It’s always been funny to me how people choose to use sports as a metaphor for their musical pursuits. Like, “Gotta go practice. No pain, no gain.” Really?
Sports can certainly inspire us, generally speaking, but music is being forced into a mold that so resembles competitive sport that it’s downright scary.
Has anyone seen American Idol lately? Is this really how music is supposed to work?
I’m talking about people with little to no musical training, no experience and typically even less skill, taking a plunge into an alternate universe to try to become an insta-superstar by out-singing everybody around them.
As in, ‘If I sing longer, wavier, fancier licks than you, then I’ll win and my car trip from Mobile, Alabama will be worth it.’
The ludicrous competition is sensationalized to the max by network television, with the masses buying into it all the way.
Then the act is finished by what is left of a crippled music industry, as winners and other finalists are whisked away to try and capitalize on their fleeting fame in hopes that one or more of them will stick and make the record companies and corporate sponsors as much money as possible.
Of course, very few of the winners ever amount to much; the other finalists even less so.
The reality is that most of these contestants never paid a due in their lives before they began their quest for idolatry.
Nothing lasts because there is no substance. I mean, how much substance can 17-year-old girls really have, anyway?
And what about your local neighborhood jam session? Been to one of those lately?
Let’s talk about drummers for a second. I love the drums. Obviously I’m a huge fan. But drum competition at jam sessions is one of the most overindulgent, tasteless acts there is.
There is never an exchange – always a fight to the finish. It is my belief that these kinds of encounters promote the ever-increasing need for speed. Just google GospelChops Shed Sessionz to experience this drivel first-hand.
These days, between the drum gladiators and GospelChops, we have an incessant desire to push the capabilities of the drums to a level that has absolutely nothing to do with any music.
It has become such a sport that young drummers who are just starting out are led to believe that it is necessary to play in this fashion to survive. Becoming the World’s Fastest Drummer is now in the forefront of their minds and we seem to crave more and more of these competitive situations.
It’s like we’re trying to evaluate who is the best based on athletic merit instead of musicality. Why do we have to designate a winner? Doesn’t one of the beauties of art lie in its subjectivity of judgment?
In sports, it does matter that records are broken. The Olympics demonstrate that world records are meant to be broken and that this is a primary objective for athletes.
Music is not supposed to be a competition.
It may seem that the tone of this blog entry is negative, so I want to finish with a hopeful thought.
The pendulum has swung greatly in the direction of a failing music industry desperately trying to scavenge the carcass of its former self.
What we need now is to be patient and stay the course of pursuing art and creation.
We must pay our dues: practice, play and try to serve the music with whatever instrument we happen to use to express ourselves.
I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, as it will only take so long before people are so sick of seeing music treated as a sport and just want to hear a great melody again.
