"All the good music has already been written" - Agree or disagree?

The number of possible melodies and variations is mathematically infinite BUT "that the human ear finds pleasing" is the caveat.

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Originally Posted by NightMistBlue

The number of possible melodies and variations is mathematically infinite BUT "that the human ear finds pleasing" is the caveat.

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But surely the same applies to the number of sentences that make sense. If we generated random melodies by choosing random notes at random times (which I have actually done), then the huge majority would sound awful. If we generate random sentences by choosing letters and punctuation at random, similarly the huge majority would make no sense at all.

I still think the two situations are similar.

I was reading a Tood Rundgren interview today and this bit reminded me of our thread discussion:

As a musician, nobody but you really knows how much you draw on your influences. Especially when you start out, you’ve got a few principal influences and you tend to sound like them. But as you broaden your musical horizons, you have others, and ideally they blur into something that people assume is you. But only you know how much you’ve stolen directly from your influences. And the art of music is somehow obscuring that. Music is the most plagiaristic artform there is, because you have such a small range of resources available to you. You’ve got the western 12-tone scale. That’s essentially 11 notes. So you’re eventually going to run out of melodies, just by the pure mathematics of it. So the whole art of making music is trying to obscure the fact that this is a melody from another song and has just been changed in subtle enough ways that you don’t recognize it. It’s when somebody like George Harrison just completely lifts “He’s So Fine” and calls it “My Sweet Lord” that you get in trouble.
https://www.yahoo.com/music/collabor...150024609.html

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NightMistBlue

I was reading a Tood Rundgren interview today and this bit reminded me of our thread discussion:

As a musician, nobody but you really knows how much you draw on your influences. Especially when you start out, you’ve got a few principal influences and you tend to sound like them. But as you broaden your musical horizons, you have others, and ideally they blur into something that people assume is you. But only you know how much you’ve stolen directly from your influences. And the art of music is somehow obscuring that. Music is the most plagiaristic artform there is, because you have such a small range of resources available to you. You’ve got the western 12-tone scale. That’s essentially 11 notes. So you’re eventually going to run out of melodies, just by the pure mathematics of it. So the whole art of making music is trying to obscure the fact that this is a melody from another song and has just been changed in subtle enough ways that you don’t recognize it. It’s when somebody like George Harrison just completely lifts “He’s So Fine” and calls it “My Sweet Lord” that you get in trouble.
https://www.yahoo.com/music/collabor...150024609.html

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Such a very good quote, NMB! I like it when a very creative person can also take an intellectual approach to their craft.
As an aside, I'll tell you that I love Rundgren. :nod: I guess you've read that he was among those receiving honorary doctorate degrees this year from Berklee. Lucinda Williams was also honored- another favorite of mine.

I did not know that - thank you, Luvy.

I shall now listen to some Todd in your honor. How about "Can We Still Be Friends?" I love that song :)

You like the hard-livin' gals, don't you? :wink: The babes who've been around the block. Carlene Carter is one of my faves, but I wouldn't wish what she went though on anyone. Luckily, she's a survivor.

P.S. Joe Walsh is on a track called "Sleep" on Todd's new album.

there are going to be exceptions here and there like music my brother introducted me to (Tame Impala, Real Estate) but neither of those groups are really the type to hit the top 40.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NightMistBlue

I did not know that - thank you, Luvy.

I shall now listen to some Todd in your honor. How about "Can We Still Be Friends?" I love that song :)

You like the hard-livin' gals, don't you? :wink: The babes who've been around the block. Carlene Carter is one of my faves, but I wouldn't wish what she went though on anyone. Luckily, she's a survivor.

P.S. Joe Walsh is on a track called "Sleep" on Todd's new album.

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Thanks so much for the info on Joe! :-)
Now I'm going to listen to some Carlene Carter, in your honor. :-)

I don't like any new bands in the last 30 years.. I wish I did -- it'd give me something to look forward to, a new album, concert, etc..

I really, really miss being enthralled about a new song/album/artist.

Though I will say... a couple of times recently I was working for several hours in an environment where I was forced to listen to recent alt-pop (is that a term?) music and it didn't suck. I actually enjoyed some of it :)