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Message: [QUOTE="connie, post: 2294639, member: 7882"] Oh my . . . that is unfortunate. With respect to the rest, I reject the way you frame the issue--i.e., that there are "two different types" of people who play music. To be sure, there are individuals for whom mastering an instrument, music theory, etc. is a lifelong passion and discipline (the significance of which can vary radically depending on cultural and historical circumstances). And such individuals may well conceive of their relation to their passion as a vital component to their life's meaning. But that misses the point. Musical expression is not gauged by reference to technical execution. A performance of Stravinsky's Ragtime for 11 Instruments may well be masterfully executed by musicians who have dedicated decades toward their craft. And one cannot gainsay the "spiritual, visceral and intimate" relationship such musicians may profess to experience in the execution. But that does not necessarily make it "better than", say, a warbling 90 year-old Elizabeth Cotton's stalling three chord performance of Irene Goodnight on an out-of-tune six-string. That one may dedicate a life (time, money, effort) to their music is, of course, a personal choice, perhaps a laudable one. But it does not follow that this makes their music more meaningful, more "creative" and so on than a moment of musical expression by another with different interests, priorities and commitments. As for the Shaggs, much can be said. This is not the time nor the place. But I will comment that what makes their music so interesting and enjoyable to me is, precisely, its simultaneous appropriation of and disconnect from the basic conventions of the pop music form. There are verses and choruses. But the melody lines that populate them are oddly outside the standard logic that informs the pop aesthetic. They are not "tuneful". Yet they bespeak the Wiggins sisters' [I]shared [/I]inner voice and aesthetic sensibility. Despite the apparent rhythmic chaos and arbitrary melodies, the two sisters Dot and Betty are eerily in sync. This bespeaks some strange, deeply internal shared muse--something that shines through the obvious amateurism. Meanwhile, sister Helen just bangs away on her drums, as if she was in another room altogether. If one cannot take pleasure from this absurd, sincere, guileless, and utterly rarefied form of un-selfconscious pop primitivism, then I don't know if there is anything else I can do for you. [/QUOTE]

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