Mechanical Music Digest  Archives
You Are Not Logged In Login/Get New Account
Please Log In. Accounts are free!
Logged In users are granted additional features including a more current version of the Archives and a simplified process for submitting articles.
Home Archives Calendar Gallery Store Links Info
MMD > Archives > October 2007 > 2007.10.07 > 02Prev  Next


Music and the Younger Generation
By Michael Woolf

Once again our thoughts are elegantly expressed by this hobby's out-
standing intellectual and literary figure.

In his succinct statement David Bowers has encapsulated precisely a
world of positions and arguments.  Let us by all means make mechanical
music available using today's technology.

My grandson Josh, aged 19, is absorbed in the worlds of rap and beat-
boxing, and shows only a courteous tolerance of his aged grandparent's
tinkering with antique instruments.  Yet when just a few days ago I
mentioned a "classical" piece, his response was immediate.  "I love
classical music.  You can hear right away where today's composers got
their ideas."  And he went on to enumerate several instances in rock
guitar solos, previously unknown to me.  We were both learning, and
doing so together.  I think that is just great.

Two points on Dave's statement.  The term "mechanical music" covers
many fields of music.  Beethoven's symphonies were the pop tunes of
their day.  Hits from the musical comedies of the late nineteenth
century, played on orchestrions, were whistled in the street by
delivery boys.  And so were the early twentieth century rags.  The
constructors of mechanical music were recording the music of their
time.

Finally most mechanical instruments have a visual aspect: fascinating,
amusing, or beautiful.  We stand before them in wonder.  Electronic
items don't offer this.  However, many of them do permit the display of
pictures, moving or otherwise.  So let's program the visual as well as
audio.  That way we can share our hobby, our instruments and our music.

Thanks again, Dave.

Michael Woolf,
New Zealand


(Message sent Sun 7 Oct 2007, 02:32:04 GMT, from time zone GMT+1300.)

Key Words in Subject:  Generation, Music, Younger

Home    Archives    Calendar    Gallery    Store    Links    Info   


Enter text below to search the MMD Website with Google



CONTACT FORM: Click HERE to write to the editor, or to post a message about Mechanical Musical Instruments to the MMD

Unless otherwise noted, all opinions are those of the individual authors and may not represent those of the editors. Compilation copyright 1995-2024 by Jody Kravitz.

Please read our Republication Policy before copying information from or creating links to this web site.

Click HERE to contact the webmaster regarding problems with the website.

Please support publication of the MMD by donating online

Please Support Publication of the MMD with your Generous Donation

Pay via PayPal

No PayPal account required

                                     
Translate This Page