(Title borrowed from Yoram Eshet-Alkalai’s essay “Digital Literacy: A Conceptual Framework for Survival Skills in the Digital Era)
In terms of Digital Literacy, “Reproduction Literacy” is creating original, authentic work by interpreting or integrating existing pieces of other works. I like the term ‘creative recycling.’ With the advent of a digital realm the idea of using or interpreting the ideas of people before you is inescapable. But it’s not a bad thing. Great ideas, inventions, movements, etc. are born because of the influence of earlier creators. And it is an idea that has infiltrated every corner of society. A musician is influenced by other musicians before him; a writer is influenced by writers they admire; researchers are influenced by prior experiments; businessmen follow successful business models they have studied.
In terms specific to the music industry, musicians are a prime example of reproduction literacy. Every musician has influences that affect them in different ways. As a guitar player I am influenced by my favorite players. From their tone, to the way I phrase the music I write, to the way I look at the guitar as an instrument. I’m just copying and adapting the way someone before me approached guitar playing and interpreting it to fit my style. But I can also trace other influences from other parts of my life that I incorporate into my music. My years learning and playing piano have had a big impact on the way I write music on the guitar. I think studying piano has made me a more melodic guitar player. Studying literature has changed the way I listen to and think about lyrics and language in music. And studying music – the focus, concentration, and time required – has impacted other areas of my life. I’m just using influences and ideas and interpreting them in ways that are meaningful and useful to me. In the process I hope I’m creating something unique and original, but also meaningful to someone else.
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