Larry
"Uncle Larry"
I'm big on philosophical stuff, so indulge me a minute in a hypothetical situation.
(This isn't limited to drumming)
I wonder.....if a great musician such as a John Coltrane or a Miles Davis were raised in isolation without hearing any other music growing up, none, zero....would he still have all those sounds in his head? Would they still have created music on that level without having the benefits of hearing the greatsthat came before him? Would they even have music in their heads? Or does a switch flip when exposed to music that would remain switched off without exposure? See where I'm headed with this? What percentage of a persons total musical output can be attributed to those who came before? I'm thinking a sizeable portion, but wanted other opinions.
I think of Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, musical geniuses that lived before any form of recording..These guys created some of the worlds most beautiful music ever composed..without the benefit of radio, CD, Ipods, internet...How much music could they have been exposed to? Certainly less than the average human today, I'm guessing. And how diverse was the music they did hear? To me, that just goes to prove that even a limited amount of exposure, in the right hands can produce great stuff. But what if there were zero exposure? What then? Would Miles have been a genius at something else instead?
(This isn't limited to drumming)
I wonder.....if a great musician such as a John Coltrane or a Miles Davis were raised in isolation without hearing any other music growing up, none, zero....would he still have all those sounds in his head? Would they still have created music on that level without having the benefits of hearing the greatsthat came before him? Would they even have music in their heads? Or does a switch flip when exposed to music that would remain switched off without exposure? See where I'm headed with this? What percentage of a persons total musical output can be attributed to those who came before? I'm thinking a sizeable portion, but wanted other opinions.
I think of Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, musical geniuses that lived before any form of recording..These guys created some of the worlds most beautiful music ever composed..without the benefit of radio, CD, Ipods, internet...How much music could they have been exposed to? Certainly less than the average human today, I'm guessing. And how diverse was the music they did hear? To me, that just goes to prove that even a limited amount of exposure, in the right hands can produce great stuff. But what if there were zero exposure? What then? Would Miles have been a genius at something else instead?