RhythmArt Blog

(In case you missed it, that title is a reference to the most annoying commercial ever, and I regret using it, but now that I’ve thought of it, it just won’t go away.)

I’ve often explained my creative drive to people as filling the role most people use for conversation – it’s the only way I really know how to express myself. If you ask me how my day went, or how I’m feeling, i really couldn’t tell you. I could, however, write you a symphonic suite describing it (though it would take quite a bit of time).

It’s interesting to me though, how difficult it is for me to balance the output with input. Just as conversations aren’t (shouldn’t be) one-sided, my creative expression can’t go only one way, either. As much as I’ve loved spending the summer arranging music for marching bands, and I really feel like I could arrange and compose about 98% of the day (the other 2% being taken up by making coffee, of course), I really do have to take breaks! A week ago I thought I was going to implode every time I sat down to finish up my last arranging project – nothing at all was coming out. After a week away from it, it’s really hard to stop! I find myself wishing there was one more piece in the show!

So, where’s the input for a musician? Life. Pure and simple, if you want to tell a story, you have to experience life. Sitting in a dark cave of a studio with eyes glued to the computer screen is draining, getting out and experiencing the world is filling the soul again. After a week of new places, new people, and new experiences, I finally feel that I have something to say again!

Some of my ins and outs -

• writing, out
• practicing, in
• performing, out
• rehearsing, out
• reading, in
• studying, in
• watching tv, generally neutral
• watching movies, in
• listening for pleasure, in
• listening as study, out

There are more, but that’s a quick list off the top of my head. And yes, I’m quite aware taht some of them seem quite contradictory. That’s what makes it tricky!