Art has and always will have some sort of a barrier to entry. This is by it’s nature, but there have been all sorts of tool created throughout history to lower this barrier to entry, and while many have succeeded, they also raise the ceiling and push their medium forward.
One prime example of this that I’ve mentioned is the manufacturing of pigments and paint. For most of history artists or their apprentices would be the ones grinding beetles and mixing egg yolk to create their paint. The industrial revolution brought an end to this as it was simpler to buy a couple of premade paints and mix them to create more colors.
This is probably most apparent in two aspects of the musical world: information and instruments. It used to be the case that a luthier would make your instrument and it’d hopefully last your lifetime, but with the advent of modern manufacturing, cheap labor, and consumerism it is easy to buy multiple mass manufactured instruments for the same price as a handcrafted one in the U.S. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it gives many more people the opportunity to enjoy music, and this is great.
Additionally, being in the information age means that it’s easier than ever to be “self taught” at an instrument. Of course most aren’t completely self taught, they use free resources like youtube and other online sources to learn, but these are often free and easy to access.
This also is great, it give more people access to this art and pushes the medium of auditory sensation forward. But it detract from creativity. First off, mass manufactured instruments can demand less respect than one with a history, and so their full potential can be neglected. This is clearly not a tangible effect, but with art being a form of quantifying the intangible, it’d be slight to ignore this point.
There is something in learning from a master and then passing down those skills that can’t be captured in mass market online courses. It is imperative for the musician to embody personal connection, and the interhuman connection between mentor and mentee cannot be mimicked through electromagnetic waves transmitting data formed years before.
Whatever the case is, I find it hard to believe that art will regress as it gets more accessible to those motivated to pursue it. There will be failure, and there will be flavorless, commercialized attempts at art, but there will hopefully always be someone, who may not be getting the recognition they deserve, that can be making art to help you out. And, if not, maybe you should be the one making it.
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