PLAY!
“And the first rude sketch that the world had seen was joy to his mighty heart, till the Devil whispered behind the leaves "It's pretty, but is it Art?"”
-Kipling
Kenley flew down to Toronto so check out PLAY! The touring videogame concert. It was sold out, full of cheering fans, as always a standing ovation. Considering the fact that I cut my musical teeth on the 8bit sounds of FinalFantasy I wish I could have been there. I am willing to say I know that repertoire better than almost everybody in that concert hall, videogame nerds included. Ever since I was 14 I've been able to transcribe the majority of the music from the Final Fantasy series from memory.
There was a time where I thought I wanted to be a game composer. Now I find myself questioning the artistic merit of the genre all together. Granted it brings a lot of joy to people, but I get worried about how disposible the music becomes. Being tied to a technology format is dangerous. After our generation is gone, and with it all the nostalgic ties that keep mario brothers alive, how will videogame music stand up against the cannon of great orchestral repertoire? Last time I checked, Nobuo's greatest works were derived from Stravinsky and Brahms, sometimes quoted directly. (Not to slight my musical hero... I'm just saying)
I'm not sure yet... I'm not saying I've closed this door as a possible creative outlet, I'm just saying that in a saturated market filled with experienced videogame composers who show no signs of retiring any time soon, the next generation should be using this time to become great composers. Videogame music might be fun, but if it's going to be on the program with a Mahler Symphony, those videogame composers have some catching up to do.
posted by Inspired Reality @ 8:35 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
"I cut my musical teeth on the 8bit sounds of FinalFantasy"
"I get worried about how disposible the music [video game] becomes"
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Seems to me like these two contradict themselves. You question the artistic merit of video game music, yet you owe much of your own musical career to it. Do you aspire to "do a lot of catching up?"
I say quit being such an academic, Eliot. Your allowing a studious, and may I say somewhat pretentious, attitude ruin the value of an art form that has true meaning for many, including yourself. Is the music that you have studied in university selected because of cultural influence (i.e. the academic disdain towards most things "mainstream") or because of true artistic merit? Are there other pieces to be learned from? Even Aristotle himself warned us about this.
Let's face it, the greatest artists of our time didn't all attend prestigious universities where they honed their skills. Most were simple people who could express the imaginative inspiration they received from the world around them. If video game music is that inspiration for some, I don't think it anyone's place to tell them that it is worth less than others.
"Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are your own fears." -Kipling
- D
I was going to write something, but Dave pretty much said it all. So don't be such a pussy and do what you love.
But why do I love the videogame music? Is it because of the music or is it because of the memories I have attached to said music?
If you put videogame music beside the music of a master and have a non videogame player chose one that is more interesting, anybody with an ear would chose the latter.
There are no orchestral masterpieces in videogame genre. Just because something has lush orchestration dosen't mean it is the work of a genius. How can a fun 2 minute orchestral loop compete with a 50 minute Mahler symphony?
As for Aristotle, you might want to check up on some philosophers who live in at the VERY least this mellenium, perhaps even century. A lot has changed in the study of aesthetics since 300 BCE.
As for your little contradiction...
In regards to cutting teeth,
If a child who will grow into an artist starts to colour in a colouring book does that mean the coloring book is equal to his paintings later in life?
First thing: You misunderstood the contradiction.
Your argument was that video game music might be disposible (implicitly valueless). Yet, you owe the beginning of your career (and some of your inspiration) to it. One could argue, thus, that by accepting video game music as valueless one should accept that your career is valueless (or at least that any part of your career/music that has anything to do with video game music is valueless).
However, since I do think (as I'm sure you do) that your career/music has value, then video game music must have value as well.
So as far as your little analogy is concerned, an argument that is the same as the one I posted earlier would sound like this:
If a child who grows into an artist produces valuable works of art,
and his inspiration/motivation came from colouring books he had when he was a child,
those colouring books also have value.
This argument does not suggest that the colouring books have the same value as the works of art, just as video game music may not be as valuable as a Mahler symphony. But both the video game music and the colouring books have some value (and are thus not disposible).
Second thing:Aesthetics are subjective, and were not part of the argument.
The reference to Aristotle had nothing to do with aesthetics. It had to do with the professionalism of music and how that may devalue certain forms of musical expression. The passage I was referring to is this (Found in Part VI):
"Thus then we reject the professional instruments and also the professional mode of education in music (and by professional we mean that which is adopted in contests), for in this the performer practices the art, not for the sake of his own improvement, but in order to give pleasure, and that of a vulgar sort, to his hearers. For this reason the execution of such music is not the part of a freeman but of a paid performer, and the result is that the performers are vulgarized, for the end at which they aim is bad. The vulgarity of the spectator tends to lower the character of the music and therefore of the performers; they look to him- he makes them what they are, and fashions even their bodies by the movements which he expects them to exhibit."
Loosely summarized, if you focus too much on the academic and professional pursuit of music, the value of music may be placed to heavily on how the artist can best his/her academic colleagues, rather than the meaning people glean from the music they hear. This argument, I think, is still relevant 2350 years later.
Lastly, I feel I should address the following comment:
"If you put videogame music beside the music of a master and have a non videogame player chose one that is more interesting, anybody with an ear would chose the latter."
Let's compare this to another statement that has already made it's way into the discussion..
"I cut my musical teeth on the 8bit sounds of FinalFantasy."
So...
Did you choose video game music because you were a video game player (I know you were exposed to classical music at an early age)? If so, what difference does being a video game player make?
Either way, you chose to attribute your humble beginning to video game music (despite other influences). To claim, as in the original post, that video game music may be disposible is to contradict your own successes as a musician.
If you are questioning the artistic merit of being a video game music composer you should ask the following:
What does video game music mean to me? What does it mean to others?
If you find that there is meaning to it at all, that meaning will demonstrate said music as a social monad. In other words, it will have caused someone to question their social life and further sociohistorical progression. This, by the way, being the argument of 20th century philosopher, composer, and aesthetic theorist Theodor Adorno.
By his theory, you are already fighting for the value of video game music. There is no doubt that it is a part of you and that it has shaped your musical life. If you make nothing of your musical career and it has no meaning for anyone, then perhaps you are right to suggest that video game music, in turn, is disposible. Video game music HAS, however, influenced you in a meaningful way and thus has already proven itself non-disposable. As Kenley's experience suggests, you're not the only one either..
To recap..
Spin those Mahler symphonies until your ears bleed. It might be more inspirational. Just don't throw out your old tapes of Final Fantasy III (VI) game music, and don't think that a child would play a video game and never think "man, this Eliot Britton is my musical hero". By being a video game music composer you may not become another Mahler, but you certainly might spawn one. The artistic merit in that is for you to decide..
-D
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