Rock musicians with musical education.

A great many musicians and bands among all the various subgenres of prog (avant-prog, Zeuhl, prog-metal, etc) have conservatory musical training.

Rick Wakeman of YES was a student at the Royal Academy of Music, but left to go into rock.

Christian Vander, leader and drummer extraordinaire of French band, Magma, was a classically trained percussionist.

Jazz-fusion violinist, Jean Luc Ponty was classically trained. As is Herbie Hancock.

The original members of Dream Theater all met while students at Berklee School of Music.

Many Italian prog bands are loaded with classically trained musicians. The Nocenzi brothers on keys, from the band Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, violinist from band PFM, violinist with band Deus Machina, leader and keyboardist from Il Balletto di Bronzo, Giani Leoni, just to name a very few.

I could go on. But out of all genres that loosely fall within rock, the avant-prog subgenre easily has the most classically trained musicians. The music in this subgenre tends to be so complex, that it really needs some extremely high level of musicianship in order to play.

The Belgian avant-prog band, Aranis, has 7 members, at least 5 of which are grads from top classical conservatories.

Same with the US band, Thinking Plague, Belgian band, Univers Zero, French band, Art Zoyd, Italian band, Yugen. All have several members with music training and degrees.

My overall feeling about this, but this may be pejudiced by the types of music I listen to, is that, an advanced musical education, in both technique and theory, is much more likely to help, rather than harm the resulting music.

If a musician or composer has a greater knowledge of tehcnique and theory, they have more language to call upon in order to help them convey the emotiaonal and/or intellectual content they want.

I am defienitely not a follower of the old addage, "2 chords and the truth" as it is applied to country and blues.

I love complexity and high levels of musicianship in the various genres of music I listen to. And, the resulting emotional and intellectual experience they bring about.

I think some of you miss the point. No one has claimed that being a virtuoso guarantees that they will produce memorable music. The point is simply that having a larger, more diverse musical arsenal opens up a lot more musical possibilities to the player and can elevate the playing of a tasteful player to a higher level. That is a simple reality.

On the subject of "complexity" in a musician’s playing, or in music in general. Open minded listeners who like a "simpler" style should consider that SOMETIMES it is simply a personal preference for that particular style, or can be a negative reaction to a style that is outside his/her comfort zone as a listener and not necessarily a reflection of the player’s talent; or depth of the music in absolute terms.  It is usually a good idea as a listener to keep an open mind toward expanding that comfort zone; just as it is for musicians.

 

This sounds almost exactly like something I would have written.

Who gave you permission to root around in my brain?