La musica perfetta è quella che sai ascoltare | Dario Faini | TEDxTorino
Pop music, characterized by minimalism and globalization, often relies on simplified, catchy structures comparable to advertising language, but the speaker advocates for finding "absolute music" through the concept of incongruity, illustrated by his journey synthesizing classical, electronic, and pop influences.
## Theses & Positions
- Pop music, in its current form, is characterized by *brevity, repetitiveness, incisiveness*, mirroring advertising's tendency to simplify messages to sell products quickly.
- Pop music generally falls under the category of *applied music*, meaning music written for a specific purpose or commission, distinguishing it from *absolute music* which is born free of purpose.
- The central dilemma for the artist is navigating the space between being an artist (creative freedom) and a craftsman (adapting to limitations).
- The most potent source of musical creativity lies in *incongruity*—the surprising encounter between expected structures and unexpected elements.
- The perfect music does not exist; instead, the perfect music is the one the listener is currently experiencing.
## Concepts & Definitions
- **Applied Music:** Music written for a specific purpose or commission (e.g., for circus or cabaret).
- **Absolute Music:** Music that is created freely, without pre-determined purposes or destinations.
- **Incongruity:** A fundamental fulcrum of listening experience, referring to the unexpected encounter between musical expectations and novel stimuli.
- **Cognitive/Rational Listening:** A structured, scientific approach to analyzing the complexity of a song, based on established musical schemes.
- **Emotional Listening:** A level of listening where incongruities are amplified and established musical categories can fall apart.
## Mechanisms & Processes
- **Pop Music Structure:** Relies on keeping the refrain catchy and memorable within a reassuring and recognizable context.
- **Music Analysis (Psychology):** Listening involves building expectations based on starting points (like a chord's physical/mathematical tension); the surprise happens when something unexpected occurs, moving the listener to novelty.
- **Creating Incongruity:** Can be achieved artistically to create various effects, including dramatic, grotesque, or humorous ones.
- **Finding New Language:** The speaker's creative process involved synthesizing highly disparate musical influences (e.g., Barche's polyphony vs. Kraftwerk's seriality).
## Timeline & Sequence
- **Early 1900s (Belle Epoque):** Example of applied music criticism (Erik Satie).
- **Student Years:** Moving from *Ascoli Piceno* (studying classical piano) to listening to radio signals.
- **Discovery Points:** Encountering polyphonic complexity (Barche) alongside minimalist seriality (Kraftwerk arpeggiator).
- **Periods of Study/Inspiration:** Visits to Düsseldorf (Kraftwerk's origin), Berlin, and Iceland, leading to the development of a personal trilogy of music.
- **Psychology Study Period:** At age **9**, moved from *Ascoli Piceno* to *Rome* to study psychology and research the psychology of musical listening.
## Named Entities
- **Luca Carboni, Marco Mengoni, Emma Fedex, Francesco Renga, Alessandra Amoroso:** Contemporary Italian singer-songwriters whose music was part of the pop scene analyzed.
- **Ennio Morricone:** Composer credited with the book *chasing that sound* with Arresting De Rosa, discussing consumer music.
- **Kraftwerk:** Electronic music group influencing the speaker's composition.
- **David Hogg and Brian Eno:** Figures associated with the *Berlin Trilogy* recordings.
- **Sigur Rós:** Band representing the "new musical language" of Iceland.
- **Ascoli Piceno:** City where the speaker lived and studied classical piano.
- **Rome:** City where the speaker moved at age **9** to study psychology.
## Numbers & Data
- **9** years old: Age the speaker moved to *Rome*.
- **1900s (early):** Reference point for concert hall music enjoyment.
- **Top 50:** Number of tracks analyzed on global Spotify playlists.
## Examples & Cases
- **Pop Music Analysis:** Analyzing top 50 global playlists reveals half the songs sharing the same chords and sounding produced by the same producer.
- **Barche vs. Kraftwerk:** A specific moment of epiphany: listening to the polyphonic complexity of five voices from Barche against the minimalist seriality of a Kraftwerk arpeggiator.
- **The Journey:** The speaker undertook a mission (*d'arda*) involving recording in multiple locations: *Iceland* (braving the cold), Berlin (industrial echoes), and the original Italian origins.
- **The Albertine Bass:** A specific left-hand movement used in the speaker's new single, creating a contrast between classical and electronic elements.
- **Musical Contrast:** The comparison between classical music enjoyment (sitting still in concert halls) versus electronic music (enjoyed by dancing/moving in clubs).
## Tools, Tech & Products
- **Spotify playlist:** Used as the primary data source for observing global pop music trends.
- **Radio:** The source of the initial "epiphany" during the speaker's piano studies.
## References Cited
- **Ennio Morricone's *chasing that sound***: Book discussing consumer music.
- **Baker's English suites:** Piece of classical music studied in *Ascoli Piceno*.
- **Kraftwerk Düsseldorf/Berlin Trilogy:** Referenced trilogy of electronic music.
## Counterarguments & Caveats
- The speaker acknowledges that his resulting music is not perfect for specific purist groups: "banal ambient music for electronic music purists and too contaminated too for indy purists."
## Methodology
- **Analysis of Pop Culture:** Using streaming service data to isolate common compositional elements across disparate global music.
- **Personal Research:** Thesis work in the *psychology of musical listening*, focusing on the mechanics of expectation and surprise.
- **Triangulation of Influence:** Combining multiple musical forms (classical, electronic, pop) studied across different international locations to find a unique creative voice.
## Implications & Consequences
- The primary implication is that an artist can achieve creative freedom ("absolute music") not by rejecting constraints, but by synthesizing contrasting limitations found in history, technology, and geography.
- The understanding of musical listening moves from a purely analytical, rational model to one embracing unpredictable, emotional incongruity.
## Verbatim Moments
- *"pop music can be defined as laxative"*
- *"The brevity of the melodic chalk is repetitiveness, incisiveness."*
- *"music on commission"*
- *"what is the difference between being an artist and being a craftsman"*
- *"the polyphonic complexity of the five voices of Barche against the minimalist seriality of a Kraftwerk arpeggiator"*
- *"the concept of incongruity"*
- *"there is another level of listening which is the one where I want to be from the emotional one where the incongruities increase where the categories fall and above all where perfection does not exist"*
- *"the perfect music is the one you are listening"*