Compliments

So many musicians can attest to having a fan, customer or listener come up to them and "try" to compliment them. "Hey guy. That sounds pretty good."

This is supposed to be a compliment but that added "pretty good" is a bit confusing.   What does that mean? Does it mean it's good but not great? It comes across to my way of thinking as a qualified attempt at trying to say something "nice."

Another cliché is, "Hey, that's not bad." Meaning it's okay but it could mean it's not good either. Hmm?

Maybe the person complimenting isn't sure it's good music or whatever. It would be better that they just said they enjoyed the singing (or playing) and left it at that.

Another oddity is when people come up to a musician and confront him with, "Hey that band sure is loud" . (They're trying to make it sound like a compliment but it rings more like a degree of dissatisfaction.)  When I get this kind of response I usually counter with, "Yeah, but it's also very good". They're taken back a bit and try to back-track in agreement.

It never occurred to them that the musical presentation had any artistic merit. Apparently all they heard was loud and soft and that's about it. Mostly loud. No surprises here.

A musician friend of mine got this compliment, "You sure are a great player." Jimmy countered with "Thank you. I should be. I've been playing for over 50 years."

I can't imagine someone coming up to Pavarotti and saying "Boy, your singing is very loud". Opera singing is meant to be "full voice."   This volume level is where the singing is at its best, passionate and emotional. Besides operatic singers have to reach the audience at the very back of the room.

Big Bands that emulate this operatic approach are very enjoyable.  They're' exciting to experience. I can't explain the whole business of volume but a strong presentation sure gets the message across. It's the way I like to hear it.

One astute artist said in defence of a performance,  "If you have a great band, you don't have to say anything and if you don't... there is nothing you can say". 

That observation is "pretty good."  Oops...

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