Electronic Musicianship?
Posted by jamesfrankel on February 1st, 2007
I often here people argue that electronic instruments and technology might be great resources fro composition, but they do little to build performance skills. Joseph Abramo, a member of the Music Education Blog Collective, posted a video of an artist who displayed amazing editing skills to create a sophisticated drum beat. While the clip shows artistry in utilizing software and editing skills, my brother recently sent me a clip of a musician who displays outstanding musicianship skills with technology.
David “Fingers” Haynes has a number of really cool clips posted on YouTube of himself playing an electronic drum machine “live”. When I saw the clips, I immediately through of FutureMan from Bela Fleck fame. His musicianship is amazing and it made me realize that electronic instruments are musical instruments and that there are nuances and skills inherent to those instruments - skills that take practice. Perhaps it’s time to rethink how electronic instruments are perceived as “toys” and not musical instruments. I’d argue that Mr. Haynes is making some great music.
I welcome your comments and suggestions.
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February 2nd, 2007 at 8:18 am
Hi - looking forward to exploring your blog. I think I am more concerned with the fact that the use of electronic instruments CAN be used as a subsitute for performance skills. At a local university I see many students studying composition and creating music that they have no ability to perform on their own in any medium. The results tend to be awkward and often un-perform-able except by computer. These students are not thinking about their tools as instruments. And are not being pushed to develop performance skills of some (any) sort.
February 2nd, 2007 at 8:31 am
John -
Thanks for your comments. Your point is very well taken. I think if educators are going to implement technology and composition into their teaching, they must make their students aware of the playability of the piece. I often remind my students of Paul Hindemith who could play almost everything he ever wrote on the instruments he wrote the music for. This of course holds true when a student is writing music for a traditional performance ensemble…
One thing to consider though is that when compostion students write music meant to be performed by technology, they have the freedom to write whatever they way - whether or not a traditional instrument would be able to play (or if they could). I don’t think that their performance skills should restrict their composition skills. I think you’d agree that there are plenty of “musicians” making music in the popular music genre today who are not the most skilled performers.
Finally, the clip I posted showed strong performance skills using technology. I am sure that Mr. Haynes would be very skilled on a traditional drumset as well. My point is that electronic instruments can be musical.
Thanks again John for your comments. Your point is one for us all to consider.
James