Do television/film portrayals of music/musicians piss anyone else off?

[laconicsax]

You know, the "being a musician is all about expressing yourself" line when the reality is that it's much more about hard work, selling yourself, and ceding artistic control to someone else for the sake of getting the job done as well as can be done.

I've been playing in orchestras and chamber groups for over a decade and I can honestly say that it's never been about expressing myself. The same thing goes for all the jazz bands and small groups I've played in--there are moments to express yourself, but 99% of the job is hard work and sacrificing your private vision for the good of the group.

[GReedDiamond]

1. I've never been in a band where I was not expressing myself...

...but I'm an old (circa 1978) punk rocker.

So it hasn't been a regular job, such as what I think is your experience.

Plus, I have not been working within the orchestra/chamber group/jazz band genres, so I am likewise unqualified in my response to your question.

That said, I have performed live and written/performed/engineered/produced and released original material for over thirty years, and I'm a voting member of NARAS, so I'm pretty serious about being musically expressive, first and foremost - everything else comes after that.

So, to answer, TV and film portrayals of musicians have no effect on me whatsoever, other than, hopefully, amusement.

I'm curious, what instrument(s) do you play?

[laconicsax]

2. Woodwinds

Clarinets, saxophones, flutes, and oboe.

On edit: I'm not saying that I never have a chance to express myself, just that the situations where doing so is appropriate are the minority, and even when I can, there are other concerns that sometimes take precedence.

[GReedDiamond]

3. I'd love to use woodwinds on our stuff...

...but, it's not in the realm of what's available to me.

On the other hand, see my post about wav file recording and email transfer:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1035&pid=79

It's a way to express yourself, perhaps.

[saras]

4. "Whenever a musician talks about expressing themselves, you know it's going to suck" - Robert Fripp

Expressing yourself is what you do to entertain an audience when you have no musical talent to fall back on.

Musical talent is what you fall back on when music itself refuses to show up for you in performance.

Even when it's nothing but you, your instrument, and music being invented in the moment, if you're expressing yourself rather than the music, you're doing what is otherwise known as "wanking off."

[JDPriestly]

6. Depends on the musician, saras.

A truly disciplined musician expresses himself through disciplined performance or composition of music. The discipline has to be deeply ingrained.

For example, Miles Davis was both a disciplined musician and an expressive musician in most of the performances that are recorded. He probably had less disciplined moments -- moments in which he was simply messing around, searching for his music, for his muse. But for the most part his music is disciplined, shall I say, focused on the music and not on self-indulgence. That is why his music was/is so loved by many musicians.

The disciplined music is for the public. But to be able to play the disciplined music, you need to explore the expressive moments too. That's my opinion.

I also think that if you start to play instruments at a very young age, the discipline comes very naturally. You just don't know any other way to be. So the expression and discipline merge more easily. That was probably true for example for Mozart.

[laconicsax]

8. Two sides to the same coin.

Art vs. craft. The art is the mental and musical aspects--it's the end product and the craft is the physical aspects or the means to the end.

The audience only hears the art, and that's how it should be. When the audience hears the craft, it's because the musician has neglected it. When the craft is neglected, the art doesn't happen.

[JDPriestly]

5. You are so right.

But, still, I really liked the portrayal of the musician in "As it is in Heaven."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0382330

That is a Swedish film about a prominent musician who retires to become the choir director in the church of a small village. I love the movie.

[onpatrol98]

7. That does sound kind of cool...