L. Joshua Goodman’s Art Blog

I am a musician. I play in a band and we have a new disk. When I play at home with my wife, at times it’s almost conjugal! Music is refreshing and brings me into other non-verbal dimensions. There are things you can say, or places you can reach that are literally beyond words.

Drawbacks of Music

But music has one drawback. It’s ephemeral. Once the performance is over it can not be saved for posterity nor enjoyed in its fullness again. The fun, the enjoyment, the experience of music is over when the execution is over. Even if music is written down and played again, each performance is a unique experience. A performance by Bach himself can never be had again. His improvisations must have been unique and informative. But we’ll never get to hear Bach perform again. It must have been nice while it lasted. Now all we have is the written transcription. While still magnificent, it’s bound to be somewhat pale in contrast.

Plastic Arts Live On

But not so with plastic arts. Painting, or printmaking or sculpture is around for years and sometimes centuries after the experience of the creation of the work has passed.

So, the question then is “Should an artist put his efforts into what will last (the visual) or into the transient, but equally rewarding expression of music?” I don’t have an answer for this. But I know that I will continue to play music. Yes it’s temporary, but it is just sooooo much fun!

The Value of Music (and by extension all Art)

Einstein played music. He played chamber music on the violin. Of course he is known for other achievements. Perhaps it was the diversion that enabled him to think better in other realms. I suspect that this is what Art is all about. The ability to peer into worlds where words can’t reach, to see things that belong in other dimensions are what enables us to be able to “think out of the box” in our chosen fields of endeavor.

Robert Motherwell is reported to have said (reported by Paul Rand of all people!),

Most people ignorantly suppose that artists are the decorators of our human existence, the esthetes to whom the cultivated may turn when the real business of the day is done. But actually what an artist is, is a person skilled in expressing human feeling. . . . Far from being merely decorative, the artist’s awareness . . . is one . . . of the few guardians of the inherent sanity and equilibrium of the human spirit that we have.

Now … Back to the Music!