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Au Naturel's avatar

Wabi sabi - Japanese art of finding beauty in imperfection

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Alia Parker's avatar

Oh yes! Thanks for bringing that up, Fred. I have read about wabi-sabi but had forgotten. Japanese philosophy is has such a meditative quality.

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Kate Morgan Reade's avatar

PS: Etymology Monday is genius. 😎

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Alia Parker's avatar

🙏

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Kate Morgan Reade's avatar

Synchronicity 360! Thank you for showing how pitch correction works and why it's creepy and anti-artistic. "Sung by a real human unmolested by technology" is why it reaches into the heart and soul, indeed.

I had the same museum experience with my head and chest 10" from a Van Gogh, feeling electricity through mind and body but in a very warm and incredulous way.

Thank you for the update on the tornadoes too! So interesting to know, and now you can dispel the myth of their nonexistence in Australia. 🇦🇺 Keep up the good work!

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Alia Parker's avatar

Thanks, thanks, and thanks Kate. 🙂 Natural just resonates (for me at least), but people keep chasing perfect.

Isn't Van Gogh wonderful!

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rena's avatar

Fascinating! I had the good fortune to see/hear Barbra Streisand live. She is better than her recordings and often brings tears. An exceptional passage in a piece of writing will do the same. Yesterday I mentioned being an art crier :)

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Alia Parker's avatar

What a legend to have seen live! I am absolutely an art crier too. I remember walking through a doorway at MOMA and seeing a crowd of people in front looking at something. Suddenly, like in a movie scene, they neatly parted and I just froze, balling like a baby. I had no idea Van Gogh's Starry Night was even there. It's the most beautiful painting I've ever seen.

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rena's avatar

Oohhhhh

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Steve Fendt's avatar

What an interesting technical analysis in the video! In all areas of artistic endeavour we are exposed to so much perfection these days via the Web. Even when the work (of whatever kind) isn't digitally altered, it generally exhibits world-class professionalism. And ultimately, leaves us cold. My wife and I are both amateur musicians, and run a monthly jam. No perfect pitch going on there, but it's about the participation in a social activity, and every once in a while, someone busts out a performance that grabs you by the throat. Art-as-lived-experience beats art-as-commodity every time.

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Alia Parker's avatar

Absolutely. And you can't beat live music. Your jams sound like a lot of fun, Steve.

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Steve Fendt's avatar

They are! We never know who’s going to turn up. You can count on ukes, guitars, a couple of banjos and a harmonica or three, but sometimes there are fiddles, a mandolin, a drum kit and we take the cover off the piano. My favourite jams are the ones when the other four members of our old band turn up.

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Alia Parker's avatar

Wow. I've always envied musicians that can just rock up and play together. It's wonderful!

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Gillian & Li'l Bean's avatar

I loved that video on the tuning that goes on. I had no idea. Just fascinating. I think that’s why I love the Beatles recordings now cause they feel so open and raw and messy in comparison to everything else that we hear. Xo

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Alia Parker's avatar

It's amazing how a visual representation of something helps us understand what our ears are hearing. I love it!

The Beatles are great. Definitely a lot of rawness in there.

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Jonathan Foster's avatar

Thanks! Fascinating. And annoying. I want a world where the “market” doesn’t insert itself between every human relation. I don’t want to have my experience intervened by some ideology. This terrible reaching for Platonic perfection is really about control and power, and infantilising to us all. So. I did enjoy your essay even though I’m not spitting feathers 😂

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Alia Parker's avatar

It's frustrating, isn't it. I'm sure there are plenty of singers and producers in the indie music sphere that don't run their voices through Robbie robot, but how are we to know? Perhaps I'll just keep an ear out for bad singers and assume they're a safe bet 😂 Bad singers, and Judy Garland.

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Jonathan Foster's avatar

🤣

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Leslie Rasmussen's avatar

This makes me more appreciative of hearing someone sing in person and not just the recording. Thanks for the information.

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Alia Parker's avatar

Sure does! Although would you believe it is used for live performances too. Having said that, I'm sure there are many indie performers that don't use it.

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Leslie Rasmussen's avatar

I am surprised. I guess I can see if it is being recorded, but I would think that would be something they enjoy about being live—unfiltered.

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Alan Hamsher's avatar

How perfectly thematic!! I dub thee a genius for constructing it!!

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Alia Parker's avatar

Well there's a first. I'll take it! Thanks Alan 😂

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