Well, any Mac user CAN compose, and has a wide range of tools with which to do so in the electronic realm. Whether or not those compositions will be good, however, is another matter entirely. I think the author was simply trying to allude to the democratization of the music making process to the masses.

Michael Bechard



----- Original Message ----
From: luis jure 
To: csound list 
Sent: Tuesday, August 5, 2008 8:45:56 AM
Subject: [Csnd] Re: Paul Lansky throws in the towel


on 2008-08-05 at 15:58 DavidW wrote:

>it is referencing this article:
>http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/06/arts/emusic.php

the article is worth reading for this gem:

"Any Mac user can compose,"

this is the art of journalism at its highest: the most complete idiocy
summed up in five words. and fairly short words at that.

BTW, paul lanksy composed one of my favorite computer pieces of all
time, the six fantasies. i can't honestly say i like much some of his
other pieces, though. but i admire and respect him very much. for the
rest, i think a big fuzz is being made out of this, any composer should
be free to follow their [*] artistic inclinations at any particular
moment. and free also from idiotic journalists.


best,

lj

[*] please note the politically correct use of the possessive
determiner.


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on 2008-08-05 at 09:55 Michael Bechard wrote:

>I think the author was simply trying to allude to the democratization
>of the music making process to the masses.

yeah, sure, macs are highly democratic and for the masses... perhaps it
wasn't clear what i found so idiotic in that sentence. first, the idea
that "anyone" can compose just "having" a certain commodity (why not
say "anyone with a piano|violin|guitar|whatever can compose"? it's just
as true). but what really got me was the use of a particular brand. he
didn't say "anyone with a personal computer can compose", which i think
is wrong [*] but is a valid point to start a discussion. he said "any
_mac_ user can compose". sorry to be so sensitive about this, but it
really gets me. 

once again, sorry for the rant.


best,

lj


[*] what should have been said, in my opinion, is something like (in
better english, of course): "the present state of technology makes
possible for any composer to produce computer music with a common
personal computer, without depending on having access to a studio
equipped with an assortment of very expensive and specialized
instruments, as it was in the past"

There's nothing subversive about it - all the statement really meant 
was, in a stunning feat of abbreviation, that Macs come with Garageband 
as a shrink-wrapped standard application. Whereas to date any PC user 
has to find some equivalent (?) to download and install, before they can 
start composing music. I have Garageband, and can confirm that it is 
indeed scarily easy to use, and I knocked up a jolly little number in no 
time at all, using the built-in microphone which is active by default. A 
cheap USB MIDI controller keyboard is really the only external thing you 
need to add to make things even easier. Kids and grownups of all ages 
can have a fab time with it from the moment they turn the machine on for 
the first time. There's probably an online manual for it somewhere, but 
it hardly seems necessary. Such things should not be underestimated.

There was a time when "serious" musicians deplored the guitar, arguing 
that the notion that anyone can make real music using just one or two 
chords was absurd, and likely to result in the complete collapse of 
civilization. And of course, they were right!

Richard Dobson
(who sometimes forgets that the masses are not supposed to be musical, 
much less be able to compose)




luis jure wrote:
> on 2008-08-05 at 09:55 Michael Bechard wrote:
> 
>> I think the author was simply trying to allude to the democratization
>> of the music making process to the masses.
> 
> yeah, sure, macs are highly democratic and for the masses... perhaps it
> wasn't clear what i found so idiotic in that sentence. first, the idea
> that "anyone" can compose just "having" a certain commodity (why not
> say "anyone with a piano|violin|guitar|whatever can compose"? it's just
> as true). but what really got me was the use of a particular brand. he
> didn't say "anyone with a personal computer can compose", which i think
> is wrong [*] but is a valid point to start a discussion. he said "any
> _mac_ user can compose". sorry to be so sensitive about this, but it
> really gets me. 
> 
> once again, sorry for the rant.
> 

on 2008-08-06 at 01:07 Richard Dobson wrote:

>all the statement really meant was, in a stunning feat of
>abbreviation, that Macs come with Garageband as a shrink-wrapped
>standard application. 

is that what he really meant? wow, that makes "stunning feat of
abbreviation" seem like an understatement...

richard, you may be right, of course. as i said, i'm too sensitive
about these issues. anyway i think what he really _communicated_ is that
anyone can compose music provided they own a cool, sleek, expensive and
exclusive mac. i still think it would have been more decent to say that
any child with a laptop from the OLPC project can make music (thanks to
open and free tools, BTW).

best,

lj

and csound!

At 02:15 06/08/2008, you wrote:

>on 2008-08-06 at 01:07 Richard Dobson wrote:
>
> >all the statement really meant was, in a stunning feat of
> >abbreviation, that Macs come with Garageband as a shrink-wrapped
> >standard application.
>
>is that what he really meant? wow, that makes "stunning feat of
>abbreviation" seem like an understatement...
>
>richard, you may be right, of course. as i said, i'm too sensitive
>about these issues. anyway i think what he really _communicated_ is that
>anyone can compose music provided they own a cool, sleek, expensive and
>exclusive mac. i still think it would have been more decent to say that
>any child with a laptop from the OLPC project can make music (thanks to
>open and free tools, BTW).
>
>best,
>
>lj
>
>
>Send bugs reports to this list.
>To unsubscribe, send email sympa@lists.bath.ac.uk with body 
>"unsubscribe csound"

Victor Lazzarini
Music Technology Laboratory
Music Department
National University of Ireland, Maynooth 

luis jure wrote:
> on 2008-08-06 at 01:07 Richard Dobson wrote:
> 
>> all the statement really meant was, in a stunning feat of
>> abbreviation, that Macs come with Garageband as a shrink-wrapped
>> standard application. 
> 
> is that what he really meant? wow, that makes "stunning feat of
> abbreviation" seem like an understatement...
> 
> richard, you may be right, of course. as i said, i'm too sensitive
> about these issues. anyway i think what he really _communicated_ is that
> anyone can compose music provided they own a cool, sleek, expensive and
> exclusive mac. i still think it would have been more decent to say that
> any child with a laptop from the OLPC project can make music (thanks to
> open and free tools, BTW).
> 

Indeed; but that is of course a subject in itself, and the Mac statement 
was just an ornamental line in a "human interest" story (and I do in 
fact agree that it might have been better just to say "computer"). As a 
journalist (of sorts - local paper) myself decades ago, I know that for 
every line published there was probably a whole paragraph in draft that 
was struck out.

It would take someone writing for Wire to take the story about Lansky 
and turn it into (yet another)  provocative think piece about the global 
state of computer-based music making (and of computer-based music and of 
FOSS etc). Wouldn't surprise me if they were already working on it.


Richard Dobson

Richard Dobson wrote:
> There's nothing subversive about it - all the statement really meant 
> was, in a stunning feat of abbreviation, that Macs come with Garageband 
> as a shrink-wrapped standard application. Whereas to date any PC user 
> has to find some equivalent (?) to download and install, before they can 
> start composing music. I have Garageband, and can confirm that it is 
> indeed scarily easy to use, and I knocked up a jolly little number in no 
> time at all, using the built-in microphone which is active by default. A 
> cheap USB MIDI controller keyboard is really the only external thing you 
> need to add to make things even easier. Kids and grownups of all ages 
> can have a fab time with it from the moment they turn the machine on for 
> the first time. There's probably an online manual for it somewhere, but 
> it hardly seems necessary. Such things should not be underestimated.
> 
> There was a time when "serious" musicians deplored the guitar, arguing 
> that the notion that anyone can make real music using just one or two 
> chords was absurd, and likely to result in the complete collapse of 
> civilization. And of course, they were right!


I can't resist a topical XKCD link, sorry:

http://xkcd.com/359/

-- JK



-- 
I do not particularly want to go where the money is -
  it usually does not smell nice there. -- A. Stepanov