I come from a world where the musician is in control of time not a machine. If I want to push time (speed up slightly) as the music enters a chorus or a solo I do, returning to the original tempo when the next verse arrives. To me this creates excitement for both the listener and the player.
The modern way of recording with click tracks and drum machines has eradicated this skill from the list of things a musician needs to master.
To me we are losing the wonderful stuff that humans add to music. Originally, when drum machines arrived on the scene the players lived in both worlds but as the years roll on the bands that do this have disappeared and musicians have grown up never hearing this so have no idea it ever happened.
There are many reason why great bands are remembered and this to me is something that is part of what makes them great whether it be The Wailers, Little Feat, James Brown or Led Zeppelin.
My question is simple – Are we losing the humanity in our music in this technological era?
A Beethoven score tells the conductor to speed up and slow down to create an emotional impact. The great jazz and blues legends did it naturally as a collective with their bands.
The drum machine rolls on with no understanding of how we dance or react to the music we hear.
I miss this in most of the modern music I hear. Change is an interesting thing. I mean, just because I don’t like something doesn’t actually mean it is bad for the world. Definitely different though.
Steely Dan’s quest for perfection has definitely changed the world. They invented the drum machine because Steve Gadd quite simply wasn’t good enough. That in itself is something to think about. Like all humans it is impossible for him to maintain a perfect 120 per minutes for eight minutes but when you groove like he does what were they worrying about?
I do understand how easy this has made it to make recordings in the modern world but….
I will always be a lover of live music though.
Time is yours so reclaim it — Al.
