Music: Straight From The Cave To The Bar Essay Examples

An interesting question to ponder that never gets asked is, “Where does music come from?” Music and the arts are so embedded in what it means to be a human being that it is often taken for granted. Yet one could imagine humanity still existing in more or less the same state that it is without music. With a classical orchestra concert, there are the musicians and they are away from the audience. The audience sits politely in their chair. Clapping around would be considered a violation of the laws that govern the convention. In contrast, a concert at bar or pub is one of the best ways that I have encountered to absorb music. To me, it seems that it is music in its most authentic form. It is performance in that there are musicians preforming practiced songs, but it is also participating because the line between listener and musician is much thinner. It is in some informal pub settings when someone not in the band who happens to have an instrument will come and participate.
Humanity seperates itself into roles and tasks. There are engineers who build bridged and highways. Bankers deal with finance. And musicians play music. But I think that it is incorrect to spate musicians into a category of their own. I believe that to be human is a musician. Certainly some human beings have more talents and aptitudes for music than others, some have had more opportunity for training to develop their skill, but every human being is capable of enjoying and creating music. Pubs and bars are some of the best places to experience a concert simply for the reason that it allows for what I would consider to be a more genuine experience of music. Musicians at bars and pubs are closer to those listening to them. Sometimes they are close enough o have a drink poured on them. Also, because people are drinking it becomes a much less formal atmosphere than an orchestra concert. This leads to more improvisation, or music played as it likely was in the early days of humanity—impromptu jam sessions in the cave.
While I have been to orchestra performances, and the music has been intriguing and wonderful, I have never felt a strong affinity for the musicians playing there. This has to do with the certain of separation that happens at these events. There are the musicians, and there is everyone else. Do not try to clap along at an orchestra concert if you do not want to have all of the musicians give you a dirty look. But if you clap at a pub concert, a smile will alight on the faces of every musician. Because this is exactly what they are seeking through there music. They are not so much as preforming the music for the people in the pub as they are sharing a musical experience with people who come to the pub.
In a pub a person can sing along. He or she can dance. Dance seems to be a part of music that we often spate too much from the musician experience. You can bet that in the cave, when someone was banging on a turtle shell for a beat and singing their heart out, that everyone else in the cave danced.
While a person can play music at a bar or pub on speakers, it is not the same. Since the musicians who recorded the music did so at a studio, something crucial in the music is lost. It is the difference between writing poetry alone in your closet or reciting spoken word poetry for a room full of people. The creative process is going to be different when you are creating (or in the case of music, recreating) it for some one.
Many people associate drinking with the reason that people are less self conscious of dancing and fist pumping at barroom concerts, but I don’t think alcohol makes a person more responsive to music. I think that our modern culture has imbibed people with restraint and that their natural tendency to want to dance and sing and participate in music is therefore suppressed. While having alcohol on hand is not necessary for a person to fully let themselves go and participate, many people find themselves restrained with out it.
All of these factors mentioned are why I think that live music in a bar or pub is music at its best. These smaller venue concerts include the audience in ways that large concerts at big venues or music festivals cannot. It’s music presented as it was originated in the human race, a bit wild, free, sometimes made-up on the spot, but ultimately a rewarding musical experience. This is why everyone who appreciates music should listen to it in it’s native setting, in a dark tavern where the piano or guitar man is crooning away.