Justin, Jencks

I thought Jencks' discussion of the new rules in relation to creativity was very concise and interesting. The idea that struck me most was the awareness and acceptance of classical rules, and the way they're applied by artists to a new world of fashions and functions. It got me thinking about the process of creating music, and the different sources of music that are now at everyone's fingertips. In the past, someone trying to write your average Western song would probably sit at a piano or get a guitar in their hand. If they had a metronome or some other device to keep time, they'd most likely put it to 4/4 time. Then they might throw on a cd or record for inspiration. Within the last ten years, that process has completely changed. With a common program like GarageBand, you have access to something like 50 different instruments and sounds. The program will keep time and record every note you play. For 100 dollars or less, you can buy a keyboard that hooks up to the computer, so you can play any instrument just like a piano. And if you can't play a piano, you can simply place notes on a musical staff using your mouse. It's unnecessary to have a band, and it's unnecessary to buy music equipment. Someone with minimal musical knowledge, a few ideas and a little bit of time can create, record and send a song they made with a 50-piece orchestra if they wanted.
Not to mention the infinite amount of inspiration accessible to them. Ten years ago, if you wanted to hear a song, you buy the cd or you request it on the radio. Now you can download a program like Limewire and use it to download pretty much anything you can think of. In my opinion, this has created a revolution in music that I would describe as casual collecting. People aren't necessarily music lovers if they have 1000 albums in their collection anymore. Because of it, there has definitely been a rise in the awareness of the many different types of music that exist. And because of this awareness, there will likely be an increase in varying genres of music. It's already become difficult to categorize many popular bands.
Whether this revolution will make the creative process easier or more difficult and complex for the artist is hard to say. Jencks talks in his essay about artists' need to sometimes liberate themselves from rules and canons. Maybe with the growing awareness of different types of music, it will become more tedious for the common musician to express him/herself.