FW: [Dixielandjazz] Why Americans Don't Like Jazz

[James Kashishian]

Quote:
The American culture is so visually dominant that given a piece of music
without anything visual associated with it, most people's eyes wander around
nervously, just like the way a nervous speaker doesn't know what to do with
his hands. In the USA, music cannot stand on its own. It must tag along with
something visual. Otherwise, people would not know what to do with it.

My remarks..........

I think it is silly to isolate this particular problem to one country, and
to blame it on the level of culture.  It is not an isolated problem, but a
general problem.  In fact, I wouldn't actually describe it as a problem,
rather just a state of the way things are.

One of my favourite sayings has always been that people first listen to
music with their eyes!  The common person, the person in the street, has not
trained his/hers ears to the point of being able to rely solely on one
sense, but must rely on at least two senses to decide if they like something
or not.

Unfortunately, the commercial music world has caught on to that fact, and
recorded music is generally supported by visual content these days.  Much of
modern day music is turning to rhythm based music which is actually just
supporting the visuals that are happening. This, of course, is what we older
folks complain about...the lack of melody, chord changes, etc.  They don't
really need all of that, as the combination of rhythm and movement satisfies
the customer, so to speak.

We, as performers, use our visual side to attract an audience (our stage
appearance, the actual stage area, etc.), but at least hope to "capture"
them later through our music.  Nevertheless, the normal first contact is
with the eyes.  The ears hear the sound, but the eyes tell you this might be
something interesting.

As some of you know, I have worked on over a dozen CD's for the well-known
Monks of Silos who made a bit of a world-wide splash a few years ago with
their Gregorian Chants.  I did audio restoration on their 1950's recordings
(analogue), and they are now on the market in CD form.  

Each recording required about 35 hrs of work on my part, so 12 X 35 = 420
hrs of "living" with the chanters.  However, I had never actually been to
Silos, a small town half way to the north coast of Spain until last Sunday.
When my wife and I walked into the cathedral where the present day monks
were chanting, my wife worked her way down front, while I sat at the back
BEHIND a pilar!  My wife couldn't believe it!

I wanted to HEAR the chanters, not see them, reverting to my customary
(visually blind) position in front of the studio speakers.  This way, the
visual did not interfere with the aural, which was what I was interested in.

This, however, is not the norm, and most will not have spent the time I have
(hours & hours & hours) sitting in a purpose built control room, using only
my ears to make important decisions.

Most people enjoy music using several senses at a time.  It is quite normal
for the common person's mind to wander when they only receive music aurally,
which is one of the reasons "listening to music" is often merely having a
noise in the background.  

Jim