[Dixielandjazz] One person and art

[john p birchall]

Dan says -
>>All progress is made by one person<<
 ... yes quiet so ...
but your personal moment of creative brilliance may well inspire a response 
from your mate(s) in the band ...
in a Dixie ensemble some of these responses may also be creative ...
and then you may get the collective sound we all hope for ...

PS co-operative creation is perfectly feasible ...
it often takes two to tango
I was talking to my wife about it late last night ;-)

cheers and beers
john p birchall
Bush sax player from Chester
http://www.meister.u-net.com/dixie/dixieland_jazz.htm
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dan Augustine" <ds.augustine at mail.utexas.edu>
To: "DJML" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Monday, September 20, 2004 5:30 AM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] One person and art


> Fellow artificers--
>     What do you think about the following statement: only one person can 
> create art.
>     The genesis of this idea crept into my wine-enhanced (or, more 
> probably, -befuddled) consciousness when someone on a history-channel show 
> was talking about the history of science-fiction in books and in movies. 
> It seemed that in each case (admittedly anecdotal), anyone who was able to 
> carry through with his original idea to its eventual end had a chance to 
> have created something artistic.  The group projects were invariably 
> messed with and lacked direction (cf. Robert Heinlein's experience-based 
> observation that editors don't like the flavor of a work until they've 
> pissed in it).
>     How does this relate to dixieland, you have a right to ask?
>     Well, in many ways, i respond.  When one person--ONE person, mind 
> you--is able to carry through on his (or her) vision for a creative act, 
> it has a chance to be art.  Otherwise, it is a camel ("a horse designed by 
> a committee" as i think Mark Twain said).
>     Not even considering jazz solos, which can be self-evident works of 
> art, the original songs as one composer wrote them might be so, and canny 
> arrangements of them might infuse life into more dimensions of a song than 
> the composer originally envisioned.  Moreover, on a more granular (as the 
> computer-wonks are unfortunately fond of saying) level, what notes and 
> what feeling YOU play on a particular song might make the difference in 
> how someone in the audience responds to a song.  Without your 
> individualistic notes, phrasing, and feeling, it would be just another 
> "Muskrat Ramble" ho-hum.  But with some unexpected flatted notes, perhaps 
> a quotation (usually anathema, i know) from Orlando di Lassus, or a 
> where-the-hell-did-that-come-from burst of phrase in harmony (and you 
> honestly DON'T know where it came from), you and only you make the 
> difference in that song.  All progress is made by one person.  And 
> tonight, it's you (even if you don't know what you did or where it came 
> from).
>     That (in part) is live music and jazz.  Pity that it dies as it lives, 
> mortality less than a firefly, existing only in the present (like 
> mathematics).
>
>     Dan
> -- 
> **--------------------------------------------------------------------**
> **  Dan Augustine     Austin, Texas    ds.augustine at mail.utexas.edu   **
> **    "Thought is a thread of melody running through the succession   **
> **     of our sensations." -- Charles S. Peirce (1839-1914)           **
> **--------------------------------------------------------------------**
>
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