music is not a product

​I’ve always hated talking about a musical “product.”  To me, a product is the result of a factory process. Products are shipped to a specification--everything is within an acceptable differential.  This screw is almost exactly the same as all the other screws. Of course, music doesn’t come out of a factory. Although we “make” music, we “play” our instruments.  Music is handmade with all manners of deficiencies and differences. These very things are what give it true life. We have an opportunity to perform something differently from (or similarly to) a colleague.  Both performances meet the specifications for that particular piece. When we perform, the music that comes out is not mere replicable sound. It is the distillation of our total creative and non-creative lives into something hearable for an audience.  Music is not a product, it is the very essence of a musician’s life.