When a crowd watches or listens to a musical performance, people rarely wonder about the story behind the musicians who created that ear attraction. What kind of ability and commitment does it take? Are all musicians meant to be talented just because they do things that ordinary people are not able to do? The answer can be both simple and complicated.

Our world evolves every second, whether we notice it or not. In a closer look, music has its own share of evolution from the dawn of time till this day and onwards.

For some, music is a time dimension and for others it is simply instinct. Time-influenced musicians are most likely to be composers or music teachers who have been taught music or gained their musical ability through regular music education. Meanwhile musicians who tend to follow their instincts often end up as Street Musicians, who play music out of purity. But what is the difference? Who would be a better musician? One can never tell, but one can definitely hear the difference.

Calling musicians “talented” because they know how to play an instrument or sing a song well is a stereotype. In a musician’s life everything is a challenge. Musicians who claim to be talented and lay back on their work always tend to fall behind; to be good in music it takes alot of hard work and effort, and one has to be focused and committed in all directions.

With music evolving with the world, eventually the idea of music education has been introduced as another way of gaining a prestigious place in music and improving the economy of the education system. But it seems that musical education methods are being taught by those who have never been taught music by books but by heart and ears. Those pure techniques and melodies have been recorded has been set as an example of musical perfection.

The irony lays when, in some parts of the world, a musician can only be accomplished if he has an acknowledged and approved musical education, else they remain a street musician or an amateur. Street musicians playing on the streets for audiences who spare time for their ears and maybe a coin or two is just more than enough for them. They prove to the world that nothing matters most other than playing that note on that instrument that became a  part of them, with nothing but a smile on the face.

When one refers to the music genre of Jazz for an example, we think of a style famous among street musicians and also most famous in modern music education. But what is jazz? Well, no one really knows, and this is where the beauty of jazz lays. So can a music that is not known be taught?

The word on the street is that jazz is a way of music also referred to as “improvisation.” How often do we musicians play their so called jazz music from music sheets, bar by bar, as it was written? Well in a festival that has 8 different groups, at least 4 will. To some, it is not wrong to do so, but it will then be wrong to call it jazz music.

Only because it sounded like a musical piece from an artist who is a jazz style artist it can get categorized under the genre of jazz. This is likely the bad influence of music education: these musicians gain skills and ability to play without the gift of creativity, originality and understanding of the flow of music. Taking this into a wider aspect, the world of jazz will never be the same or will never be the way it meant to be taking out its freedom of improvisation.

This is just one genre. Classical Music is another great genre that could be put into the equation: when was the last time the modern world has been introduced to a new, unforgettable piece? To a new, brilliant composer? To something like “Scheherazade” by Rimsky Korsakov? Chances are slim that our generation ever will and that is because the generation is being taught the works of Rimsky Korsakov and others like him. The outcome is that modern musicians live in the musical sphere of someone else without sharing the same flow of creativity and innovation these artists had. 

This does not mean that music should not be taught. It only makes us realize that as we move toward the future, music like it once was will be rare and in time, may perish.

Image Courtesy of  National Geographic
Photo Credit: Jim McWilliams

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Two weekends ago, a riot in Tottenham followed a peaceful protest over the police shooting of Mark Duggan. The violence escalated in the streets of London and soon spread to other cities around the British country. The spectators looked in shock as young British people acted out in complete anarchy.

As England deals with the aftermath of the worst street riots in decades, musicians react on London riots on Twitter. Musicians M.I.A., Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos, Example and many others, made statements about the situation on their personal Twitter accounts.

Kapranos, the lead singer and the guitarist of the Glasgow band Franz Ferdinand, asked the Prime Minister to do something about all these riots and widespread looting. He said, “Where the fuck are the Bullingdon boys? What’s wrong you cunts? Would you only end your holidays if it were Fortnum & Mason being looted?”

M.I.A brewed contention with a riot-sympathizing tweet “I’m going down to the riots to hand out tea and mars bars.”

Example, with humor and frustration said, “All these Nandos on fire? That’s some over cooked chicken wings. Pull the army of Afghanistan and stop all this bullshit now please,” before adding, “If you’re gonna set fire to any house in London please make it the Big Brother house.”

Moreover, as Spinner previously reported, a Sony warehouse where thousands of records were stored for many indie labels was burned to the ground (on Tuesday 9 Aug), undoubtedly affecting independent music throughout Europe.

“What music fans can do to show their support for the indie label community, and help them survive this disaster is to buy a digital download of an album from any one of the digital retailers in the UK, as well as going to their local record store while stocks last,” the Association of Independent Music has stated in a press release (via NME).

In the face of continuing violence several artists have now taken to the streets in an effort to help clean up London. ”At the Bethnal Green clean up, nice to see so many people ready to help in the community!” pop songstress Kate Nash tweeted about helping out.

Scroobius Pip, poet and musician, simply posted, “This is Britain punching itself in the face. Repeatedly”

The fact is that many theories have been posited about the underlying causes of the riots in England — from moral decay to excessive consumerism. According to criminologists, the reasons for the riots are many, including social exclusion, welfare dependence, spending cuts, weak policing, racism and opportunism.

The situation in England has been reflected in foreign publications, from Europe, Asia, Middle East, U.S. to Africa, all of which try to explain what exactly happened in the streets of London and other cities, and why. Anthony Daniels in the New York Daily News said:

“The riots in London and elsewhere in England have confirmed what I long knew and have long preached to my disbelieving but totally unobservant countrymen: that young British people are among the most unpleasant and potentially violent young people in the world.”

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