I had the opportunity to attend a Masterclass with a venerable jazz artist. The opening discussion was focused on what the students, most of whom were jazz majors, thought about music and jazz today. The conversation weaved back and forth between artist and students and at one point, a student said that they loved jazz because the music that is being created today is nothing but Paper Plate Music.
That comment sat with me, for while I understood what they meant – that it’s just something people simply listen to and then discard – that there was something deeper there to explore. Is there a purpose to pop music? Has there ever been? What’s the purpose of a paper plate? That last question was the easiest. You use them because you don’t want to have to do dishes, because you have a lot of people to share food with, because you are outside at a picnic with other people sharing memories and no one wants to worry about breaking dishes…the list was endless, but the overriding theme that caught my attention was that paper plates aren’t useless. They have a very specific purpose, and the things they leave behind are not the paper plate themselves, but the conversations, the memories, the feelings – and those are highly valued.
So…I wrote a song. This blog post is simply the lyrics to that song. Exploring the idea of Paper Plate Music. Perhaps, if we see it for what it is and not what it isn’t, the value can be explored all unto itself - and that is completely worthwhile.
Paper Plate Music
music & lyrics by Kat Reinhert (c)2016ExergueMusic all rights reserved
I’ve heard the stories on the radio
They say music is dying
But when I look around this room
I say that it’s fighting
There are those who say it’s worthless
Four chords can’t make things last
I beg to differ ‘cause from what I hear
Free Bird is flying fast
Some people call it Paper Plate Music
Like discardable memories
But I hear people singing Paper Plate Music
And it sounds like family
Take all the writers and singers of old
They did with what they could
Told their stories with what they had
Their soul and a piece of wood
Where would we be without the sound
Of so many songs we know
If we didn’t have a voice to cry
Four dead in Ohio
So they may call it Paper Plate Music
But it stays in our memories
‘Cause people been singing Paper Plate Music
All through history
They’re not disposable and it's not weak
To let the story have control
To get inside of you and dig down deep
Soak into your soul
People been making Paper Plate Music
For as far back as I can see
And people keep singing Paper Plate Music
In perfect harmony
So we’ll keep on making Paper Plate Music
And we’ll keep our memories
And we’ll keep on singing Paper Plate Music
With perfect harmony