The Art of Music
Looking back to this week's discussion about Alice Guillermo's "Pamana, Pahiwatig, at Pangakong Hinabi, Inukit, at Ipininta," it has been mentioned multiple times that our Filipino ancestors used to get their artistic inspiration from nature. This idea also holds true for early people around the globe. Tribes before and even now use music that came from the sounds they hear from nature.
Now, try to recall the earliest moment when you first started hearing and understanding what music is. Can you think of something? This is a difficult task to do for many people mainly because remembering things dating back to many years ago without any record to rely on is nearly impossible. With that said, tracing back the origins of an object is no easy feat - let alone a concept as broad as music.
Luckily enough, archeologists and ethnomusicologists have been around for a long enough time to keep record of the notable changes in music through time. Brian Clark from MusicianWave noted in his article that records say the "first-ever written piece of music" was in the form of a cuneiform "alphabet" which dates back to 3400 years ago. Compared to what we have today, it's safe to assume that we are now much capable of producing better quality of music... or are we?
As for the musical instruments, what we use today is not that different from what were used before. For example, the harpsichord is an instrument that is highly comparable to a piano. The difference is that a harpsichord's strings are plucked, compared to a piano which has its strings hit by a hammer. The recorder, which resembles a flute, is an instrument still used today. A recorder is almost the same as the flute, but is played vertically (compared to the flute which is horizontal).
The Rennaisance, to Classical, to Romantic are types of music I don't listen to and stumble upon everyday. Nevertheless, they don't fail to impress me each time I happen to listen to them. The composers and their works, some of which we still used today, left a huge impact with how artists work with melodies, harmonies, instruments, etc. Operas which gave way for a new type of performance is notable and would definitely stay with us for a really long time. On a side note, I started listening to Korean Pop 2 years ago and I happen to stumble upon a Youtube channel that makes medieval versions of K-Pop and Western Pop music.
The first music I remember listening to was Asereje by Las Ketchup, which was released in 2002 (I was 3 when the song was released!). There were many moments in my childhood when I used to stay with my grandparents and for some reason, they kept playing that song. My relatives still insist that I even used to dance to that song, though I don't have any recollection of it. The music that followed that was your typical 2000s emo/punk/rock songs in the form of My Chemical Romance, Avril Lavigne, Linkin Park, and of course my favorite: Paramore. These were the artists of my childhood.
Unfortunately, gone were the days when you can listen to these genres through your local radio stations. The thing is, during the 00s, these genres are considered mainstream. Still, these types of music are what stuck with me the most. I like music that has heavy instrumentation, has a core, and has good lyricism. To be fair though, I have a more diverse musical taste today and what I listen to in a day generally depends on my mood for that day.
Producing music is also different since we have live performances and studio-produced. Live performances are to live for (or at least recordings of live performances); it just hits different when the music you're listening to has this "in your face" type of vibe. Studio-produced music is really good too and it's what we mostly consume on a day to day basis.
Let's now get into the topic of modern musical instruments. Surprise, anyone can create their music using a single instrument - the computer! Though I personally think this is a good thing, given that more people have the means to make their own music, I also think this limits the quality of music we are consuming. The music industry is saturated with Pop, EDM, Rap, etc. These music genres cater to the greater mass, given its prominence. The reason to this could be because of repetition. I remember seeing a video back then stating that repetition is mostly seen in mainstream music today to leave an impression to people and give off this last song syndrome effect.
To end this blog, I'd like to answer the question I brought up during the initial parts of this entry. Do we have better music quality today? Personally, I think yes... and no. It's all a matter of perspective actually. We cannot devalue music from other people just because we don't enjoy it. I don't like EDM and hyper-produced music, but that doesn't make it bad. I used to hate K-Pop because it's in a language I don't understand and I used to think it's overhyped. Now though, I really like it and it lifts up my mood, even though I still don't understand it. I used to think that Classical music if boring. Now that I understand better, I can hear all elements and instruments simultaneously and it's like magic. One thing I learned through the years is that our love for music should surpass all boundaries.
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