[Dixielandjazz] I do understand my kid's music

Wed Apr 2 10:26:56 PDT 2008

Maybe the word understand should be changed for like.  I completely 
understand music and So did Mozart.  He would perfectly understand what we 
are doing with the same notes he used.  Would he like it?  Probably not but 
if he did he would become one of our more prolific writers.

Truthfully, music past about 1975 just doesn't make it with me although I do 
occasionally hear a tune I like.  A lot of it (pop music) is just simply 
boring and much of it is annoying.  I was much more annoyed in the 70's 
because the screaming and whining of guitars just sounded to me like bees 
around my head and just about as welcome.

I have steadily watched a deterioration of music into simpler and simpler 
forms but our society is becoming simpler and simpler (in an IQ way) too. 
Bob Cosby was on the news this morning and the statistics quoted between 25 
and 35% graduation rate in several cities.  They also quoted the breakdown 
of the family and high rate of high school pregnancy and where the male 
simply abandons the mother.

How in the world do we expect our young kids to have a finer appreciation of 
music when we can't even get them through high school or into a church?  No 
wonder much of the pop music such as Rap has no discernable chord structure 
or tune and that the words are very basic to say the best.  Music 
composition requires some basic knowledge.

Instead of sitting our kids down to a wonderful banquet we are serving them 
gruel.  The trouble is we have been doing it so long they like it.  As long 
as we are serving up sex, porn, violence, alcohol and drugs and at the same 
time not educating our kids in things they will really need for life, don't 
expect good art to flourish.

I think that current music is the result of these things and not the cause 
as a lot of well meaning people thought in the 50's.  Clean up the 
neighborhoods, improve family life, educate for the real world (trade 
schools) and don't take music and art out of the schools.  Then and only 
then will pop culture music improve.

Sadly, it will probably take another major war to get people on the track. 
As was pointed out, music seems to change when there is a major social 
upheaval.  My dad was an unskilled worker until WWII and he learned a trade 
by going to trade school that the government sent him to.  I wonder just 
what's wrong with trades and trade schools?  The few trade high schools that 
existed here closed years ago.  We try to jam everybody into college prep 
and it isn't working.  Several hundred Thousand if not more took part in the 
GI bill and became educated in trades and professions.  Many became 
teachers.  The problem is that all those people are dead or very old and 
have no impact on the big picture any longer.  Nothing was substituted for 
it and only bad things filled the void.

I continue to play music that makes me happy and hopefully others.  I think 
the more often we play in public where everyone can hear OKOM the better 
educated the public can be.  You know I don't think that I ever met anyone 
that said that they didn't like this kind of music whereas I can find dozens 
that will tell you that they don't like the "new" music.   That's really a 
good thing.  Just believe that you are doing your bit to improve American 
culture when you play.
Larry
STL

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marek Boym" <marekboym at gmail.com>
To: "Larry Walton" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 10:37 AM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] I do understand my kid's music

> At 67, I gues I belong to the rock and roll generation.
> Nevertheless, the only Beatles songs I know, other than "Yellow
> Submarine' (I took my kids to see the film) are those played by jazz
> bands.
> I don't understand rock, and couldn't care less.  Nor rap, although it
> sounds more "music" to me.  And even if I know some Presley songs, I
> don't care about those, either.
> Cheers
>
> On 02/04/2008, Kent Murdick <kmurdick at jaguar1.usouthal.edu> wrote:
>> I find the statement below rather stange.  I'm 61 and have children that
>> range from 13 - 40, and I understand their music completely, and even 
>> like
>> (a little) some of it because it is exactly what I listened to when I was 
>> a
>> kid.  My parents listened to Count Basie, etc. and I understood that too. 
>> My
>> parents, however, never understood rock music. That's what I mean by a
>> change.  BTW, the computer loop thing you describe souds like "Techno" to
>> me.  There is a sub-genre called "Techno-Bossa" which is kind of
>> interesting.
>>
>> >>>>But that's OK, it's
>> not FOR me. My father never understood my music, I don't understand pop
>> music today, and I doubt that I will understand the next big thing. But
>> that's OK - Bach really didn't understand Mozart's stuff, Mozart didn't
>> understand Beethoven, etc.>>>>>
>>
>>
>>
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