Musicians and Music

I’m a musician first, a food-lover second, a dirty mouth with feet, and a girl last time I checked.

– Tori Amos

NOTE: Casey is one of my music writing partners in BHP.   Like Jim, who wrote one of our articles yesterday, Casey has agreed to let me use some stuff he’s written in the past, and he plans on writing some new articles as well.   If you enjoy what I write here, you’ll definitely enjoy what those two have to say as well.

This is one of those posts originally written for a BHP blog..  It was written about a year ago.     – Jason

Anyone who is married can attest that the more you commit to it, the more enjoyment you get out of it. I’ve found this to be true as well.

It’s the same way with music. The allegory of being married to one’s band mates notwithstanding, I’ve found that the more I am committed to the process of writing, the more productive I’ll be and the more enjoyment I get out of it. And let’s be honest, it’s crucial to be able to enjoy the music you are involved with. Otherwise it’s a sad and colossal waste of life to be in a band with any other end result.

Although BHP is not a band in the strictest sense, as we do not rehearse or gig, we do need to commit time and energy toward crafting our tunes. Otherwise they don’t get written and it becomes the whole sad and colossal waste… Sometimes pushing oneself even to do things one enjoys (songwriting, for example) is necessary. It’s not drudgery as it would seem at first. Always be mindful to push through the times where you may not be as inspired or when ideas don’t come as easy. It works. Giving yourself that extra push once in a while keeps you afloat and in the game. I’ve learned this with lyric writing in the past couple of months. I’ve written more lyrically in 2 months than ever.

Of course, knowing that you’ve got committed band mates helps too. As a musician, you may have been (may be) in a band where you are pulling most of the weight somehow. First, do not panic. Realize that most musicians are flakes (there, I’ve said it). But realize too that if you’ve got the fire to write and perform your own stuff, then you deserve to be with other musicians who have the fire to commit as well. Otherwise, you guessed it, sad and colossal waste of time!

I’ve been lucky the past ten years. I’ve been privileged enough to be in two bands that are committed and it’s made all the difference for me as a musician. It’s encouraged me to be committed and helped me enjoy the music so much more. Even today with my BHP group, I have that.

Commit to your music. You deserve the satisfaction of enjoying an end result. Your music deserves the commitment as well.

-Casey

Previous posts in the series:
Why Do You Create Music (Part 1)
Why Do You Create Music (Part 2)

Why I Create Music

Over the past couple of days I’ve been looking at the topic of why musicians create music.  I’ve  posted comments that I received as an answer to the simple question “Why do you create music” on a couple forums that I read often, and I’ve let those answers pretty much speak for  themselves.

Now I will take the time to address the subject from my own point of view.

When I began creating my own music, I was in a band.  I was determined that I was going to be a rockstar someday.   Well, that’s how I talked, but really I just wanted to spend my life getting paid for writing and performing music.  At the time, that was my sole driving factor.  Everything I wrote, everything I created, was to improve my chances of becoming a full-time musician.

As the years passed, those dreams faded, but the drive to be creative did not.  I had over the years played around with creating odd sounds and some simple songs that I knew wouldn’t fit with the sound my band had formed, so as I spent less and less time working with a band, I spent more and more time on these random songs and sounds that I was creating.

It didn’t take long for me to figure out that it was a good feeling to know that I had created something new.  Most of the time it didn’t matter to me if other people had or would hear what I created… I liked it, and that was all that mattered.  It was somewhat of a rush.  It was definitely a feeling of creative release.  It took my mind away from every day dull happenings and gave me somewhat of a sense of purpose.

Luckily for me I have a couple friends who have very similar feelings about creating music.  Like me, they’re not so worried about the whole world hearing what they’ve done.  They just want to create something that they can be proud of.

Music has literally flooded into pretty much every aspect of my life at this point.  I like to write, so I have this blog to write about music.  I like football and I have a Minnesota Vikings Blog, so I figured out ways to be able to create music to promote the blog.  I have recently started a Minnesota Twins blog, and I am already planning some music for that one as well.  I go to church on Sundays and Wednesdays, and I’m part of the music team.  I even married a person who enjoys playing music, and we’ve written songs together.  I get together with two of my friends (who I hope to have write on this blog sometime in the very near future) every week, and we create music.

When I’m at my office, I typically have music playing, and often times my playlist is filled with things that I’ve created… not because I’m arrogant, but because I’m proud.  It feels good to create something that I enjoy.  If no one else ever decides they like my music, I’m still proud of it, because I like it.

I create music because that’s who I am… a songwriter, a musician, and a creative artist.

Learn from the music business pros

Today I’m going to go a different direction and do a little book review.

The book is called “Behind The Glass”.  It’s a collection of interviews with music producers that have produced some amazing albums over the years.  Technically the book  isn’t exactly about creating music in the truest sense, but it definitely includes some talk about the song writing process.  I think it’s relevant to this blog, though, because I’m assuming many of you that come here are your own songwriter, band, engineer, and producer wrapped up into one.

The book is literally just a transcription of the interviews themselves.  Reading it will give you an interesting look on how the “professionals” do things.

Those of us who are searching for new creative ways to make music walk kind of a fine line… on one hand, learning from people who have done it before is essential, but on the other hand we’re trying to pave our own road.  I still think reading books like this can be helpful… you’ll walk away with a ton of ideas.

Here is a link to the book on Amazon.com.  Just so I don’t come across as sneaky or something, I’ll tell you up front that if you order the book from this link, Creative-Music.org will get a portion of the profit.  You can do with that info what you want!    If you’d like to help support this blog, then maybe you want to order from the link.  If not, no big deal.  I do recommend, though, whether you buy the book through this link or through your other favorite source that you do check it out.  I think you’ll be glad you did.

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When creating that link from Amazon, I just noticed that you can get used versions of the book for pretty cheap.  Gotta love Amazon used stuff!

I wanted to quote what one of the reviewers on Amazon had to say about the book as well.

Great resource, but how does it rate for up-and-comings…?, January 5, 2001

By	Scott Woods (Columbus, Ohio United States) -

The other really good reviews tell you what you want to know about the logistics of the book. I want to talk about whether or not an up-and-coming musician/producer/composer can use the book in their daily work and professional lives to any useful extent.My quick answer is absolutely. It’s chockful of great interviews with unquestionable legends in the field. We always hear about the artists and get these clunky, chopped up interviews in magazines with them about what it took to make the record (“I had a dream”, “My contract was about up”, “It’s an homage to field mice”, etc.), but we rarely get such an in-depth look at who REALLY makes these artists SOUND they way they do. There’s a ton of stuff about the gear they use, how they use it and why they use it.

The slant of the book is a little high-end, which is understandable, considering the professional level of the producers we’re talking about here, so the average joe in their bedroom or basement studio may find the discussions about $10,000 microphones a bit overwhelming and useless, but the theories about how they’re used and what environments (an aspect of recording SADLY bypassed by big and small name studios alike) they’re striving to create are invaluable, and can be applied everywhere.

If you’re an aspiring artist, get it because it will tell you where the lines are in your working relationships with these people, and help you help yourself instead of looking at the studio clock with 6 more tracks you’d like to lay. If you’re a session musician, you’ll probably find it useful when the discussions turn to getting good sounds out of your instruments in various environments. And if you’re an aspiring producer, you HAVE to get it. It’s your guide through ego, business and the nature of what you wish to do.

As you can see, it’s an old review, because the book has been out for a while  (There is a part 2, but I haven’t read it, though), but the information in the book is still relevant and useful.

Check out the book and let me know what you think.  Or if you’ve read it already, leave a comment (positive or negative).  I’d love to know your thoughts.