The ONE (as it applies to Life) (Vol. 28, Dec. 13)

the One as it applies to Life

The One is a philosophy that can be applied to life itself. In music, players must always come back to the One to keep their groove strong, and to keep that special bond it creates with the other musicians and the audience. It is very natural and the pulse of the song, which becomes the pulse of everyone listening and not only playing, and it takes no effort to feel it, because it is natural. Most of all, everything always has to come back to the One in order for the life of the song to continue.

As a Taoist person myself, this reminds me of a philosophy that everything must come full circle and return to its origins. Everything originates from a natural point, and then progresses outward as it feels so inclined to grow, and then it must come back to its origin in order to continue to grow more. Even when moving away from your One, everyone is always inclined by Nature herself to return to that which makes you what you are. If you do not make this return to the One, you will forget everything and become lost on your path in life.

Straying from your One leads you on the wrong path in life. Without your One, your life is subject to meaningless things, loss, tension, unwanted cloudiness, and being an outcast. If you find yourself off of your One, the best thing is that it will always be making its way back to you for as long as you keep on living, and you can always count on the One. You can always jump right back into the One and all of your problems will disappear and you will again be on the right track! In this way, the One is ultimately the right path in the Universe!

The ONE (as it applies to Music) (Vol. 27, Nov.13)

The One (as it applies to music)

The One as it applies to music, only begins by being the first beat of every measure. No matter what time signature the piece is in, there is always a one. This is the simplest explanation of the one.

To play the One is a science into itself, albeit a simple yet extremely powerful one. When playing the One, you should always make it a priority to hit the one, and then you can worry about any other notes and details you want to play that fit the overall groove. The main factor is that you should always return to the One, just as the song naturally does with every passing measure. The song always comes back to the One, and so should you as a player! The One is like punctuating your sentences when you are writing or talking. If everyone else is playing on the One except for you, you will disrupt the whole song and make a mess out of everything. But, if everyone is playing on the One, the One keeps everything together. Everyone can feel eachother when everyone knows where the One is!

The One keeps not only the musicians together, but it also keeps the audience together. It also keeps the audience in tune with the musicians, forming a powerful connection, or bond, with everyone involved! You do not even need an extensive musical education to know where the One is, anyone can feel it easily, and if you aren't on the One and nobody feels it because of this, you are just saying meaningless phrases with no soul, because noone feels it. If noone feels what you are trying to say, then all is lost and means nothing. The One enables everyone to talk, feel, and listen on the same frequency. The One is the heartbeat of the song, the stage, the whole dance floor, and ultimately the whole Universe all in One!

Notes From A Bass Guru (Vol. 26, Jan. 13) "Plato and Arts"

Notes From A Bass Guru (Vol 26., Jan. 13)

Plato on Arts

I was reading Plato's “Gorgias” recently, and what started as a political commentary in which Socrates really tears into a few politicians, eventually turned into a critique of what art and sciences really are and how they apply to the mind and body. He begins by disagreeing on their ways of persuading the unknowing masses of things they are ignorant of just for the sake of convincing them to believe anything they say, thus gaining personal power. This sounded to me to be extremely relevant to the modern music industry!

Plato says that anything done for purposes of pandering (merely for pleasing others) disqualifies it as an art, as it will then be done for purposes of pleasure and not for the sake of art itself. Art is something that exists on a higher plain than pleasure. Also, true art can never lead to anything bad while pleasure (as Aristotle will put it for several chapters in “The Nicomachean Ethics”) is one of the most dangerous drives of the psyche in terms of morality. This is because pleasure in its own nature strives only to fulfill itself, whether the source of fulfillment is ethical or not. Pandering, then, is not ethical as it depends completely on the pleasure of masses and not on the higher facets of art itself.

I've heard it said that pop should stand for “pandering on purpose”. When I read the dialogue between Socrates and a politician named Gorgias, Gorgias admitted that while giving speeches (which pander to the masses he is giving them to) it only matters that he can convince them of anything he is trying to say, and that it helps him further if they are ignorant of the topic at hand. He says that educated, professional masses would be tougher to convince of things than an unknowing mass. Finally, he admits to Socrates that his speeches have nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with convincing! Socrates ends saying that it is better to TEACH (true knowledge is involved in teaching) than to convince.

This made me think of the music industry! Gorgias seems to be a good representative of every major record industry mogul out there today! The more of the masses that are pleased with the song he is trying to sell, the more sales he will make. Which is why the industry produces formulaic songs now for capital gains and not for art's sake! Plato, just now, has shown me that the entire modern pop industry is NOT an art, it is something far less! Art is to be done for art's sake, which means music should be done for music's sake! It is every musician's higher moral duty to only create music out of love and for music's sake, never to convince less musically educated masses that this is music for purposes of taking their money. (And the industry wonders why musically educated people/real musicians dislike their products?!!?!)

Always remember: “Art for art's sake!” Music is not to be used for convincing everyone to buy it, but it should be made out of love, for it's own sake. The people understand that language too, pandering isn't necessary.

Platonically yours,

Mark McAnaney (composer/bassist)