#i'm folk art not fine art

[tiikerikani]

After a choir performance today a few of us went to a cafe, and I was the only one who went who isn't a professional classical musician, so I got to overhear the sorts of opinions and attitudes they have within their bubble (fine arts people really are a(n elitist) bubble).

The choir director is a very strong and opinionated personality like I am, and she expressed disappointment that the choirs who get all the attention and praise aren't doing anything special and are being lowest common denominator, when conductors have this captive group of people who can be shaped to fulfill an artistic vision, that they ought to have.

IMO, sure the very artiste end of the fine arts world likes to have ambitious people pushing the boundaries of what art is, etc. But other fine artists want (their) art to be accessible to regular people, and I think that's valid too. (Especially when she keeps talking about using art to bring people together and build community, unless I'm misunderstanding something and she means the fine arts community.)

And there's that "I'm folk art, not fine art" thesis I've been exploring a lot recently, which also fits into this.

In the interest of being transparent I've tried to explain my personal position on why I do how and what I do with my singing (mainly that I'm self-taught without training in formal technique, and that said technical skill is secondary to raw, personal, emotional expression), but, like, you can't be like "yes I understand" but at the same time "but you can express yourself more easily when you can use the instrument more effectively", completely missing the point that I'm not trying to argue with you and it's the third time I've tried to explain this and the third time you're implying that I'm going about it wrong. It's an "agree to disagree" thing, OK.

People who get taken seriously as fine artists tend to have some kind of high-concept idea or theme they're working around, while I think folk/popular art is necessarily about lived experiences and making sense of feelings, the world, etc.

Another funny thing is that she was ad-libbing the introduction blurbs for the songs and describing a bit how each of them tie into her broader vision/theme for the program (which, yeahhhhh was maybe a bit more abstract and high-concept (and maybe even tenuous) than I'd personally consider sharing with the audience but anyway) and landed on (in a somewhat rambling way) the "leave the world a good place for our children, that they can experience nature just as we did" thesis at the end, which, incidentally, I have heard a specific speech about many times and, well, I'll let you decide if being down to earth and emotional contributes to getting the message across.

[kirby-the-gorb]

[gophergal]

Consequences

(full under cut, cw gore)

Fun fact: I wasnt even thinking about the bread tumors when I drew this

[goodglove]

Making my sona depressed. The crayon brush is really noice, and I tried this sand filter in the last panel, but the pencil is too soft, it's kinda hard to color

[starflungwaddledee]

Ah, guess there aren't many night owls in Dreamland, huh? Sounds like it would be tough to be sleeping during the day. Good thing you and Coo can keep each other company! Is he nice? Never met an owl before.

poll results: up we go! to the stars! they certainly think of each other quite fondly

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[ignatiusteto]

i think sacred music in the kryn dynasty would be very cyclical and repetitive in form to symbolize the idea that life is a continuous thing (at least those who are consecuted right right) and is a cycle across lifetimes and yeah

[ghostoffuturespast]

Honestly, getting real tired carrying and supporting other folks around here when most of them aren't returning the favor...

[golyadkin]

[fantasticalleigh]

we talk a fair game about hating AI on here but there's that one extremely obvious AI made reylo fanart that keeps floating around from time to time and a lot of people have fallen for it and reblogged it and the person behind the account makes a ton of other AI art using disney characters and i try not to get annoyed about it because at first glance it's kind of convincing if you don't know what to look for but i think as a whole we need to get better about recognizing AI art if we're saying we're not going to support it. idk. t

[paradoxgavel]

ngl having a banner on your art post that says "if you like but don't reblog, i will block you" is the fastest way to ensure I don't interact with your art at all

[tiikerikani]

Somebody from the choir I used to be in asked if I wanted to join her own women's choir thing and at first I was a bit hesitant (because like do I really need any more things in my schedule, and I'm ambivalent about the way she leads practices) but maybe having more stuff in my schedule will make me somehow make better use of my time because I have shit I need to get to? and get to sing stuff that isn't just church music.

Something like half the group isn't even Finnish (her included) so she runs everything in English and I think with a small group (it's like 12 people) you absolutely CANNOT get away with having anybody feel left out so I'm feeling somewhat optimistic about the social aspect too... I bring this up because she's really extroverted and in old choir she was like the international student that everybody just sort of gravitated to including socially (but maybe also because choir geeks/music students have kind of their own culture) and I felt really sidelined.

One singer is a voice teacher and last week she led warmup as a demo, and I was feeling like, ok is this an attempt to sneak formal technique on me, but I think as long as it's a group thing and nobody's being singled out for anything, then I can live with that. She's also offering to give one-on-one coaching before practices.

Afterwards the conductor sent out a group message with the practical details on how to sign up for those individual sessions and how it's a great opportunity they've been trying to set up for a while and it's good for you, and I'm trying really hard not to take it personally because I know it wasn't meant that way (though it felt patronizing either way), since I was very vocal (pun intended) about it being something I'm not interested in because reasons.

It's voluntary and I'm not saying that it wouldn't be beneficial (I think I am pretty okay as long as the warmup routine is good), it's just a thing I won't do even if it means I don't maybe sing as well as the others (I've only met half of them but even the amateurs have been singing/doing music more seriously and purposefully than I have). On the other hand it's such a tiny group and every voice really matters, so I feel bad about it regardless...

but like you've never had people tell you to shut up and stop sharing because "nobody wants to listen to that voice. go take lessons" which solidified my position on "everything I know about singing I learned from choir or experimenting on my own".[1] It's part of my identity that the classical/traditional sound I have is my default and not something I was explicitly taught.[2]

Anyway the group message was also like "when you have good control of your instrument then you can be free to focus on expression" but since when have I ever done it in that order, even on piano[3] ;-) like at practice I always feel kind of weird when they go through phrasing details (especially with very expressive music), because it's largely self-evident to me.

Returning to the bit at the start about filling my schedule, after putting it all into my calendar I'm not really sure whether I will continue after Christmas. It really is a lot (Christmas is a really busy time for choirs though) and the practices aren't on a super-predictable schedule and also I'm sorry Independence Day is a public holiday and I am treating it as a day off. I don't care that there's a Christmas party after practice. (Not to mention that music geek parties have their own set of problems because, let's face it, they are music people and I am not. Yes music is really important to me but it is far from the thing that defines me most.)

__________

[1] I mean sure I actually was pretty shit back then. people are better about not giving unsolicited feedback these days. This is also related to my similar thing about miniature painting and why I don't ask for or want feedback on my artistic things more generally. I do "how do I X", not "how is my X".

[2] People tend to adopt the style of whatever music they heard around them as kids, so for a lot of people it's pop or rock music, and maybe they train into other styles.

[3] Where in addition to technique, it was "learn the piece by memory so you can focus on expression" as well.

[kirby-the-gorb]

[senholiday]

Some tattoos i've gotten to do this last season that i've been real excited about!

[sapphire-heart-tippy]

Yeah, next drawing will have me and big Wam-Wam in human clothing instead of pillarman clothing because I need to see him in a jock outfit with some eyeshadow and eyeliner

[wereshrew-admirer]

:..)

[cat-of-starlight]

Well I've been lurking on the edge of this game long enough, I better draw something so uhh-

Have a Daniil sketch!!

Alt version w/ injuries under the cut

Its Pathologic, you know how it is-