on my previous entry, I speak from my artistic journey in the remaining form of collective art creation, playing in a band with friends.
my blog will always reflect from my personal experiences first, yet I dont mean to diss, disqualify or badmouth anyone in this pouring of ideas. and comes with the high hopes of helping you connect with your path, sharing the stones i have found in mine.
so, what's with the artistry? is it a real job?
i have 2 quotes i want to share before I expand and dive into a lake of context, hopefully
" (to quote Keith Tippett) a professional musician must be businesslike. But when a professional musician becomes primarily a business person, the music dies in them."
Robert Fripp
“If there’s no money think of the art. If there’s no art, then think of the money. If there’s no art, and no money... Think about what the hell you’re doing.”
Richard Blakin,
the way of the samu...Right?
its totally intentional the paralell with freelance hired swordsmen since the great impact western philosophy had in my youth, while searching for answers and making more questions.
a musician and its instrument have that kind of relationship, once their life and sustain depend from it, their skillset, like any other human activity, is becomes a subject of what we do, cultivate and perfect as a path of life, as a service, as a source of enlightment, discipline, personal growth, etc. etc. probably overstated in better words before by many people, but never out of fashion to remind you, IF your survival depends on it, then we share a pathway. otherwise, my views won't relate in the same dramatic depth that involves the truest component of art: RISK
it's a choice. a radical one. probably not a wise one in the ears of any family member or aspiring family member, since forever. that table topic in whiplash is something many of us can relate, at some point of our art carreers. that awkward moment when the word future comes in any sentence, that also involves your financial situation, and the thing you seem to enjoy so much doing, you decided to do it every day, instead of weekends or the ocassional "play me something nice" that seems always welcome as a feature, but never, never considered serious as a way of life.
and prepare to be labelled as someone who doesn't want to work. someone lazy who doesn't want to study. someone who won't fit in society and will not have stability in life, and pursue a profession full of drug addicts... famous drug addicts, who won't be able to settle down and be functional adults, depending constantly on others and relying on others to survive... deem i can go on. I can keep updating that list. I can make an dictionary out of those reasons people bring without any effort, consequence or actual experience or involvement whatsoever in your life, let alone this idea of making this thing 24/7 and what actually it brings.
but how we get born into it? there are 2 ways we musicians get born. one is being privileged of get born in a family where our parents or one of them will pass their value for arts and encourage you in, either discover a talent or "force you to choose an art form" as either a matter of a family affair since either one of them or both or someone in the family already does it, or has admiration for the idea of making music as audiophiles themselves, or just because they want to keep you out of trouble and have been sold the fact art solidifies your academic drive and keep you away from trouble, and gives you discipline and outlet for... well, if you are privileged and your parents' actually want you to have a voice they want to listen, those are for ever your number one fans. others, may believe they carry that duty, but may, without any guilt, just putting you on day care, sidelining the fact you shoud commit to an ACTUAL career enhanced witth a good souvenir or hobbie.
and there's the the rebels. those who had to defy the idea of it, against stereotypes of what old men refer to as "rich people's hobby", "that's for (insert the sex opposite to yours, as a deflective idea to pursue an activity that doesn't fit your gender role)", "that will only lead you to a mundane way of living..." and many other greatest hits. I have heard even worst.
and there you go, the one thing we share is, you can count with one hand the amount of people who will be willing to be involved beyond a pat in the back and the "follow your dreams" taglines. you have to do it because you care, you will risk, invest, believe and give the extra mile to go on stage and be spirittually naked every night because otherwise life doesn't feel real for you without it.
is this the real life? or it's just fantasy?
do what you love, 24/7 sounds lovely on paper. sounds encourageable. sounds like you have found your IKIGAI, that "if you do what you love you'll never work a day in your life" and the unidimensional fantasy that being a working musician only happens the day of the show less than half of the people who said will attend actually showed, or in that bar or venue that has a glossy name with spotlight, overpriced drinks and where every day even more, people seem to struggle even more to talk, when you are playing in the background, and lesser educated people on youor subject will use their entitlement to tell you how you have to entertain them and give them what they want, and not what you think they need.
payment! that used to be better. did it? colleagues who used to tell me how they could afford a level of life that allowed them to tell me things they use to be able to do when payday comes, nowdays they can't today... people still imagine the myth of being a rock star as an stereotype of what an artist is. this is the only line of work i can think of, where the rates and salaries only go down, yet more people seem to line up for a place in the limelight in surreal ideas of "being pro" to generate "content" and let's not forget the possible rewards of bohemian life: booze, groupies and sometimes some diva treatment while working with the right people. temporary statuses and weekend millionaires.
i swear it is supposed to be higher than that, but it is easy to trivialze it to death.
but let's talk about what work is, by definition. and what is not, at least in my book of ethics.
we are service providers. legally, and by definition. we work for who pays us, to do whay they ask from us. sometimes comes with a white page to be filled with what we can and are willing to contribute, rarely happening as much as we think nowdays, or sometimes the page is black, as per Frank Zappa did 'for Terry Bozzio. so scripted, it literally was blackened in a colloquial way.
"playing that music that you'll most likely would be paid enough to do" is the name of the game. that music is usually what the majority of population consumes in places where they need a supply of this activity and would provide the space to make it happen, hopefully, as the best scenario possible, as redundant as it sounds. and keep your hopes that scenario becomes the icon of contrasting aspects of the human experience. for some, is the apex of where people expose themselves to an audience.
being a session musician is that prostitute character who rents itself for the sound of the party. usually we work with friends, yet if you are not cautious, you end up being just a toy, a token, a tool, a soldier... serving someone else who is the artist, but gaining nothing else than the agreed upfront by filling the date, playing the show and deliver what you can do profeciently without drama, where your name might or might not be mentioned, your photo may or may not be in the ad, and you are as good as the whole picture. there's no shame on that, there's no major rewards than the personal satisfaction for getting the job done, the dance floor sweaty, the memories being shared on perennial stories no one will wtch again.
if you lack the vocation of serving, you won't find plasure in it. if you don't understand team work you will feel misplaced, constantly struggling and discontent. we are actors for hire, and very few write their own lines in this play. the thrill takes a different form, since no matter how you see the world, there in the limelightt, you are making societyy find its comfort. at tiimes we ask ourselves: who we are playing for? all this effort for what?
inspiration. or well, entertainment that inspires. the qualty expected from us sometimes, the more we fall in love with music, is uncompromised, becoming a priority upon priorities that set a functional life as a family member, partner and member of society. bleeding every penny to get the sound we want, moving energy thru air just to decorate silence and the emptyness of existence, to shut those awful voices of our construct as characters for a moment in time.
spare me my cynism, I still have nostalgia for devotion to something, and it takes the form of how magic it is to agitate soundwaves and bend frequencies to marvel ears to sync to blend in societal rites. often, some clients aim higher, pushing you to fullfil their vision of how it fits better the goal.
i have dealt with all kinds of them: dictators, spiritual guides, business men, perfeccionists, spontaneous and chaotic, control freaks, emotive creatures, logical slaves of norms, to name a few. in all, the basic relationship remains the inherent factor: exchange of time for money.
here are the simple rules: provide guidelines, from "play what you feel according to this idea" to "just follow me" to "here's the papers and wait for my cue"
all of them equally valid, yet as Camus said, the majority of problems of mankind are because people don't speak clearly. a band is a band, where we all are equals in rewards, and responsabilities, ideas and support. for a session musician, it all comes down to sit down, collaborate and listen. you don't pay for rehearsals, you don't invest on the project. your name is not at risk with the client, the invoice and taxes aren't your call other than individual ones, and your transport and obvious food HAVE to be covered(yet, i have met arrogant people who not only think othherwise, yet apart of exploiting others to serve their name, they feel entitled to tell you you should even take care of those for the, i don't know how to call it; priilege of playing with them?). you show yourself, do your stuff. you get paid, i used to be more profitable but the world seems to be constanttly trying to find ways of not having people serving people, and getting machines and computers to do it for us easily, simply, without risk or drama. i don't have to be happy about how this idea of evolution permeates everyting, it is what it is.
but I frequently find gold in it, perphaps. often a client who appreciates i can give quality to their ideas and create something unique, where only commitment and expertise would get done what could take hours or days to less qualified hands, because doing it on a regular basis grants consistency and precision required to fullfil that vision. and it is deeply appreciated. as when clients have a good tiime creating memories on their weddings, when kids feel excited to be part of something they saw you doing. or someone who had a hard day and want to forget about their own dramas while we pounder that song played billions of times, and they will relate to, because they need so
meone to say, yell or play what they can't, because they NEED it. because at some point, we can also, sometimes we can give what we believe people need instead of just give them what they want, and simply burn time and being paid. we do more, we enjoy working, when nobody else seems to be able to do it. we are the only ones happy to get new tools to work. we are excited about being early to do something right, the best way we can, in a world where that seems rare for anything else.
so, i must say, i still find it enjoyabe. i'll still do it. i wish working conditions and fees don't suffer for a massive entrophy. and that more profesionals not only act out of meeting payday, but do things willingly. it's tiring and drains our spirits. we all wish we were on the scenario of playing with friends and do whatever we want. while we are doing what we need, what it is. borderline masochist, chaotic and unsettling, it is magical, and sometimes when it feels pure, it is something else. it's a good job, is not easy money even if it is easy songs. in the end everyones loves the person in the high wire, but no one would take that person for a life plan so easily. lonelyness sometimes becomes our best ally and focus on our path become the light of our swords. after all, it's busineess and it's good. sometimes it was better, but it is the way it is. i just hope it stays that way.
