Today I found myself contemplating beauty as I was thinking about vocalists. It lead to what I thought were a few small but interesting thoughts. It didn't take it long for that to merge with the philosophical ideas that are so often on my mind with the way the world is today.
Before I become too side tracked by my normal train of thought I want to share what I found myself considering with regards to vocalists.
In this world, in this reality if you are into music you have likely heard vocalists you thought were amazing. That is typically as far as it goes for most people.
Some people may notice the skill of the vocalist with the crazy technique they show as they sing. Most people do not actually seem to notice that. They instead notice the lyrics and the vocal timbre.
What is the vocal timbre? It is the tone and texture of a person's vocals. It is what makes their voice sound like THEM and unique when they talk. It is something they were born with that no amount of training will remove or suddenly gift them with.
That is the most prominent thing about a vocalist that most people clue into. They don't typically know when the singer did something particularly tricky or skillful. The sound of their voice is what captures the person.
That sound is biological and genetic. It cannot be taught.
In truth there have been many singers/vocalists that have been considered amazing that were not actually particularly skilled. They were however gifted with a unique sounding voice that people were attracted to.
Some of you may have considered this before. I know I have.
The difference for me today is that I found myself truly thinking about that timbre. Yet today I was thinking how musical instruments such as violins also have been admired for their timbre. If you play an instrument enough you can pick up an instrument and when you play a particularly well crafted, and for some well aged instrument it will have a timbre and quality to it that has nothing to do with how you chose to play it.
This is partially why early Stradivarius violins were so treasured. The craftsman Stradivarius was known for making the best violins around. Do you think musicians would have considered it the best due to some fancy engravings, etc.?
If such details could be added they might like it but ultimately to the musician the most important thing is the responsiveness and the sound of the instrument. The timbre.
I myself have experienced this with guitars. I toiled over my guitars (I began with an acoustic, and a Gibson Electric) for years. I practiced. I was not one of those lucky people who have this gift the moment they touch the instrument. I thought my practice was not producing as much as I'd expect with the amount of time I put in. I kept at it anyway.
Then one day a fellow guitarist left his Jackson guitar at my house. I played it. My hands flew. I was doing things I didn't know I could do. The instrument was better and more responsive.
That was my first experience that the instrument can truly matter in terms of expressing any skill you have. You may actually be skillful and simply be unaware due to being limited by your instrument.
I ended up having to sell all my guitars to come up with rent with the exception of one old beat up Guild Classical guitar that I'd never messed with. It turns out that guitar has a really nice tone and I mostly ignored it until it was my only guitar.
Then I put it down for many years...
Until as a computer consultant one of my clients couldn't afford to fix their computer but they offered to give me an old B.C. Rich Warlock guitar that was pretty beat up. My father and I did some work to make it useable but it was far from factory complete.
Between it and my classical guitar I began once again doing what I tend to call noodling. An artist doodles on paper. I noodle on my guitar. I wasn't so much into memorizing other people's songs. I also wasn't so into writing my own songs that I kept playing over and over again. Instead I was more interested in being in the moment and letting what came out come out.
That is the zone I operated in for years...
Then we moved to the Denver area and at one crappy job two people were talking about jamming on the weekends. I said it'd be cool if I could jam with them sometime. They didn't say much.
(Some comic relief)
A few days later one of them shows up at work with a guitar case. They ask me over. They open it. Inside is a Jackson. They stick it in my hands and I start noodling.
After awhile they nodded at each other and said "he can come" and I handed the guitar back and thought he was going to play. He simply put the guitar back in its case.
I would show up several weekends but the first one I showed up I had my beat up B.C. Rich and my amp. They quickly stuck an ESP in my hands instead that they had.
I found myself doing things I'd never done before and often they were surprised and saying "Hell yeah!"
One thing that sticks to my mind is around the last time I was there (I quit that job, good thing too, as 6 months later it was raided by the EPA and ended up as a 60 minutes special) we were talking about playing guitar and I was telling the other guy "You are quite good. You can play Joe Satriani stuff, I've seen you do it." All he said to me was "So can you." I had not played any because memorizing songs was not my thing but it meant something to me that he was confident in my abilities so he said that.
(And no... that song is way beyond my skill level but I probably could have played some of his songs...)
I didn't play my guitar much after that. Eventually years ago I bought a new amp and a nice ESP guitar. I also have a much larger collection of acoustic guitars, violins, banjos, etc. Yet it is rare that I play any of them and my hands are stiff.
All I know is that on more than one occasion I have experienced through an instrument what a vocalist with amazing timbre is born with and likely does not realize.
I have also become more and more able to tune into skill and talent. I like any other person admire the tone of a voice. It is less what attracts me to a vocalist these days. The timbre might attract me if it is completely unique and sounds different from anyone else. If they sound like someone else then the timbre does not excite me.
If on the other hand they have great skills or perform their vocals in some totally unique technique that will catch my attention. The same is true with instruments for me.
If they can do that AND have a great timbre then that is the Mount Olympus, the cream of the crop, etc.
(Insane timbre and out of this world skill)
(The following one you need to listen at least 2 minutes to likely see why I included it)
Fork
Many of the ideas above went through my head and then I found myself drifting back to the modern push by people foolishly thinking equity and equality of outcome are achievable.
Not only are they impossible to achieve they are not at all desirable if you truly think about them.
For equity and equality of outcome people must be the same, thought must be the same, choices must be the same, and achievements the same...
We do not tell stories of our past talking about all of the things that came easily to us. We typically talk about the moments of hardship that we overcame.
The adventure called life is not an adventure if there are not downs that can be turned into ups.
If your adventure is equal to everyone elses and the outcome is the same then there is NO ADVENTURE.
People will often talk about being "bored" which complaining about being bored has been a triggering pet peeve of mine for decades. Yet they don't seem to understand that true equity and equality of outcome would be potentially one of the most boring states there are.
You wouldn't be watching great dancers, great vocalists, great musicians, great artists, great architects, great fighters, etc. Why? Because if they are greater than other people that is not equity or equality of outcome.
For equity and equality of outcome to exist none of these people could exist. We must all be the same.
Fortunately for you and I this is impossible...
It is so easy to prove. Give 10 people the following questionnaire.
WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR LUNCH (Pick one)?
A) Pizza
B) Hamburger
C) Salad
D) Chinese Food
E) Thai Food
F) Mexican Food
G) Candy
They will choose different things. That is a different outcome. It is not equality of outcome.
Pushing for equality of outcome is like turning that questionnaire into the following:
WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR LUNCH?
A) LUNCH
That's it. There is your equality of outcome.
(Image source: genius.com)
Equality of outcome is not only impossible it is also undesirable.
We can though try to make certain that people can make as many choices about their own life and their adventure as possible. We call this Equality of Opportunity. We strive to put rows of choices that people can make on the pathway of their life and make as many of those choices as possible available to each person.
We cannot make the outcome of those choices end up in the same place. We can however try to make certain they can make a choice.
It should be noted that the choices we make matter. Some choices that we make will close the door to another.
An example of this might be a person deciding they don't want to get pregnant and don't want to take birth control. They choose to have their tubes tied. At that point the choice of having a child is gone to them.
Most choices once made will remove others. This again is revealed easily by looking at the first WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR LUNCH example above.
Once you realize this...
Some people will be born with advantages. Other people will be born with disadvantages. This is the reality of life. It is built into the 3rd law of thermodynamics which is sometimes called entropy. Other people call it chance.
While there are aspects in our makeup that may not be completely random such as genetic traits passed down from our parents there is still a bit of chance in that and a chance of mutation and change.
This is reality... It is neither fair, or equal.
So instead of whining about what we do not control and acting as fools. Let us instead focus on what we can do, and we can achieve. Let's also make certain it is even desirable to do so in the first place.
I personally think trying to have as many choices (i.e. doors, paths, etc.) as possible available to people is a goal we should endlessly strive for. It is an infinitely receding goal post as there will always be new choices and new paths for us to add to those we try to make available. This is called equality of opportunity.
I personally find it an appealing and worthwhile goal to strive towards.
Equity and Equality of Outcome on the other hand are impossible and are being used to tear us all apart.
NOTE: I do intend to edit this post and add some videos to it. I must wait a couple of hours before I can do so. I think the post stands fine without them, but I would like to add some just because I WANT TO. If you are reading this before I add those you might be interested in checking back later.
(At my best with some work I may have been able to pull that song off... maybe not some of the faster solos, but who knows.)
(That was the next song I was going to work on right before I quit jamming with them. My own choice. I thought I could do it but it'd make me use some techniques I wanted to get better at.)
(Years later someone heard me noodling and introduced me to this band and the above song. Why? That kind of sounds like a place very much like my own noodling. I play a lot off riffs like that and then forget them.)