Musicality

Larry

"Uncle Larry"
So I thought I'd pick an impossible question to pose to all the fine minds here. I am genuinely interested on the many varied takes I'm sure will be proposed here about the subject of musicality. So for starters, I'd like to throw this out:

If you had to come up with a definition of musicality, how would you word it?

Trying to see if we can make some shape out of this not clearly defined "mound of clay" question.

My apologies for starting this thread with the word "so".
 
Musicality: Making the music feel good

not replicating the cool lick you found on a youtube tutorial

not hammering out the same old fill and then moving one of your hands to another drum to make it sound cool/out of boredom

paying respect and knowing the history of whichever music youre playing

Sensitivity to the other musicians, especially when improvising
 
musicality to me = making music come alive

example

two bands play the same tune.

lets say the Shorter tune Footprints .... amazing tune ... should sound good in any setting right ?... wrong

one band sounds clinical, stale, and like notes on a page ... but they play it very well

another bands sounds like there is a ball of fire shooting out of each one of their asses and like their lives depend on every note even at the most delicate volumes

that to me is musicality

I love your threads uncle L
 
It's a finishing move you can do in Mortal Kombat games.
 
musicality to me = making music come alive

example

two bands play the same tune.

lets say the Shorter tune Footprints .... amazing tune ... should sound good in any setting right ?... wrong

one band sounds clinical, stale, and like notes on a page ... but they play it very well

another bands sounds like there is a ball of fire shooting out of each one of their asses and like their lives depend on every note even at the most delicate volumes

that to me is musicality

I love your threads uncle L

AMEN
INTENSITY IS WHAT MUSIC IS SUPPOSED TO BE

intensity doesnt mean loud, or strong, or overexcited. extreme calmness is intensity for example
 
That rare connection between band members, and between band and audience, when the how doesn't matter, and everything just resonates like a perfectly spun bell struck once in the sweet spot.

Also: I know it when I hear it.
 
musicality to me = making music come alive

another bands sounds like there is a ball of fire shooting out of each one of their asses and like their lives depend on every note even at the most delicate volumes

that to me is musicality

This is pretty cool. What a colorful statement. You paint a great picture Ant.

What do you think about this....emotion and musicality...I'm pretty sure they are separate things. For instance, the Ramones were all about emotion and I think most would agree that their musicality was low on the chart. Didn't matter, they still killed it. OTOH, you could have some very fine and sterile musicality going on without a lot of emotion. Can't think of a fitting example but you get the point. I like both, but clearly one or the other works. Having both is a great goal.

Defining musicality is like defining the color blue. I guess it would help to list what isn't musical for some perspective. What's not musical? Why isn't it musical? The Ramones weren't what you would call musical, compared to Beethoven for example. That's an inflammatory comment depending on your perspective. Who decides if Beethoven was better than the Ramones? Personally, I'm going with Beethoven, but you cannot deny the Ramones impact. So is musicality even necessary? No! Haga! Lol.

The longer I play, the more I understand that ego is the enemy of musicality. JMO. My favorite musicians, doesn't matter the instrument, are ones who play from an egoless perspective, and are truly doing their very best to "bring it" so the music can benefit. For myself that requires me getting to that perfect place where things flow through me. It's actually a trance state. But by trying to be great, people fall short. Just surrendering to the vibe, and being part of a unit, there's no "I" in team lol, and enabling the flow, they get there.

Hiromi.... to me the very definition of musicality....I want what she's having if you get my drift. Truly an inspiration and a template for how I want to play. Also, if I had to choose between emotion and perfection, I'm going with emotion. It's the smooth creamy center I look for in every song.
 
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To me it is the art and human aspect beyond the simple math and technical aspect on the written page.
 
mu·si·cal·i·ty

myo͞oziˈkalətē

noun
1.
tastefulness and accomplishment in music.
"she sings with unfailing musicality"

This is what it says when I Google the word.

My original band is, in a way, currently dealing with this very issue. We have a guitarist and a new bass player who feel that we need to get out and play some gigs to help pay for the studio. They want to make money playing music. I would too, in a sense, but that is not my primary objective or motivation to play music, nor the band leader's.

We see the studio as a luxury. We're not on any set schedule like those studios where you rent a couple hours, set-up, tear-down, everything is hurried and we're always in a time crunch. I have an OK job and I can enjoy this luxury because I made it a priority in my life. I don't have a wife or kids so it's a bit easier for me.

What the band leader and I do want is to develop an original set of mostly instrumental songs, much like Steve Kimock's band, that we are truly confident about. We have been working on this sound and developing it for over two years now and we're just starting to scratch the surface of where we want to be in a musical sense. To use an analogy, our music is cooked in a slow cooker, whereas these other guys can't really afford this luxury and they want to put it all in the microwave and get on a stage and play. You know what happens to food when you cook it in a microwave. Sure it's cooked, but you won't get the nutrients, you won't get the nice texture, and the flavors won't be quite as magnificent as you would get from a slow cooked meal.

We are good musicians, but not top-notch professionals. This kind of quality takes time, and when a person doesn't have the luxury to take the time to do it right, then the musicality of the songs will suffer. So we tell them, "hey, you wanna make money money? Then go join a cover band or a tribute band. You wanna put in the time to make this music great? Then you'll have to be able to afford this luxury because this ain't no microwave band that's gonna go out there and half-ass it on a stage just to make $50 bucks." It's really hard to find guys who can pay their dues and put in the time it takes to develop into something really great that we can feel confident and proud of. We literally want to blow people's minds on stage and that's still going to take a little time to get there.
 
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Larry, ever since you got your Guru's you have been messed up.
What is with you man? They are just drums. Play them my brother!
 
In my mind a musical person thinks outside of the box, has some sort of lively or bouncy feel and displays that they are interested enough in their craft to experiment, not just play the right notes at the right time.
 
I think the word is more used as a description of a musician's playing. It's very subjective, and a little silly, I think.

I think there was a lot of musicality to be found in the Ramone's music. For that matter, I think there's a lot of musicality to be found in any music.

A musician is either good, or he stinks. A good musician plays very well and with a greater or lesser degree of musicality, depending on your taste and standards.
 
Musicality -
1. Sensitiveness to music (Dancer etc)
2. The ability to perform music. ( Musicians etc)
3. The ability to understand music. (arranger/conductor/composer/DJs etc)

That's the definition anyway.
Then we can discuss number 2. How can we judge who has more musicality than others... I don't think that's subjective, but then again I think there is an answer to a lot of "subjective" questions.
A better musician has a higher musicality.

The interesting question that follows up is, how to rate music in a objective scale.
That's an interesting discussion, probably takes a bit of musical theory and neuroscience(check which pieces have the biggest impact on our emotions etc..)!
 
That rare connection between band members, and between band and audience, when the how doesn't matter, and everything just resonates like a perfectly spun bell struck once in the sweet spot.

Also: I know it when I hear it.

Yeah what he said.............
I think there are two kinds of musicality. Band member musicality and band/audience musicality.

I play in a house band at a bar on open mic jam night. A few weeks ago the members of my band really connected with each other. We played and sounded great.
We looked at each other as if some magic had happened. It was band member musicality.

We got the usual five person applause, mostly from the other musicians waiting to jam.

Then the first jam band came up to play. It was a three piece band. They were not very good musicians. The drummer could hardly keep up with the beat.
They began to play some original rockabilly tunes.
When the lead singer who was also the lead guitarist began to sign and play guitar, Oh My God, the place lit up like it was on fire!
He had a great voice and he played some great licks on the guitar. His songs had great energy.
Every one at the bar got out of their seat to come over and listen. Even the bar tender came out from behind the bar.
By the time they played their second song everyone was standing at the stage and everyone applauded and yelled "more" after each song.
We wanted more ! I loved listening to them too. It was band/audience musicality.


.
 
Musicality is being able to be "in" the music, a chameleon versed in many styles and forms, from a performance POV. Understanding music notation, sight-reading and writing.
 
Musicality > The ability to take the mechanics and techniques of playing a drum set and making it musical, melodic, even harmonic in nature, not just rhythmic.

When I think of musicality on the drums I think of Max Roach, Tony Williams, and many of the jazz greats who had wonderful mechanics and technique, but also a magical touch which made things musical, not just rhythmic. In rock I go back to Ginger Baker, Danny Seraphine, and those who played in such a fashion you could hum or sing their fills and their rhythmic ideas.

Today there seems a mountain of great technicians, astounding flurries of notes, but not necessarily musical players. Excellent rhythmatists, the strong third leg of music, even geniuses at it, but not always playing musically.

Of course, as stated about it's a subjective thing.
 
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