On learning new things...
You know how when you always think "I have a million things to do every day!" and "I wish my things to do didn't keep piling up and I could get...to...the...end...of the list!"
Turns out that in music, like most everything, advancement comes with a platitude of endless efforts towards the unknown.
I recently heard that Scientists purposefully watched the brain patterns of two people: one a non-musician playing a scale, and the other a professional performer playing a difficult piece. Reportedly, the brain patterns registered activity in the same area.
Doing something that challenges you. Learning new things, Really new things, pushes evolutionary boundaries that want to be pushed. The complexity of the challenge matters little, the Newness of it is what counts.
My nephew learns weird little things at an incredible rate. So does my friend's year-old. They say you learn a great deal in a great comparative hurry in your first few years.
When I started playing with keyboards at age 9, I knew I wanted to be a songwriter someday, and started writing simple songs. When I realized I Iiked guitars better, I picked up one of those, and carried on. I tried putting a band together at 16, reahearsals, even shows. By 17, I recorded my first album, real studio and everything. That group would go on, with a few lineup changes, to complete two more albums by age 22. It was then, when we broke apart, that this story begins.
I practiced hard to become a lead guitarist, or a studio guitarist, so I could join an existing semi-successful band and grow with them. After two years of that, they all slowly fell by the wayside, and I forced myself to learn how to be a lead singer. This took years. I started other bands, joined other bands, and worked on projects. By age 25, I had lots of musical skills and experience. But it wasn't enough. It Couldn't be enough. Thru the insistence of my friend Kris, I figured I had to teach myself to record myself. Studios, engineers, producers, this is all Expensive! Being successful in music takes a considerable amount of luck, and like anything else, where preparation meets opportunity... So, I started down that road. Along the way, I learned bass, drums, and a few other instruments just in case more bandmates fell by the wayside. They did, but by age 30, I had over twenty completed albums/EPs. The story felt intense by this point to me, and my brain felt full with the constant wheel of creative spitfire of a lifestyle I had carved out, but I still hadn't achieved any goals of "success", so, time to learn even more. I realized that recording myself was a huge advantage, but it turned out that having the right MIX was a whole separate ballgame. I'm currently still developing this part of my story. Also, I have realized that SOCIAL MEDIA/modern creative marketing is yet another thing. I’m in the midst of posting more. Again, Kris: “Don’t let perfect get in the way of Good.”
Thus, in addition to challenging myself to consistently churn out "material w potential", i.e. "good songs", and keeping my performance chops up, and managing bandmates, and booking gigs, and networking with the local scene (this means showing up to other people's shows...Never a night off), and applying to festivals, and recording myself, and mixing myself, and producing my own artwork/layouts, and keeping my confidence up throughout...I need to also start managing a social media campaign.
Exactly how far away has my brain gotten from Just.Playing.Music???
I've also just picked up the banjo (twelve months in), and my 2018 “Habits” album will be chock full of that sound!
More to come. Thank You for reading.