Metamusic: Putting the Music Back in Music
by Johnny Eleven, himself
On its music page NEW IMPROVED HEAD has been privileged to present the work of the great metamusical group The Anachronisms. However, the term metamusic has puzzled some of our readers. No doubt that is due to the filching of this term by New Age entrepreneurs to dignify their tawdry products – recordings which supposedly induce specific mental states.
Well, that ain’t what metamusic is, and my intention here is to reclaim the term for its originators. The meta in metamusic comes from the Greek word for after. If we define a musical piece as a set of directions (written usually in musical notation) which tell musicians how to play a piece, it’s pretty obvious what comes after that music – performance is what comes after the writing of a musical piece. However, metamusicologists have realized that the process goes further. Something follows performance as well, and what follows performance is an expanded understanding of the original piece.
The history of music is full of examples of this process. The great composers did not become great by merely copying the music which preceded them. The great composers of concert music, for example, listened to the music which had preceded them and realized that they could elaborate that music, they could write similar music in new forms, they could use more complicated harmonies and a wider range of subjects. And then they wrote new music in new forms.
The process can also be seen in jazz, the other form of so-called serious music. Harmonic experimentation turned swing into bebop, while the crossbreeding of bebop with Latin music and with rhythm and blues produced another generation of musical genres.
So, after music we have performance, after performance we have an expanded understanding of the original music, after the expanded understanding we have new music. And after that, the cycle begins again, and with each iteration of the cycle music grows greater and grander.
The key to this cycle is of course performance. If music is not performed it cannot develop. Metamusicationists, however, believe that the performance of music is being suppressed.
The performance of music has become a business. However, if we divide the amount of money in the music market by the number of musicians we find that the result is nowhere enough money to quit your day job for. Consequently, some groups have seized control of the market, reserved the money for themselves, and set up artificial standards to prevent others from entering the market.
Chief among these are the worshippers of so-called competence. They establish questionable standards of musical competence and then argue that the music market should be restricted to musicians who are rated high by these standards. So a trumpeter who can play fast and with a clear tone without making mistakes is considered better than one who plays slowly with fuzzy tone.
Oh – wait a minute. There was this guy called Miles Davis. Miles couldn’t play as fast as the other trumpeters, and his tone never won any prizes. Luckily, though, he worked with musicians who realized what he had to offer. Charlie Parker, for example, was known to let Miles take a break when they were recording fast pieces.
Miles Davis was unable to play with the blinding speed which characterized the jazz trumpet of his era. Of course, if you can play the trumpet with blinding speed you’re tempted to show it off, since that’s one hard instrument to play. However, the audience really doesn’t get all that much enjoyment out of trumpeters showing off. Many trumpeters of Miles’ Davis’s era played solos which consisted essentially of very rapidly played scales. What Miles Davis did instead was play interesting music. To keep the music interesting he led jazz into modal music. There are no trumpet pyrotechnics on his “So What,” but it’s still considered a classic.
To be sure, Miles Davis was no slouch on the trumpet. He was better than the average trumpeter. However, he demonstrated quite clearly that you do not have to be a brilliant instrumentalist to be a great musician.
Which brings us to The Anachronisms. They realized that the almost complete restriction of recorded music to musicians who were “competent” was restricting the development of music. What benefits, they asked, would music receive by being performed by entirely average or even sub-par musicians? Of course, music is played and enjoyed by millions of musicians whose talents are less than prodigious. However, most of them have been so cowed by the artificial standards of competence that they do not take their music seriously. What The Anachronisms set out to do was to create music of the highest quality while abjuring perfectionist performance standards.
And what discoveries they made! First of all, it is no exaggeration to say that Anachronism Hector LaPaunche, who has not received one second of training on the violin, has created violin solos which rival Paganini’s for brio, excitement, and sheer musicality. Examples of these solos may be found on our music pages.
The Anachronisms have made many recordings which feature instruments not normally considered appropriate by the self-defined musical elite. One number, which cannot be reproduced here because of copyright issues, features a long and thoroughly satisfying solo played on a rubber band wrapped round a pint strawberry basket.
Most of The Anachronisms’ works are songs, and each member of the group has established a distinctive vocal style which we must hope will be seminal.
I could go on, but by this time you’ve probably figures out how to experience the joys of metamusic for yourself – by playing an instrument, singing, and having a good time. One of the worst sins “good music” has committed has been its relentless campaign against having fun with music. As Wentworth Sutton observes in another article, some practitioners of "good music" even want you to sit immobile and silent while they perform.
Well – screw ‘em. Be metamusical.
Metamusic: Putting the Music Back in Music © John FitzGerald, 2007
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