… I guess it’s all about the instrumentation. So the Beatles are pop, but if you play their music in an orchestra it’s then classical. Um … right?
Today, local Singaporean, Ian Low, has just released the world’s first classical music album that was recorded and produced entirely using only an iPad and a software app, Apple’s own GarageBand. It is entitled The Eternal Broth.
The album is a rearrangement of an earlier instrumental work by Mr. Low, Father, which was also done on the iPad. Father is also a musical story about a pair of brothers and their struggles to find their mark in their careers and lives, all revolving around their father’s simple but humble soup food tall.
While the earlier album featured modern and contemporary pop arrangements and instrumentation, The Eternal Broth uses only classical and acoustic instrumentation found on the GarageBand app to evoke a different dimension to the original pop tracks on Father. It is the world’s first classical music album to be produced in this manner.
When defining the words “classical music” someone also called it 17-19th century European White Rich music. I think there is a fatal flaw in attempting to define a concept of arts and aesthetics with the rigor of science and engineering. Is 20th century music “classical”? If yes, why was I forbade to analyze Richard Strauss in my 20th century music course? Is Howard Shore not classical? How about Kevin Kamen? I really believe that, in the end, when it comes to artistic concepts, the soul has a language that written/spoken language cannot begin to approach.
There are at least two definitions for “classical” (my husband suggests more). For me it’s like the word catholic, which of course can be the big C Catholic (as in the specific Roman Catholic Church) or little c as in “universal”. I haven’t any problem (any more — took me a while) for people to call the sort of music I do “classical” (little c). We have to call it something, and I prefer that to “high art music” or something, which implies (in my little mind) that we think we are better. My giggling on the article was that taking the exact same music and adding a string patch makes it classical!
It’s an interesting thing to ponder, but in truth I honestly don’t worry to much about it. I do what I do, I play what I play, and that’s that! 🙂