Sunday, June 3, 2007

Pragmatism in Music.

I work with my brother Joel, who insists on listening to country music. When a certain song comes on that begins with a woman singing "right now, he's probably slow dancing", my brother turns it off, saying "this song is useless." The idea of pragmatism in music is interesting. Music is a good pass time, it is relaxing, and enjoyable, but the idea that music should be useful is a novel one for me. This idea indicates that in songwriting we musicians should strive to have useful music, music with a message that people can apply to their lives. Interesting business, and it's got me thinking. For one day I'd like to make a playlist on my iPod of songs that are useful, that impact my actions. I will see how long a playlist it is.

1 comment:

Scott Aasman said...

personally, i feel that there is a time and place for 'useless' music... something about music that takes no time or effort to digest i like. not all the time. just sometimes... like at work. common, it doesnt take a brain surgeon to figure out "if i had a million dollars" but everytime i hear it on the radio i cannot help but belt it out.