When writing about a classically trained musician’s view of the pop music world was first brought up my mind went blank. I pondered a bit about the idea but still nothing came to mind. It wasn’t that my mind was blank, I just couldn’t come up with a correlation between the two too talk about. I’m not even sure classically trained musicians have any kind of view concerning pop music - sort of the apples and oranges scenario. Sure they’re both music… well actually, classical music is music and what is heard in the pop world is just called music. I guess that might sound like I’m being a little uppity and highbrow. Please understand that I am not snubbing my nose at pop music. But, it is what it is. Let me state it another way. The end goal of classical music is the music. The end goal of pop music is fame and fortune.
Maybe using a picture will help demonstrate the different mind sets between the two. Below is a picture that I am using in my person profile for my MySpace site. Very “image-ie” I thought when I first saw it. It was actually the last picture in a photo shoot I did for my music web site. (Well, if you call going over to your son’s apartment, hanging a white sheet on the wall and standing around while he plays around with his new camera a photo shoot.) We were all out of ideas as to what to shoot next but still had one more picture on the roll of film. So I just lifted my trombone, puffed myself up and exclaimed, “Here, take a picture of this.”
This was the most popular shot from the evening with all my friends and family. I have to admit, I was sort of proud of it myself and thought; now here is something that would work well in the pop music world (If the pop music world listened to trombone players, that is.) Now when my classical trombone teacher saw the picture he wasn’t thinking in the same pop music frame of mind. Here is part of his email on the matter;
Before I forget it, check your mouthpiece placement and slide direction in your bedazzled photo. You are a tad off center, and you are aiming the slide a little to the right, which is normal for any right handed player. That means you are putting more pressure on the right side of your embouchure, which at the same time forces your left side to tighten just a little to seal off the potential air flow that can occur between the mouthpiece and the corner of that side of the lips.
After reading it I thought, “Whoa Doc, cut me some slack here. I was just fooling around with this picture.” Then I took another look at the picture and said to myself, “Damn, he’s right. I am doing all those things. I’ll need to work on that.” I unconsciously shifted from my lighthearted pop music self to my serious and determined classical self. I emailed my trombone teacher back thanking him for the advice, then immediately picked up my trombone and stood in front of a full length mirror trying to straighten out all my personal defects.
I will admit that classical musicians have a desire and dedication to the music that borders on obsession. I mean, we can work on just a single passage of music for hours or weeks… even months in some cases. You would think once we have worked it up to apparent perfection that would be it. But it’s not; we then record our playing to where it can be slowed down and listened to at half speed. Then work on getting it perfect at that speed. I mean, we are working on stuff the general public cannot physically even hear in a performance. (Hey, wait a minute; I just realized something… that is obsession isn’t it. Oh, well - whatever.)
One thing that is obvious to me is the essential trait one needs in order to be successful in classical music is something that is not learned on this earth. An incessant desire for detail is something you have to be born with. Sure classical musicians want to be rich and famous, but not at the expense of the music.
In pop music, anybody can be made into a pop star if they find the right image. Everything you need can be learned after you arrive into this life. It still takes a lot of hard work and years to develop that image. Dedication and determination are a must also… and being fairly talented musically doesn’t hurt. But it’s almost a waste of time to actually try and develop any musical talent into a full fledged skill because image and technology will always overshadow the music in the pop world.
But then, this is just how one trombonist sees it.
Jim
