Listening to music alone… This is a fascinating and simultaneously depressing concept to entertain. I’d like to add some additional perspective.
My grandfather was born in 1885, second generation Irish immigrant. In 1907 at the age of 22 he founded the Caldwell Nursery, a plant nursery, in Caldwell, NJ. I’m 74 now, and it’s impossible for me to count the number times I was there for Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas dinners, anniversary, and birthday celebrations etc.
At one such occasion I remember (quite clearly), my grandfather describing how music was played and shared among people when he was a younger man. He and most of his neighbors were farmers, and occasionally, maybe once every two months, they would all gather together at someone’s house, usually whoever had a piano. Someone would play it while everyone else sang in unison or in harmony or took turns soloing. The women would make sandwiches and serve coffee and - for them - it was very happy and lively evening indeed. Unlike modern TV shows where people stare at their feet in anxious uncertainty while judges might harsher critique them for not “owning the stage“ or whatever, everyone sang for the simple joy of it, and no one was particularly in competition with another.
My grandfather would tell this story often, always with a smile and a lot of affection; it definitely brought back many happy memories for him.
Then his countenance would change into something less than a smile as he recounted how disgusted he was with the invention of the radio, and while all the same neighbors would still come over to each other’s houses every month or two, the dynamic changed, and instead of people singing for fun and playing the piano they would all gather around the radio, sitting in chairs, to now listen to various skits that were being professionally produced as well as professional singers singing. He thought that was a real loss because there was no actual interaction anymore, people were just passively listening to a radio, sitting there in easy chairs, happily, munching a sandwich or smoking a pipe and enjoying the performances. But there was no longer any personal interaction as there had been.
Then his face became sadder still as he talked about how the television had taken the radio 10 steps further in terms of people interacting, or should I say not interacting. The famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright, once quipped “television is chewing gum for the eyes“ and no one believed that more than my grandfather.
My grandfather died in 1972, so I don’t think he lived to see the era whereby almost everyone in the family had their own television in their own room, much less today’s digital world where we all carry the entire globe in our pocket on a mobile phone.
All to say that this is nothing particularly new, and as much as it saddens me, the thought that people might just one day listen to music just by themselves seems to me to be almost a natural extension of what I just described.
Then again, people love to go to shows to watch people perform and that’s something that’s been constant throughout history. So who knows? Thanks for reading this far.
As a fellow musician, born in 1945, I believe a lot of what you’re talking about started in the 80s and 90s of the last century, with programs like harmonizer, and superceeded by the Canadian geniuses who developed band in a box. I experimented with these, and was preparing for a Brass quintet gig, and we needed an arrangement of La Bamba. So I put the melody and the chords into harmonizer, and a generated parts for two trumpets, French Horn, trombone, and tuba. We played it on the gig, and it was a success. But I don’t know who would get the credit for the arrangement. me for pushing the buttons, the programmer, or the community, which built the computer. BIAB has become quite sophisticated. You can enter a chord progression, it will generate a melodic line similar to the improvisations of people like Charlie, Parker, John Coltrane, or Chet Atkins. Then, you can have that melody harmonized in , 3, 4 or five parts, in the style of Glenn Miller, or the style of Gill Evans.
The computers job is much simpler now, because modern pop music is generally so simplistic, all you need is two cords and three notes to make a song, which only needs a generic rhythm, and a lot of processing.
Your short essay was really thought provoking. There's definitely something scary about AI covers and imagining the future of music in that direction. I get the same feeling from Tiktok and Instagram music ecosystems. Who would have thought I'd feel old school for sticking with streaming artists on Spotify as my main form of music discovery and consumption...
At the same time, part of me is aware that lots of my music listening already goes in the "listening alone" category. Sometimes, I'll get to share my new discoveries with one or two friends whose music taste overlaps in that direction. But a lot of the absolute favorite songs feel really lonely to like, because nobody else loves it the same way. Sometimes the best you can hope for is going to the youtube video of the song/album and seeing commenters who appreciate it.
The funny thing is that it's often those who are the most into music who like the most obscure music that very few others also enjoy. People without really deeply developed, idiosyncratic tastes can listen to the same AI music as everyone else, because what they enjoy in music is universal.
The basic trend it's become easier to consume and create music has been an explosion in the amount of music available. More and more niche cracks of styles get explored and filled in. AI music will just be a continuation of that trend. I honestly think I'll find out just how limited great music has been to having a determined musician behind it to actually make the music come to reality. While once AI music fully develops, all that will lie between an imagined music style and an amazing album in that style is the process of conveying and describing your desired output to the AI. I'm scared but also excited to see what comes out of it.
I watched Johnny Carson for many years and we loved him for many reasons. One was that we never knew what he was going to say. Yes, he was prepared, but he was an improv genius in how he interacted with each guest, making hilarious quips in the moment followed by hysterical facial expressions. His monologue at the beginning was the equivalent of a great standup comedian in terms of his timing and the way he used his sidekick Ed McMahon to great effect.
Johnny was also almost always kind and supportive to his guests, many of whom were new to a national audience and visibly nervous. He made them feel valued and the audience lucky to witness this new talent. He broke many people into the 'big time.' I don't remember him being crass or inappropriate, although he did sometimes make double entendres. It was like hanging out with your favorite funny uncle every night. David Letterman and Jay Leno were much in the same vein. And they all had real audiences, so when you laughed you felt like you were sharing it with many others who got the jokes too.
It also goes without saying that they were not political in the way many talk show hosts are today. They were entertainers and stuck to entertainment, so it felt like a relaxing and safe space and not a place where the network was sneaking in unwelcome propaganda.
It was an improvised, enjoyable, funny, feel-good, communal and never repeatable or repetitive or predictable experience.
It was the exact opposite of what you're predicting for AI-generated music!!!
LOVE this latest post! You are very insightful and bring up many things worthy of consideration. I admire your probing, open minded, curious and sensitive mind.
Listening to music alone… This is a fascinating and simultaneously depressing concept to entertain. I’d like to add some additional perspective.
My grandfather was born in 1885, second generation Irish immigrant. In 1907 at the age of 22 he founded the Caldwell Nursery, a plant nursery, in Caldwell, NJ. I’m 74 now, and it’s impossible for me to count the number times I was there for Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas dinners, anniversary, and birthday celebrations etc.
At one such occasion I remember (quite clearly), my grandfather describing how music was played and shared among people when he was a younger man. He and most of his neighbors were farmers, and occasionally, maybe once every two months, they would all gather together at someone’s house, usually whoever had a piano. Someone would play it while everyone else sang in unison or in harmony or took turns soloing. The women would make sandwiches and serve coffee and - for them - it was very happy and lively evening indeed. Unlike modern TV shows where people stare at their feet in anxious uncertainty while judges might harsher critique them for not “owning the stage“ or whatever, everyone sang for the simple joy of it, and no one was particularly in competition with another.
My grandfather would tell this story often, always with a smile and a lot of affection; it definitely brought back many happy memories for him.
Then his countenance would change into something less than a smile as he recounted how disgusted he was with the invention of the radio, and while all the same neighbors would still come over to each other’s houses every month or two, the dynamic changed, and instead of people singing for fun and playing the piano they would all gather around the radio, sitting in chairs, to now listen to various skits that were being professionally produced as well as professional singers singing. He thought that was a real loss because there was no actual interaction anymore, people were just passively listening to a radio, sitting there in easy chairs, happily, munching a sandwich or smoking a pipe and enjoying the performances. But there was no longer any personal interaction as there had been.
Then his face became sadder still as he talked about how the television had taken the radio 10 steps further in terms of people interacting, or should I say not interacting. The famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright, once quipped “television is chewing gum for the eyes“ and no one believed that more than my grandfather.
My grandfather died in 1972, so I don’t think he lived to see the era whereby almost everyone in the family had their own television in their own room, much less today’s digital world where we all carry the entire globe in our pocket on a mobile phone.
All to say that this is nothing particularly new, and as much as it saddens me, the thought that people might just one day listen to music just by themselves seems to me to be almost a natural extension of what I just described.
Then again, people love to go to shows to watch people perform and that’s something that’s been constant throughout history. So who knows? Thanks for reading this far.
As a fellow musician, born in 1945, I believe a lot of what you’re talking about started in the 80s and 90s of the last century, with programs like harmonizer, and superceeded by the Canadian geniuses who developed band in a box. I experimented with these, and was preparing for a Brass quintet gig, and we needed an arrangement of La Bamba. So I put the melody and the chords into harmonizer, and a generated parts for two trumpets, French Horn, trombone, and tuba. We played it on the gig, and it was a success. But I don’t know who would get the credit for the arrangement. me for pushing the buttons, the programmer, or the community, which built the computer. BIAB has become quite sophisticated. You can enter a chord progression, it will generate a melodic line similar to the improvisations of people like Charlie, Parker, John Coltrane, or Chet Atkins. Then, you can have that melody harmonized in , 3, 4 or five parts, in the style of Glenn Miller, or the style of Gill Evans.
The computers job is much simpler now, because modern pop music is generally so simplistic, all you need is two cords and three notes to make a song, which only needs a generic rhythm, and a lot of processing.
Yours in the future, Andrew Homzy.ca
Your short essay was really thought provoking. There's definitely something scary about AI covers and imagining the future of music in that direction. I get the same feeling from Tiktok and Instagram music ecosystems. Who would have thought I'd feel old school for sticking with streaming artists on Spotify as my main form of music discovery and consumption...
At the same time, part of me is aware that lots of my music listening already goes in the "listening alone" category. Sometimes, I'll get to share my new discoveries with one or two friends whose music taste overlaps in that direction. But a lot of the absolute favorite songs feel really lonely to like, because nobody else loves it the same way. Sometimes the best you can hope for is going to the youtube video of the song/album and seeing commenters who appreciate it.
The funny thing is that it's often those who are the most into music who like the most obscure music that very few others also enjoy. People without really deeply developed, idiosyncratic tastes can listen to the same AI music as everyone else, because what they enjoy in music is universal.
The basic trend it's become easier to consume and create music has been an explosion in the amount of music available. More and more niche cracks of styles get explored and filled in. AI music will just be a continuation of that trend. I honestly think I'll find out just how limited great music has been to having a determined musician behind it to actually make the music come to reality. While once AI music fully develops, all that will lie between an imagined music style and an amazing album in that style is the process of conveying and describing your desired output to the AI. I'm scared but also excited to see what comes out of it.
I watched Johnny Carson for many years and we loved him for many reasons. One was that we never knew what he was going to say. Yes, he was prepared, but he was an improv genius in how he interacted with each guest, making hilarious quips in the moment followed by hysterical facial expressions. His monologue at the beginning was the equivalent of a great standup comedian in terms of his timing and the way he used his sidekick Ed McMahon to great effect.
Johnny was also almost always kind and supportive to his guests, many of whom were new to a national audience and visibly nervous. He made them feel valued and the audience lucky to witness this new talent. He broke many people into the 'big time.' I don't remember him being crass or inappropriate, although he did sometimes make double entendres. It was like hanging out with your favorite funny uncle every night. David Letterman and Jay Leno were much in the same vein. And they all had real audiences, so when you laughed you felt like you were sharing it with many others who got the jokes too.
It also goes without saying that they were not political in the way many talk show hosts are today. They were entertainers and stuck to entertainment, so it felt like a relaxing and safe space and not a place where the network was sneaking in unwelcome propaganda.
It was an improvised, enjoyable, funny, feel-good, communal and never repeatable or repetitive or predictable experience.
It was the exact opposite of what you're predicting for AI-generated music!!!
LOVE this latest post! You are very insightful and bring up many things worthy of consideration. I admire your probing, open minded, curious and sensitive mind.
Beware the futility of uselessness
Keep plugging the holes in the dyke.