Hancock remark, I completely agree, but I respect him for his ability to compose. I've never seen the dude live, I could care less what his stage presence is like. Tell me, why do you go to concerts? To see whoever's playing, right? Exactly- the appeal of concerts lies in the visual, not the auditory. Capturing the audience's attention makes you a good entertainer, not a good composer. My whole argument here is that people who just play others' works suck, so however well one's stage presence may be is somewhat irrelevant, because in the end he still hasn't composed a thing. The audio for live shows sucks more often than not anyway, because there're the acoustics of the venue to account for, as well as a shitton of reverb and soundwave bleeding. Not to mention the balance is always geared to favor the guitarist, but everything's so loud it just ends up sounding like someone puking.

About theorizing and executing musical ideas- tell me, do you do any original thinking, or do you just regurgitate what your teacher tells you? I'm pretty sure you just play your pieces for him or her and you get corrected and taught what's "right". It doesn't seem like there's any theorizing or anything musical about institutional education, whatever song you're playing, the hardest part's already been taken care of. And I doubt anyone would be stupid enough to argue that interpreting any of the legendary classical pieces would be harder than it was for them to compose the pieces. You've got composing taken care of, and your teacher to spoon feed you the interpretation. I really don't get what the hard part is.

Your comment on research skills caught my interest. Could you give me an example of what type of research you've done to perform a piece, and why?


interpretation is by no means trivialities, either - if someone went through to play a really great solo piece and hit every note, but it sounded lifeless and dead, is that a good performance? no! it's the interpretation that MAKES it art, not in spite of it.

Well duh. But don't think you deserve a pat on the back just because you're able to play a piece back with emotion. Any musician with sense of emotion should be able to do that. There are millions of people who've played Beethoven, but there's only been one Beethoven. Out of those millions, whom have had the creative capacity to actually, I dunno, CREATE, rather than emulate?


more bullshit. you're just writing words with no idea to what they mean. particularly since your first sentence screws with everything you just said. although i think your houdini metaphor raises an interesting question, you're forgetting something. houdini didn't do his act with the idea that people would do it over again. beethoven and wagner and bach and palestrina wrote music to be performed, over and over and over again - and the people we say are fantastic performers are the ones that can do that music EXACTLY as it was in the composer's head.

Stop being so dense. I can respect Horowitz and Perlman as amazing human beings, and as amazing performers. But being a performer doesn't carry nearly the connotation nor amount of respect I have for the composer. It doesn't matter if Beethoven wanted his pieces to be played by others, the fact that he wrote it still remains in stone. I mean I play Beethoven from time to time and I'm a shitty pianist, but I don't think he's greater than I just because I'm shitty. I think he's greater than me because he can compose with an air of greatness far more than what I could hope to even dream of. Pieces are meant to express yourself, and there's a definite ulterior goal to strive for: recognition and appreciation. Just like a chef cooks food that's meant to be eaten. But how could anyone respect the consumer on any level even remotely close to the source just because he's able to stomach what's put on his plate?


don't get me wrong, i agree with you here. society has lost a lot of depth of understanding in the art work in the past few hundred years. that said, i'm a modernist when it comes to artwork. that does not mean, however, that all art nowadays is worthless, or that the art that's been done in previous times is not any good either.

Definitely. Art is timeless. Judging a piece's quality by it's spot in time's just as narrow-minded as prejudging a piece based on its genre.


do i understand the point you're attempting to get at? not really - as a performer it doesn't make much sense to depreciate your role. you saying that anyone can do what you do on guitar (which wasn't really all THAT impressive, honestly, learn more than one thing to do with a flat VI chord already) by just repeating endlessly. but you don't have soul when you do that, the spirit of the music is gone when you drill endlessly like that. there's more to a performance than notes and rhythms - and until you understand that (which, it's not a concept that an infant can understand, trust me on that), you really aren't as good as you think you are. in general, no one is, but you definitely aren't.

edit - argument and counterargument: done. let's restrain further posting to the PM box to prevent this thread from getting off-topic.

I never said that anyone could do what I did on a guitar, but I'm not denying it. Technically speaking, it's not really impressive at all, but technique in general's lost it's flair to me anyway. If you could read a little better, you might've even caught this!

8O8O

99% of the time I'm second guessing myself. I'm almost never happy with where I am musically.

8-O8-O


(which wasn't really all THAT impressive, honestly, learn more than one thing to do with a flat VI chord already)

You're probably referring to the jazz video, right? You've seen one of my videos, and you make this retardedly ignorant assumption about my guitar playing. Christ, and I thought I was narrow-minded at times.


but you don't have soul when you do that, the spirit of the music is gone when you drill endlessly like that. there's more to a performance than notes and rhythms

I'm guessing you hate Yngwie J. Malmsteen? I think I could've done a better job on note choice at the end solo, but for the most part I didn't play a note that I didn't want to or think wouldn't fit. I mean I'm not a purist of any genre, so I guess I should apologize to all jazz musicians for using distortion and a whammy bar. I know there's more than notes and rhythms, and you're probably going to say, "The WAY you play the note." I've heard that about a thousand times, and then some. I kind of hate how teachers have to be so cryptic, but I can't really blame them since that's probably how they were taught anyway. What goes in goes out, there's no magical quality to it. The WAY one hits a note is the same thing as breaking it down into timing, clarity/articulation, and dynamics. There's nothing else to it really.

P.S.: Also, don't rag on me for my style man. I know you're not out of ammunition so don't stoop to that level- you don't need it. I'm not going to apologize for not dressing like a token videogame fan. At the end of the night, does my choice to wear a ring or a watch affect you in any small degree of significance?

[John Revoredo]

Mmmm.. taking part on this xRisingForcex VS Prophet of Mephisto argument, I have to stand on RisingForce's side.

Performers are truly overrated. The fact that you see the music coming throught them, sometimes makes people think they made that music, when they actually did not. The amount of musical elements you can control in a piece as a performer are LIMITED, VERY LIMITED, and normally you have to stick strictly to the damn paper, playing exactly all the notes written on it.

The strict, musical-school-taught performers are extremely overrated. They just do what is in the paper. If they do an arrangement of the piece, cool, is their life... but when they play the piece the way it is, they're just playing what someone else thought once. Let's get a cool methaphor.
A composer is someone who creates a cool, catchy phrase.
For example:
"The mass of a body is a measure of its energy content. " - Albert Einstein.

If I now repeat the phrase, I will become an interpreter of it (and not it's composer). Since my voice sucks I will be a bad interpreter of it. But, give the phrase to someone with a cool voice and a cool image... imagine Bruce Willis saying
"The mass of a body is a measure of its energy content. "
Okay,.. sounds cooler because of the voice, but the message is STILL THE SAME . Bruce Willis NEVER discovered that E = M*C^2 , he just said the damn phrase

To be a music-college performer, you need technique and MECHANICAL TRAINING... Just moving the fingers... over and over.. practice the movement,.. get speed. It's really a lot of work, but it's not the intelligent training Prophet of Mephisto says.

I've spent 8 years learning piano in a music college, and got highest marks, but i stopped because i was bored and i was sick of playing someone else's pieces.

Jazz performers are different. A jazz piece is an excuse for interpretation, creating a whole world from 5 or 6 pentagrams. A jazz partiture is, in some way an attemp to create an "organised improvisation". Jazz musicians are on the border of composition, so... they're not really overrated. They almost create from very few notes that are written on the pentagrams.

To be a jazz performer, you need INTELLIGENT training... specially like playing with bands and such.

I realised that a couple of months ago, when i started learning jazz. Still , I havent got a band, but im trying to figure out some stuff to practice.

But... WTF?... I think you guys should create a thread in the forum and keep discussing this there.

[prophetik]

being a composer myself, i can tell you that while composition is hard - really hard - performing is more so because as a composer, you have an eraser.

as for research, as a vocalist i never perform a piece before i learn what it's about, and what the composer was into when he wrote it. as a saxophonist, it's the same way. i recently did a piece called Tableaux de Provence on my senior recital. had i not researched it, i wouldn't have known that it was a tribute of sorts to Maurice's time in Provence, France, or that the name (in a slightly obscure dialect of french) means Pictures of Provence, or that each movement was inspired by a unique experience that she had there. THAT makes for a much different performance. just being able to play a piece isn't enough - you've gotta be able to go back and say, 'this is why i did this, and this'.

and by the way, most performers don't have teachers to tell them what to do where on a piece. i haven't had a teacher actually tell me what to do somewhere on a piece in months and months and months. i do my own research, my own listening, and my own studying of the piece.

that's all i'm going to say regarding this argument. if anyone wants to start a thread, that's fine - just link me there. but i'm not going to continue to post.

[megadave]

I don't hate the extreme, over-the-top musicianship approach. If you want to play a 3-minute high-speed solo, then go ahead. I actually like to hear Steve Vai, Van Halen, and Dragonforce when the mood strikes me. The thing is, it seems that most of the people who are into that are musicians themselves. That's fine with me. The problem is when the same people start pulling out the musicianship ruler and gaging the musical penises of other musicians. That's ridiculous. It's also ridiculous when musicians from different genres knock each other. I play in a hard rock band (although it's of the catchy hook-based kind), and I've played with hardcore and death metal musicians who've just ripped us apart for no apparent reason other than that are songs have choruses and words that may appeal to the popular crowd (gasp!). I've also run into a lot of scene kids who knock on metal and hard rock because it's "corny" and "cliched".

It's the haters I hate. Okay, I will say that I get sick of the mediocre rock out there, such as the bands that sound like Nickelback, Staind, etc.

My personal approach, as a guitarist and songwriter, is to make catchy songs that "sound good" but still convey meaning and originality. Also, being the only guitarist in my outfit, I like to support the song as well as the other musicians, not overpower it with tons of solos and trickery. I try to bridge the gap between what I enjoy and what others enjoy while employing my own style.

This is my approach, and I don't expect other musicians to go by it. Some people play to make themselves feel good, some do it to push the boundaries of musicianship, some to it for the sake of going against the status quo, etc. Whatever works.

The important thing is that we get along and don't knock each other for our different approaches. Musicians need to respect each other instead of act like 5-year-olds.

[The Insane Rocker]

As a musician...well, I got a 1 on my vocal solo when I was in high school my senior year...I brought down the house with an acoustic version of Staind's Epiphany for a pops concert...and I'm moving to Canada soon to join a rock band. Yeah, I'd say I'm doing pretty well.

My best personal achievement is hitting an F#. I can actually go a little higher than that now, I think, but doing my best James LaBrie impersonation is still a lot of fun for me. YouTube Dream Theater's Learning To Live F# to see what I'm talking about.

[bobsideways]

And now, back to the thread..... :)

I've been in music for a lot of my life, but the greatest achievement came with a small local choir in my area. A few years ago they were invited to go sing in Carnegie, which was awesome, but I wasn't able to go with them (money and all). The coolest thing, though, is due to that they were invited to go to Austria the next year to sing in Mozart's 250th birthday celebration.

I couldn't pass that one up. The trip was awesome. I have to say, for a musician who isn't very far along and who lives smack in the middle of the US, to be able to sing through Salzburg and the hub of all music, Vienna, it was sweet. I'm hoping to go back someday. I wanna do it again!

[Nicholestien]

*most music made without playing an instrument.

[bucky o'hare]

getting to join one of my favorite bands was a personal highlight, and performing on their final album.

having an article in spin magazine

I've done some traveling with bands but have yet to play outside the country or tour for longer than two and a half weeks, and those are both things I'd like to do sometime.

[mr.wholesome]

I made a song about my Cat. Jack.
It suits him well. makes me smile.

[Monobrow]

When I Actually Finish A Song

[Gorgonian14]

First chair trombone at all-state in high school my senior year and taking a decimated high school band program over as director and 5 years later making straight first division ratings at district concert contest for the first time in the school's entire history.

I'm quite proud of both.

[SkyMarshall Arts]

Actually finishing a song you know is your own, and having people respond positive to it.