Tom O'Brien
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5/29/2022 1:40:00 AM
The Value of Live Music
I just got home from work - it's about 10 at night - to find a party going on two backyards down with an amazing funk/R&B band - solid drums, bass, Hammond organ, dynamite sax and trumpet, and a strong, beefy black vocalist who was a pleasure to listen to. A lot of quality music for a backyard party. But it got me thinking, I haven't heard any live music since Covid started! And live music has a magic that can never be completely captured in recording. When you play a recording, you know no one will ever make a mistake, no matter how many times you play it. In live music, every note is a risk - anything could happen. And every performance is unique - the players are building the music right in front of you and you, the audience, become a part of that creation. When you're listening to a recording, you and the music are more separate entities, but with live music, you are an essential part.
We take recording for granted, but it was only 150 years ago that if you wanted to hear music, someone had to create it in front of you, or you had to make it yourself. And all the great classical works could only be heard in concert halls. More homes had pianos, and people were more musically educated. Think if we had lived then, before sound recording, when all music had that live magic, how powerful that would feel!
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