Composers undervalued, 'Sound & Music' report

[BKK-OZ]

Interesting article in the Guardian about trends in payment for music composition.

If we believe that music is a living artform then it stands to reason that the creation of new music is vital to its current and future health. However, professional composers are being asked to create new music for very little money in conditions that are too often inadequate. As a sector we have some hard questions to ask ourselves about our priorities.

[dosuna11]

Sad to say I feel this is trending in most areas of music. Great signature about atomic sub-particles.

[FMiguelez]

Interesting article in the Guardian about trends in payment for music composition.

Interesting article, indeed.
Down here, producers want more for less each time

Thanks for posting that link, BKK.

Great signature about atomic sub-particles.

Agreed. It's a great and musical quote (even if it's incomplete in BKK's sig).

Too bad it's one of the most quote-mined and abused quotes there are, probably up there with some of Einstein's (the middle part of it doesn't mean what most people think it does... Hint> It has to do more with Spinoza's philosophy. Even some... Dare I say it? Panthe... No. I don't dare saying that word here)


STFU, Fernando!!!

[BKK-OZ]

It's a great and musical quote (even if it's incomplete in BKK's sig).

Incomplete?

Sure, my signature does not include the totality of Kaku's thoughts. The guy has written a bunch of books and spoken publicly for years, no one could have a signature that big!

But the quote is not incomplete, it is something he has said.

See a transcript here: http://www.floatinguniversity.com/kaku-transcript-2 (paragraph 7)
And listen to him here: http://bigthink.com/videos/the-universe ... -strings-2

[FMiguelez]

I didn't mean it as a critique, BKK

It's just that the version I'm familiar with, the one I've always read, says a little more.
But I admit your version does capture the essence and the most beautiful part of it.

This is the complete version I know from Dr. Kaku (this same quote shows in many other places, but they appear in heavily religious contexts, James' favorite , and he would not be pleased if I post the links here):

So string theory says that all subatomic particles of the universe are nothing but musical notes. A, B-flat, C-sharp, correspond to electrons, neutrinos, quarks, and what have you. Therefore, physics is nothing but the laws of harmony of these strings. Chemistry is nothing but the melodies we can play on these strings. The universe is a symphony of strings and the mind of g**, the mind of g** that Einstein eloquently wrote about for the last 30 years of his life. For the first time in history, we now have a candidate for the mind of g**. It is cosmic music resonating through 11 dimensional hyperspace. That is the mind of g**.



Doing a simple search, I notice that Dr. Kaku liberally quotes himself and adds and takes out little parts off it.

So, to my surprise, there doesn't appear to be an "official" version of it. You're right about that.

For instance, we also have:

What is physics? Physics is nothing but the laws of harmony that you can write on vibrating strings. What is chemistry? Chemistry is nothing but the melodies you can play on interacting vibrating strings. What is the universe? The universe is a symphony of vibrating strings. And then what is the mind of g** that Albert Einstein eloquently wrote about for the last 30 years of his life? We now, for the first time in history have a candidate for the mind of g**. It is, cosmic music resonating through 11 dimensional hyperspace.
So first of all, we are nothing but melodies. We are nothing but cosmic music played out on vibrating strings and membranes. Obeying the laws of physics, which is nothing but the laws of harmony of vibrating strings.


So I suppose your quote is like mine in the sense that Dr. Dawkins quotes himself and repeats his explanation by very similar means and words in different contexts (I transcribed mine from a veeeeeeery good debate, BTW).

Anyway, your Kaku quote really rocks (with the caveat I mentioned in my previous post about its meaning of that part).


Now, I suggest we don't discuss this any further here, lest we get our butts kicked for breach of the FUA

PMs would be better for this



Now, about those trends in payments for musical composition...

[BKK-OZ]

I didn't mean it as a critique, BKK

No worries brother, I didn't take it that way, I just didn't know what you meant. Thanx for clarifying.

Yeah, them composers aren't getting their due, are they?

[DanielCoe]

This is nothing new. Many of the greats often survived on the generosity of patrons or taught music lessons for a living. Few had financial success in their time.

That being said, composers have to know what to charge and not be afraid to ask for it (or demand it)!! This goes across the board: the time it takes to write, demo, and revise, then prep it for recording (including any scores and parts that need to be prepared), the cost of the studio, the engineer, the musicians, and the mixing and mastering!! Part of the composer's job is to educate producers on the process and its demands of quality is expected!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[monkey man]

I don't think it was necessary to censor the quote, 'Nandito.

It wasn't a discussion about religion, after all... nor poly ticks, for that matter; all you were doing was providing a more expansive version of the quote, IMHO.

Still, it's funny how we walk on eggshells and get nervous (I do at least) when we stray from the line and meander towards the outer limits of the boundaries set here, even a little, and with good reason. Those areas which are verboten are justifiably made so in order to protect us kiddies from being naughty and creating mayhem.

As a songwriter, this sux., BK! Confirmation of what we already knew, but IMHO it's our right to lament such things and wallow in our steadily-progressing demise.

Something's gotta give sooner or later...

[Gravity Jim]

A friend who scores TV in LA (in fact, I think he may still be a member of this very online forum) told me a funny story about attending a big powwow of big scoring muckity-mucks, where everybody was getting together to bitch about this very subject.

He arrived at vast parking in his Mini Cooper. But he said, "the rest of the line of cars was Tesla, Tesla, Tesla, Bentley, Maserati, Tesla, Tesla, Betley Tesla... and I'm thinking, what have you guys got to complain about?"

So I take these reports with two grains of salt and a lump of sugar.

[monkey man]

... just not as much sugar as the Bentley and Maserati owners.