Will music ever be this balanced? Probably not but that doesn’t mean that it’s not worth reaching for the goal of balance especially if you are a media outlet. This rant today will be short and sweet. The awareness that I’m trying to bring about is simply this: We operate on three spheres if we are lucky… the past, present and we dream of a future sometimes packaged as a fantasy when we compare it to our current reality. My beef? Far too much time spent in the past and not enough dreaming of a future because the present doesn’t often allow space (in mass media to be different).
I’m not suggesting being different just for the sake of being different, there’s already far too much of that. I mean being great at what you do differently than everyone else: unique. In a perfect world if we were running a 24 hour a day outlet there would be 8 hours devoted to each sphere. Not necessarily 8 consecutive hours but throughout the course of the day you would get your well balanced amount of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Balance.
Ivan Orr is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, performer, and writer. A native of Charlottesville, Virginia Ivan was involved with the forming and nascent days of The Music Resource Center as its first Program Director. A graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Music, Ivan currently resides in Richmond, VA where he maintains an active performance and production schedule while serving as the Music Editor for Grown Folks Music, a position he has held since 2010.
