Someone who goes by the name freiherrin wrote an interesting piece about plagiarism in the Sour Talk forum. He/she stumbled upon the SLS page for Neverending White Light's "The Grace" and caught Carter and I discussing the songs "The Grace" reminded us of. In response, freiherrin went off about the fact there's nothing new under the sun and it's all been done. It was a pretty interesting rant and here's an excerpt.
Music has been a part of mankind's existence from the beginning and whilst it is marvellously plastic in its tonality, composition, instrumentation, the fact remains that at a certain point one cannot help but imitate, apporximate or copy - unconsciously or otherwise - from those who have gone before, and the music they created.
In fact, music is taught, much as painting is, by imitation and permutation and improvisation. In order to create, one must know not only what has gone before but also how music is structured. One learns that by practical experience.
When I hear a new song, I always hear echoes of songs I've heard before. Often I'll write about songs that sound alike, daring to compare "Pieces" and "The Scientist" or "Walk Idiot Walk" and "I Can't Explain." It's a sport of sorts. Name that tune!
As the great freiherrin says, "Music is another language. It has grammar and syntax and rules and a body of common knowledge about how notes can be put together. Eventually someone will copy a song that has gone before, even if he has had no conscious knowledge of the song imitated."
Amen.
