Practice, Perspective, Patience and Musical Intuition

One of the issues I've been facing as I have been developing my new live performance rig is the transition between it being mostly conceptual to being comfortable to actually use.  Never mind the fact that it's taken me more than 4 years of experimenting with what in retrospect is an absurd amount of gear, or the fact that much of the experimenting was slow due more to my lack of programming skills at the time, or the - I would like to think this is the biggest factor - fact that I could not really find anyone doing what I was trying to accomplish so there was no road map to follow.

The sense I had from the start - through all the trials and tests to finally get a working rig - was that  I was radically changing my entire approach to live performance in this process. Now, of course there is the very real possibility that the sense of epic change I felt was mostly self imposed and perhaps this is all no big deal, but for me it has been very real - self-imposed or not - and what that has meant is that I have had to delay and delay and delay doing actual shows.

This has been disappointing on a number of levels, but on the other hand there doesn't seem to be any point in presenting what could be an amazing musical moment to anyone until it's actually ready to be amazing.

As a songwriter I tend to think in the moment of the song.  Everything moves outward from there.  Get the song itself in place and the rest will come.  But translating that song to an audience requires practice.  And that practice can require a lot of patience - something I am generally not always that good at.  Plus my entire performance technique has had to change and - I'd like to think - evolve, as I have developed the new rig.

This has meant that every time I make a change for the betterment of the bigger picture concept I have had to reteach myself how to operate the rig.  Then as I go through that process if something is not doing what I need it to do, I have to stop the entire process and look for a solution before I can move on.  Many times this takes additional weeks of tinkering until I can get everything running right.  Till there is another bump in the road and then it starts over again.  To be fair I should admit that part of me enjoys the tinkering - even if it seem endless.  Anyway...

In a way all this "practicing" has been a bit disconcerting, but recently something has happened that took me out of my now "Songwriting" mentality and back to more fundamental musical experiences of my youth.  The rig now makes sense to me intuitively.   Perhaps this is an effect of my doing so much with it that my brain moves faster than it did before through the process, but whatever the reason I find that I "see" the rig differently now.  It feels more like an instrument unto itself rather than just a way to facilitate song performances.

It reminds me a lot of when I was first learning to, for example, play basic grooves on a drum kit.  At some point I did not have to consciously think any longer about the groove.  It just flowed out of me.  At that point I was able to just play.  In the moment.  Intuitively.  Musically.  It was very freeing and it set a kind of benchmark for all my future musical experiences.

Of course there is always more to learn and add to one's toolbox, but the concept of musical intuition as a part of performance (in all parts of the process: writing, recording, performing, producing) has always intrigued me.  The idea "Nothing Forced Endures" (thank you, Richard Beal!) comes to mind.

All that in mind, as you might expect, I cannot at this point say "it's done."  Funny, if not predictably, enough, as the rig has reached this point of ease-of-use, I am still awaiting the release of some new gear from a few companies to complete my current vision of how it will all work.    In fact in the photo you can kinda see a "blank" area that is reserved for this very reason.  Most significantly I am looking forward to the Keith McMillen QuNexus and the Electro Harmonix 8 Step Program.  Both are due this month.  And then let the fun begin!

I did create a very raw video on the concept a few weeks ago, for anyone interested.  It's more of a prototype here, as since filming I have swapped out the SL-20 for an Adrenalinn 3 and reworked the actual placement and wiring to be more cooperative, and numerous other changes, but the idea behind the rig should be clear regardless.

It's an exciting time.  Lots more coming! Gotta go practice now...

Where's My Album?

I hear this all the time from CMAS students (and others):  "Why should I buy a full album from an artist, when I can easily just download only the tracks I want?  Plus, it seems like most albums, even by my favorite artists are made up of a few tracks I like and the rest is all just filler."

It's a complex issue.  On one level, there is the notion that while there is so much out there, a lot of it is junk.  It's easy to get lost in the din.  On another level, there is the notion that it was not always that way and the market has allowed this kind of disposable quality to music (perhaps to all the arts?) that fosters this frequent "not so great but good enough" approach.  Another level to consider is that the entire purpose of an album has been lost, just generally, as an art form.  And there are others.  Many others.  

But my point here is not so much those concepts but something more fundamental: are we doing a disservice to the art of creating music by even allowing the option of a single song download from a wouldbe larger scale project?

The artistic purest in me says, immediately and without a moment's hesitation, YES!  The pragmatist in me, however, is not so sure. 

Here is the dilemma:  if art is a reflection of society, and society is moving in a more, albeit artistically stifling direction, does art that works to offset or even to change that movement actually reflect society accurately?

This is not just semantics. You cannot have it both ways.  Nor can you claim everything is done as a protest.  It's certainly a conceivable possibility but it's not likely to actually happen in reality.  Frankly, it's far too easy to make a bigger name for yourself and more money if you don't protest and if you get along. 

And that does't even address the factors that revolve around the rather, I think, sad fact that the manufacturers of much of todays music production tools have found that if they make things that allow pretty much anyone to just, at the push of a button, sound "real," they can make even more money, regardless of where we wanna call the results art or just exercises in technology as a crutch.  But that is another rant for another time.  Anyway...

Sure you might get very lucky and be at the nexus of a great redefining of music, but most of us will never be there, regardless of our intentions, skills or anything else that might be a factor.  And, sure, you can go your own road all you want in the name of artistic truth, but what if no one is there to hear you?  Even if you are right?  Even if your music is legitimately brilliant; but because you are all alone no one hears it?  Really, what if no one hears?  And yet another rant...

It's a confusing and multi layered problem.  One that does not just have a silver bullet solution.  

As I begin to reexamine my own musical priorities as I prepare to start recording some of the vast multitude of songs I been writing in the past many months  I wonder where I will end up on this issue.  Or if it even matters.

Maybe that's the real point of art.  Not to be a statement of anything other than of itself.  hmmmmmm…

Serve The Song

I'm a huge techno-buff.  Particularly when it comes to music.  I find it all so fascinating.  The idea that there are these tools to help refocus my creativity and my overall creative process is just so cool a concept.

On the other hand, technology as a crutch drives me crazy.  Balancing these two used to be a considerable challenge for me.  But over time I have found that if I start with that basic idea, "serve the song," and actually follow that as a kinda of unbreakable rule - ironic in that I also firmly believe there should be no rules to creativity, *sigh* - I can pretty much move into any area that catches my creative fancy.

Let me give you a more concrete example.  I am also a big fan of Dave Grohl.  (Aren't we all?)  The guy is truly an inspiration for so many reasons.  Recently he made this incredible film called "Sound City," and I really encourage you all to see it.  Repeatedly.  It is quite astonishing, and has so much on so many levels that I found myself having to watch it a couple of times recently to ensure I felt I had gotten all that I could from the experience.  Anyway...

The film is part history lesson about a particular studio (Sound City), part recording industry rant, part technology rant...you get the idea.  On the surface there is this sense of a "technology has killed music" notion floated by a lot of the artists in the film - and there are a LOT of them in the film.  So many heroes of mine that I kinda lost count.  There are all these example stories of technology killing the musical process in favor a the quick and easy route to "success."  Dave went so far as to by the Neve console from the studio for his own studio and he's since produced several amazing LPs with it.

I've heard lots of musicians respond to this film - and similar- by saying that they are going back to analog.  No more computers.  No more artificial elements. It's all gotta be "real."  Ok, but the notion of "real" is not so clear these days.  As if the analog tape machine is any less of a technology than digital.  Different certainly, but technology all the same.  It's as though they skipped the scenes in the film with Trent Reznor.  Folks, it's not the technology.  It's you.

"No, man.  You don't get it.  Dave, he went all 'old school.'  All analog.  No computers.  It's all real."  Come on.  Really?  You gotta see past that.  What Dave did is nothing short of brilliant.  But, to me at least, it has nothing to do with pro-analog or anti-computers/anti-Pro Tools.  It's about how you get musically inspired.

Think about it.  Stripping things down and removing the computer really was just a way to facilitate a different approach to music making.  Opening up previously unexplored creative paths.  But the analog versus digital element is just a superficial bit on the surface.  Go deeper and they are both irrelevant.

All that matters is the song.  That's it.  Are you letting the music make the decisions or are you forcing yourself onto it?  Your song doesn't suck because you used computers.  And it's not brilliant because you went analog.  It sucks because you got in the way.  It sucks because you let your ego get to the point of arrogance and the music took a back seat in some way.  Maybe it was 'cuz you rushed something.  Or didn't practice the line enough to make it really shine.  Or didn't let things be gloriously out of sync and/or tune.  If your song sucks, it's not the music.  It's because you did not let the music rule the decisions.  Your song sucks because you did not get out of the music's way.  

And your song is not amazing because you went analog, and threw off the "shackles of technology." It's amazing because you got out of the music's way.  Maybe going analog gave you the needed perspective to let the music take control, preventing your ego from turning to arrogance and letting the music flow.  But that is about you, not technology.  And if that's what it takes to allow you to serve the song, then do it.  Go analog.  But don't for a moment  think that it's the technology that is making the music "happen, " or not.  That's all you.  It's why all the over processed crap might at first seem really cool, but then over time all fades away.  In the same way, though, if the computer inspires you in some way to harness the magic of the music, why turn away from it?  That's just as bad as using it as a crutch.  Maybe even worse.  How can you possibly justify turning your back on the music right in front of you just because you wanna throw those shackles off I mentioned earlier?  That's not musical.  That's just, forgive me, stupid.

Serve the song.  Serve the song.  SERVE THE SONG!  How you serve it is not the point, so long as you do.

This all has absolutely NOTHING to do with technology, by the way.  It's something far more pure. Technology is only a tool.  Or a crutch.  Your choice.  Serve the song and you will always know what to do.  Ok.  End of rant.  For now...

Too Much Technology?

A couple of years ago I started a blog.  On one level it was to feed my ego that I would be able to post all my "important" observations to legions of fans all over the world who were in various states of eagerness awaiting my every word or all things musical and related topics.  Ha!  On another level it was to see if I could not create a kind of journal.  This is more the truth.  I like the idea of my kids, and grand kids, etc. having something of an insight into who I was - at least musically - years from now.  Perhaps even when I'm gone.

I guess I'm at an age where I have begun to look both forward and back in equal measure (ooooohhh....that's a good lyric...I need to use that...anyway....) and I realize that I don't have nearly as much of that kind of thing from my own parents or theirs.  Not even musical elements, as they were not particularly musically inclined - but more of a sense of who they were. Perhaps this is a topic for another rant.  In any case....

As I pursued the blog, I also got more into other social media.  Facebook.  Twitter.  etc. and it began to evolve that my "blog as a journal" idea got usurped by a Facebook/Twitter journal of sorts.

The trouble is that while these are more convenient in many ways, their potentially dramatically smaller amount of content makes them less comprehensive, and to me, in many ways, inherently less intimate (the irony of my publishing this blog publicly not withstanding - I wanna be the humble, non-attention seeking guy - really, I do  - it just never seems to work out.  yikes!) Perhaps that's more an indication of my inability to be adequately succinct, but then again, perhaps that's just an accurate reflection of me, so why fight it?

We live in an age where there are actually so many ways to communicate that it all kinda washes over us. There is so much that in many ways we get nothing. (hmmmm...another good lyric there...)

I know I am not the first to encounter this.  Or the last.  And my rant here is very much proof of that.  But for some reason I feel that if I rant here, I may get lucky enough to get to a point where I can more consistently posting into this journal for my kids.  And my legions of fans? ugh!  ;)

It's an adventure.  Like writing a song a week I suppose.  You never know quite where it's gong to lead, but that's not the point.  The point is to keep moving, and that's what I intend to do.  Wish me luck!