A couple of years ago a friend of mine from Poland gave me a little schooling on the subject of music. His name is Rad which is short for Radislav (shit, I’m not sure if that’s how it’s spelled). He’s an amazing graphic designer. He spends enormous time on things to think them through. He’s into the Asian way of life. Very enamored with Asian woman, wine, tea, and food. Lives in Southern California and also happens to play guitar. Rad is extremely particular about his choices in what he creates, and the tools that he uses to create. He’s a fellow Mac/Apple guy (like me).
When it comes to guitars he’s fond of Steinbergers. Which had a short lived fame with Eddie Van Halen. Eddie used them on the 5150 album to great effect for popular music. Van Halen is often classed as Heavy Metal, but he’s really more Hard Rock – whatever. Anyway, Rad likes those guitars. I’ve never asked why. I don’t tend to ask those questions unless I’m interested in a particular instrument. I never really got into Steinbergers. Though I do like the tremelo system it has – when properly set up, it stays in tune when you use the tremolo/whammy bar.
Back to the schooling… Rad listens to music that is generally not popular and much more open to artistic interpretation. In a way he really just likes music that expresses something and not construed as popular. A perfectly cool choice. I attempt to be a bit more open minded, but tend to gravitate towards music that is less chaotic in nature. I appreciate when a player can be chaotic yet attach to some sort of order (play wild in the pen so to speak).
One day while working on a project with Rad, he mentioned that I’m not in touch with where music comes from. Bold statements, he’s all about that. Told me that everything Heavy Metal stems from Classical composers. Mind you, I’m not ignorant. In music theory, there is a striking similarity between Classical music and Heavy Metal. Sonically they can’t be much more different. Thus Rad still holding to his statement challenged me to pick up The Rite of Spring. So off to iTunes I went and purchased The Rite of Spring.
One thing I notice is how the rhythms and the harmonies are extremely similar. What ends up being really different is words. There are none in Classical. Rhythmically though, there is a fantastic precedent being set in this piece. There are leaps and bounds, pushing and pulling. Tons of the angst without the distortion. Lots of dissonance and resolution too. Much like in Metal. All of that over 100 years prior to the advent of the amp and distortion.
What really happened in that challenge was that I learned to listen beyond the instrumentation. That’s a lesson a vast majority of music consumers in this day and age would be wise to learn.