This just in from a review of an new IPad app:
For non-musicians unfamiliar with the ways music is made today, here’s a clue: It’s no longer necessary to play an instrument to create a musical composition.

Where to begin?
Where to end?

Begin - disgust. Assemblage as tastemaker? You are merely critics. Why study the rules of composition when you can cut and paste Beethoven's best (or worst, depending on your purview)? Imagine the post-romantic pastiche you could create? It could be more unfocused than his compositions, which would be quite an achievement. What if you sampled all your favorite notes from Eric Clapton and assembled them in a way he could not possibly have ever played? Can you imagine? Magnificent.

End - Once the philosophical value of someone dedicated to a singular purpose, like learning to play guitar or sing ends, mother earth will cry. Perhaps, once it evolves, and people are sampling the samplers, re-sampled into eternity, the most radical thing that anyone can do is to build a guitar (since they won't be available anymore) and play. Perhaps now.

Playing an instrument is the most spiritual thing I do. It wasn't at first, it was actually very uncomfortable and frustrating. Now that I've done it for years, it's the finest place I visit, as long as my intentions are pure.

====================

I believe this to be completely on topic because after reading this board for a long time I imagine font creation to be like this, perhaps not as immediate, but similar. Intentions and all that…

Reality on the ground is hard to perceive unless you look down.

pbc