Marko: As a musician, you keep trying to capture the essence, not
necessarily the vocabulary, or even the sound - and if you are after
the "essence", your effort is to get the point where you can count
yourself into the ranks of people who perform at a high level. This
validates good music and perpetuates the whole idea. Keeps one moving
towards the fact that there is something worth while at stake, the
beauty inherent in the essence, which, ultimately comes down to love
and respect.
A mark of a performance which captures the essence of music is that
both the performers and audience should be so captivated that they
believe there is nothing else in the world other than that very
moment!!! At the same time, they should be surrounded by a kind of
totality - everything that is, was and could be. I know, it sounds
immense, and it is... it is deep also... It isn't about stardom, or
thousands of girls screaming because there is a cute boy on stage -
It's not about the superficial or the histrionic, but the substance of
the message, the inspiration to the musician and listener: “give your
best and create something with that kind of power - something truly
worth living for!!”
E: It’s not the language.
M: No! Music is not a language, we have a language and it's proposed
function is to dispel all mysteries in communication. We already said
that music (especially improvised music) carries within itself a
degree of mystery; there are no words to describe it... Now, aside
the fact that there’s no way language itself can actually be devoid of
mystery - etymology is a bottomless pit, a way to nowhere (in)
particular, because there’s always a deeper dig, and there isn’t
really a way to put a finger on the beginning of human speech, initial
development of language and why and how it became as it is today.
Language and music are a lot more similar in this deeper sense which
certainly subscribes to a certain amount of uncertainty or mystery.
But, to compare music to the common, everyday "speaking" language
people use to communicate their largely prosaic daily affairs to each
other, is an insult to music, in my opinion. At least good music,
anyway.
***
M: Money shouldn’t be the first thing that’s being talked about. I’ve
never started playing music because of money. I feel lucky to be able
to sustain myself by doing music, but I’d play music even if I was
doing something else for a living. It would still be there and I
wouldn’t care if I made the money or not. With that I think comes the
idea of making choices... For example, I’ve never been a part of a
steady wedding band or anything like that. I’ve subbed, of course. (I
have some funny stories about doing that stuff). I’m in no way putting
down anybody that does that kind of stuff. But, if you do it to much,
I think that there is a danger, an old friend of mine back at Berklee
called it “Golden Handcuffs”… (Laughs.) You know, and there is some
truth to that. And also I think there’s also a funny feeling when
you’re subbing, you know it was always cool, people were really nice
and I tried to be nice to them as well. But when everybody has their
clock out, and we’re playing until 10pm let say, and you literally see
the seconds go by and all of a sudden the gig is over at 10:00:01,
practically in the middle of a song... That’s not how I think of
music, you know. Not something that should stop at 10PM sharp.
E: Definitely, I agree on that, There is a time frame of course, but
the point is to have fun already by playing the music itself. Not the
time.
M: Exactly! The fun seemed to be that it was over. And that’s
definitely not for me.
***
M: I was at Shawn Pelton's master class recently. The title of the
masterclass was “Surviving the Jungle”. I knew immediately that he was
going to talk about the music business. Now, mind you, I really think
he’s a fantastic drummer. But the problem I had with his talk at the
clinic - it was to a fault about the business aspect, getting paid,
etc. I had trouble reconciling the fact that he’s a serious artist,
with his talk, which was so devoid of anything artistic... And then
you’ve got 50 kids listening, who now have the idea that you have to
develop this business sense much more than your musical sense. But
he’s a beautiful musician. That’s something he should be talking
about - what it took for him to become the musician that he is. I
don’t mean that he should not talk about money and business, the
aspects of making a living out of music. But you can’t talk about
that stuff only. If that's all it is, we should all become
accountants.
***
M: I think Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” and “Interstellar Space” are great
examples of music which is completely relevant now as it was back in
the sixties, when they were made. Both albums are really demanding of
the listener, and probably more so today. What is truly strange to me
is that there are people today, studying and playing music, who have
no idea about this, even though they may have these albums in their
digital libraries. I think it becomes laughable, if it wasn’t sad. The
thing is, also, in today's world, you’re subjected ever increasing
choices, more options; but, when you look at it from the fundamental
stand point, how many different kinds of toothpaste are necessary to
keep your teeth clean? How many different kinds of options on a car
you have to hear about before it begins insulting your intelligence?
It is the advertising machine really. Marketing is the knight in
shining armor that takes peoples brains and cuts them up and makes
guacamole. I’m sure you’ve noticed, the terminology they use, Love,
Inspiration, Loyalty. The fields of inspiration and creative activity
seem to be narrowing down rapidly. Most people don’t ever get there,
because there’s the supermarket, there’s the TV and that’s it. That’s
your scope of life. And I think that is at once sad and really fucked
up!
***
E: I didn’t want to talk about things related to drums only. There are
more important topics we came upon.
M: There are some much more important things to talk about, or at least
a wider scale (in my world, drums are VERY important!). And there
seems to be a concerted effort to not talk about these things. Take a
look at what is happening with the Occupy Wall Street protest. I don’t
know what kind of a lack of insight a person should have to not
understand that the basic premise is correct. How material wealth is
being distributed is just not right! I fully agree with this idea! The
problem I have is that a lot of the people protesting have had their
beliefs irrevocably shaped by the system! Their line of thinking goes
something like this: capitalism is the best system, and I am here
protesting the fact that it doesn't seem like it's democratic enough…
But, there is absolutely nothing democratic about capitalism, and if
democracy and capitalism are confronted, guess who looses? Also, a
lot of people who are protesting are motivated by their own greed -
"I just want a piece for myself" kind of attitude... A lot of them
would never think of protesting all the inequities brought onto other
places throughout the world, so long as they could have their
standard of living kept up... So, even though I know there are some
genuinely concerned and clear thinking individuals who see the shit
for what it is, for a lot of them out there it comes from a position
of envy rather then a position of a true desire to change things and
move them to different place... Obviously not every person. But I
think, there is quite a bit of this going on. That’s the reason I
wouldn’t go there. I guess it's human nature; like when a mid level
communist apparatchik was asked by a journalist, in a private
conversation: We are all supposed to be equal in communism, yet you
have an official car, and a personal driver, privileges a common man
can only dream of while freezing his ass off waiting for the public
bus, which is always crowded, always late... How does this make you
feel?! Well, the apparatchik said, 1/3 of me feels a little ashamed
that I have these privileges, 1/3 of me quite enjoys the car, the
driver, the nice house, etc. and 1/3 of me constantly wishes that I
had an even bigger, fancier car, two drivers around the clock, a
bigger house and many more perks and privileges, like some officials
in higher positions than the one I hold!
The point I am trying to make is that we all have "a few people"
inside of us - the basic question is which one will have the last word
before we step up and act in our world.
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