Thoughts on Music 2: Creativity when Nothing New is Under the Sun
I was 14 years old (was I ever that young? Oh, so long ago!), but it was then I got into Ozzy’s Blizzard of Oz. What an audio journey to hear Randy Rhodes on that Les Paul and Flying V stream out one arpeggio after another a light speed. If there was an electric guitar in the early nineteenth century that would be Paganini’s signature sound. Only a few years earlier Edward Van Halen left 70s rockers shell shocked with his whole “brown sound” and two hand tapping technique. The craziness of the music I listened to as a lad.
The thing is this: Rhodes and Van Halen never invented their techniques out of nothing, they simply capitalized on the way they innovatively used them into their own creative stream of conscious. I was a 6 year old tyke when Richie Blackmore streamed arpeggios on “Highway Star,” years before Rhodes. Still, Blackmore other guitarist would have melded the classical style into their own music. Guitarists were doing two hand taps before Van Halen. Elvis was not even the first to record “Hound Dog.”
On one side of the coin, a person might rightly say nothing is new under the sun, and what has been done is what shall be done. That is true and such despair characterizes many souls. On the other side of the coin, a person can strive to see what they contribute to the world will be something that endures. Rhodes and Van Halen may have not invented their signature sound per se, Elvis certainly did not write “Hound Dog,” but very few people remember those who were first to create them, and one can never error in saying Rhodes, Van Halen, and Elvis were true innovators in the rock genre. Even King David never wrote all the biblical psalms, but no one can truly be faulted for referring to that body of ancient Hebrew texts as the Psalms of David. They all left their mark in the music world.
There is always a 10 and ½ rule in music composition. If one simply limits the music being made to what is popular at the moment, it comes out about 10 years later and ½ as good. So the creative juices still need to move beyond what is being heard on the radio. One can draw from what is out there in the music world, but there is a degree of innovation that is also involved in making music that lasts.
Music is a wonderful blessing from above. It is ultimately a reflection of the imago Dei in all people. God created the universe ex nihilo, and the male and female who were created in the image of God can draw upon the material universe, discover the tonal properties of things created, and use those objects to arrange the tonal frequencies into beautiful melodies. The imago Dei has been defaced by sin, but it has never been erased, and people can still draw from the creation and create something beautiful.
— WGN
The thing is this: Rhodes and Van Halen never invented their techniques out of nothing, they simply capitalized on the way they innovatively used them into their own creative stream of conscious. I was a 6 year old tyke when Richie Blackmore streamed arpeggios on “Highway Star,” years before Rhodes. Still, Blackmore other guitarist would have melded the classical style into their own music. Guitarists were doing two hand taps before Van Halen. Elvis was not even the first to record “Hound Dog.”
On one side of the coin, a person might rightly say nothing is new under the sun, and what has been done is what shall be done. That is true and such despair characterizes many souls. On the other side of the coin, a person can strive to see what they contribute to the world will be something that endures. Rhodes and Van Halen may have not invented their signature sound per se, Elvis certainly did not write “Hound Dog,” but very few people remember those who were first to create them, and one can never error in saying Rhodes, Van Halen, and Elvis were true innovators in the rock genre. Even King David never wrote all the biblical psalms, but no one can truly be faulted for referring to that body of ancient Hebrew texts as the Psalms of David. They all left their mark in the music world.
There is always a 10 and ½ rule in music composition. If one simply limits the music being made to what is popular at the moment, it comes out about 10 years later and ½ as good. So the creative juices still need to move beyond what is being heard on the radio. One can draw from what is out there in the music world, but there is a degree of innovation that is also involved in making music that lasts.
Music is a wonderful blessing from above. It is ultimately a reflection of the imago Dei in all people. God created the universe ex nihilo, and the male and female who were created in the image of God can draw upon the material universe, discover the tonal properties of things created, and use those objects to arrange the tonal frequencies into beautiful melodies. The imago Dei has been defaced by sin, but it has never been erased, and people can still draw from the creation and create something beautiful.
— WGN
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