Do me a favor. Name an entirely non-derivative musical genre.

[elperromagico]

Name one genre that didn't grow out of - or was influenced by - another genre. If you can, you know more than most people.

I look at music the same way I look at language. You learn words in order to express your thoughts and emotions in a way that suits you. Are you inventing new words or a new language? Likely not. Are you influenced at all by the language used by those around you? Likely so.

You're not stealing a language for personal advancement; you're using language to suit your own needs.

There is no distinctly original language. English is derived from about half a dozen other languages, and those languages are in turn influenced by countless other languages.

It's the same way with music. Musical genres grow out of other genres, and those who compose and perform music take those genres and adjust them to suit their own needs. Sometimes, their creations are different enough to be called a genre.

If I write a jazz song, am I stealing from jazz musicians of the past? Not any more than I'm stealing from Shakespeare when I write in English. I'm writing what suits me at that time.

That's all I have to say. Rumble on.

[yvr girl]

1. classical?

[furrylitldevil]

2. Gregorian Chant

A-HA! Got'cha!

[elperromagico]

4. Dream on.

Man was making musical noises long before the early classical composers so much as farted.

[billyskank]

7. Well, according to this site

http://classicalmusic.about.com/od/classicalperiod/

Classical music was made between 1750 and 1820. Pretty unlikely that it sprang out of nothing, don't you think?

Everything derives from something that preceded it. It's the nature of things. There's nothing wholly new under the sun.

[flamingyouth]

3. Banging rocks on dirt?

:evilgrin:

[andyhappy]

5. lol

sounds like my first band!

[elperromagico]

6. Now you're getting somewhere.

Why are Stevie Wonder, Eminem, and Bach riding the backs of cavemen?

[flamingyouth]

8. Damned derivative cavemen ripoff artists!

:D

[the Princess]

9. According to Evolution

Man first appeared in Africa - so it stands to reason that the frist music of any kind developed in Africa. All other music sprang from that.

[elperromagico]

10. We're all stealing from Africa, then.

I'll bet those early African musicians didn't see a dime.

[XNASA]

11. I suppose that ancient Chinese music is non-derivative.....

Though hunters used horns and drums in 10000 BC.

But the Chinese were the first to kinda boil it down and pay attention to tunings, etc.

That said, I figure that if you just stick to a pentatonic scale, and ignore time signatures, you might come up with something pretty original. Wait....I think I just described a couple of Radiohead songs.

[Feathered Fish]

12. Drumming

[elperromagico]

13. The rhythm of drums is likely derived from the heartbeat,

which would mean we're stealing either from God or from evolution.

[Feathered Fish]

15. lol

Yes, I suppose that's right. How about Innu throat singing?

[redqueen]

14. Right on!

*dances happy dance*

[demnan]

16. The first Mom

who thought that singing softly would calm her baby. It was probably "Eve".

[phaseolus]

17. the stuff John Cage used to write

Aleatoric Music? Musique Concrete?

(not absolutely sure what those last two are -- just pullin' words outta my ass now...)

[J-Lo Biafra]

18. Scottish Bagpipes?

But even Middle Eastern and East Asian has instruments similar to bagpipes, if I recall.

[AllegroRondo]

19. Bagpipes are from Pakistan

and imported by the British during the colonization years.

[J-Lo Biafra]

20. Aha! I knew it was a derivative of some sort.

Thanks!

[mvd]

21. Not really a genre, but..

songs marked "traditional" are about the least derivative you can get.

[norml]

22. Electronic Ambient Noise Music?

Would that be an example?

[regularguy]

23. New York Horn Honking.

Part primal scream, part desperate cry for Mommy...