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Originally Posted by Manny Laureano FF,
For clarity's sake, are you making a distinction between the variety of musical styles one listens to as a teenager/early 20's and the tastes you develop as an adult?
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Manny,
Thanks for the question. I was merely using more popular artists as examples because many of them are alive today. However, I'm not too familiar with what was inside the minds of some of the orchestral and jazz composers. I guess this could be discussed on a couple of fronts, both mainstream artists and academic artists.
Just to make up a completely hypothetical scenario (not meant to carry any truth), if someone was to interpret Mahler's conversion from Judaism to Roman Catholicism as a move to sympathize with Hitler (again, just bear with me, this is absolutely not meant to bear any truth), would it affect your appreciation for his works? Another example, I've heard people criticize Phil Smith's playing by stating that because he is Christian he cannot interpret the muisic he plays as well as other principal trumpet players. To me, this doesn't make sense, not because of my own beliefs, but because of how this jumps to conclusions.
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I guess a couple more I can think of is the multiple accusations of Wynton Marsalis being racist. I've known people who won't listen to Wynton just because of these accusations, but to me, I don't care what his beliefs are, I'm going to listen and learn from his music, as I don't believe his music will cause me to hate white people. Perhaps the same can even be said for Reggae artists such as Bob and Ziggy Marley.
Back on the popular front, another band that has actually been influential to me in my composition for their odd structures and their classical influences is Dream Theater. Their whole "Trains of Thought" album seems like it was meant to be a big political mess. That has never stopped me from listening to that album, and if I don't like the philosophy or the lyrics, I tune them out.
One more that should touch home with most everyone here, Tower of Power. To me, they're as out there in terms of philosophy as Michael Moore. However, that has never stopped them from being one of my favorite all time bands.
I know, I'm weird discussing popular artists on a trumpet forum, but again, I don't seek to debate who has the greater music IQ, Bela Bartok or Billy Idol (really, is there any debate there?), rather to encompass all composers and artists together and evaluate if their philosophical messages has any bearing on their music or the listener.