Re: developing musicians and a musical culture

["Nick Shortway" <DrGonzo@psu.edu>]

*Obviously* I understand about Coltrane's knowledge and technical ability,
but my use of his quote was to demonstrate how even someone as knowledgable
about music theory as Coltrane was still realized the importance of 
breaking
the rules that he knew so well.

-Nick

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Daryl" <highhorse@mhorse.com>
To: <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2003 2:51 PM
Subject: Re: developing musicians and a musical culture


>
> John Coltrane's a great example to bring up when trying to make the point
that
> musicians are more creative when they don't know anything...
>
> Daryl Shawn
> highhorse@mhorse.com
>
>
> > I really think you're wrong here...scales and chords can only get you 
>so
> > far, as well as can stifle musical creativity.  I have played guitar 
>for
> > 9-10 years, and I know a few basic scales and just chorforms that i've
> > either picked up or made up, but I do not at all think that I would be
> > better off creatively if I knew more.  The most creative guitarists are
the
> > ones who bend and even break traditional music theory.  Some of them
know
> > the theory and some of them don't even know which "rules" they are
breaking.
> > IMHO, we are totally limited by twelve-tone equal temperament.  There's
no
> > reason to stick to eleven octave divisions except for the fact that 
>that
has
> > been the norm for the past few hundreds of years.  Ever hear someone
start
> > integrating microtonality into western music?  It's amazing, and mostly
> > reliant on people who do not wish to grasp those scales and chords.
There
> > is no "proper place" where someone should move their fingers to.  I
think
> > that putting more creativity into the music, and playing what *you*
think
> > sounds right is a total substitute for the "fundamentals".  I forget
exactly
> > which jazz musician said it, I think it might have been Coltrane, 
>"There
are
> > no wrong notes".
>
>