What If I Am Not Good At Making Music?
Monday, October 20, 2008 at 08:54PM Last week, I wrote about listening and relistening to the music that inspires you. I was talking to musicians initially but then realized I was talking to everyone. 
And i n regard to that Wednesday post from last week, “What Music Inspired You?” I received this post:
“Sadly, I am not a musician. I've tried, but my main talent is in writing words.
And, as I have recently found, making fractal art. A digital, mathematical form of art, which today many people regard as simply knob-twiddling and mouse-pointing.
Yet, I feel it's real enough to express me.
Many times music inspires my visual art. And it often inspires my every day life, as it always has.
Music doesn't always lead to tunes or words. Sometimes it inspires something entirely different.
There's often music in my pieces.” October 19, 2008 |
I don’t want to sound like Pollyanna here, or some new age “HUG” guy, but this is what I truly believe and what I told her. Here is my response to her post…
You are absolutely right and that's because all creativity comes from the same source. it's like water running down a mountain. It follows the path of least resistance and creativity is all the same; from the same source. It finds it's way out of us however it can.
At the risk of sounding maudlin, it's another example of this miracle we call life or consciousness or the god connection.
The fact of the matter is we are all gifted and all of us in different ways. I believe that it is our responsibility and our sacred trust to examine our lives and our existence until we find what our gifts are. And then it is our duty to nurture that gift until it gives back to the world; to nuture that gift until it fulfills the promise of the gift.
That is the final responsibility of each and every one of us. To discover the gift inside of each of us and to nuture that gift until it fulfills the promise of the gift.
This sounds like so much crystal meditation mindless new age spouting when it is in print, but when you think about it, it becomes clear. It’s like a seed. Plant it in your heart and your mind and see that it is nutured and it will grow into something that will actually sustain you.
I have discovered that the more I give to my music, the more it gives back to me. And this is a lesson that applies across the board in life. The more love that I give my wife, the more it is returned, and understand that I am not giving the love in the hopes that I’ll get more. I am giving it because I want to and because I believe that she deserves to be loved by someone completely.
That thing that Buddhists talk about, where you get out in front of the ego and you just give. Give to your life; give to your gift; and try to give back to the planet in every way you can. Okay, Wednesday we will talk about something concrete that you can see and feel, but believe me, this is just as important, if not more so.
And now, off my pulpit.
Reader Comments (6)
Creativity, no matter it's form is exactly the same thing-that thing in us that wants to male something that says in some way, "This is me!". It's just that we all use different tools to make different things, so we can't always see that it's all part of one big creative force.
We all have something, and, as far as I am concerned, one of the great adventures in life is finding what that thing is and where it can take you. And as a bonus, it's some of the best fun there is, too :)
That could have been me up there - well, except for the fractal art stuff. I love music more than just about anything except my wife. But after taking lessons over the years on violin, guitar and piano, it turns out that I can play - well, nothing. I can sorta sing okay, but I have an easy listening voice in a rock and roll world. My talents lie in more mundane areas, but they are there and I know what they are. My favorite of all my talents is a good ear - I can spot a great musician, a great singer, a great songwriter. But damn, I wish I could be one of those.
James:
What an exquisite and heartfelt post. It struck me to the core because, while I know what my gifts are, I have nurtured only those that have helped me get and keep a job, not so much those that give me joy. And time is running out.
Moments after I read your post, I received my "weekly focusing thought for radiation into the world" (how's that for crystal meditation mindless new age spouting?) and it seemed appropriate:
“Want to help? Show your deepest most divine self to the world. There is nothing more rare, more strange, more needed. Why would you wait?”
--Clarissa Pinkola Este
These are tough times. Thank you for jolt of inspiration.
Liza Jane
I am also a frustrated musician. I can carry a tune, but usually keep it to myself. <g>
Several years ago, in my quilting days, I had a conversation with the owner of my favorite quilting shop. I was saying that I didn't consider myself "Artistic" - to me, artistic was defined as the ability to create pictures with crayons, pencils, watercolors, what-have-you. She chided me with the insistence that the fact I created quilts (from patterns) - choosing the fabrics, etc - meant that I was in fact "artistic". When she described it that way, it made perfect sense to me.
So now, I figure in whatever way I'm expressing my creativity - quilting, knitting, writing, photography, etc - I'm being "artistic" in my own way, and sharing my talents. Because, as I've found - if I don't use those talents things are not in right in my world!
Cindi
Took me a long time to figure that out, but it's true. It's all part of being creative. I think of creativity as this great big ball of clay. Everybody gets a piece of it, though some pieces are bigger than others and some have better tools to work with. But we all have some. We all just have to figure out how to get the most out of what we have using the tools we are given. That's the REAL creativity :)
There's nothing light and fluffu about what you are saying...THAT is reality...the fact is Western Civilization...is too busy working too hard at doing things they THING w carmake them happy...the nuclear family the house cars good job..gadgets...but that is so far removed from Truth...from reality...as a ex-Catholic and a Current Buddhist...not strict one mind you but a Buddhist all the same...Creativity is more important than all the money in the world..i have found its much more joyful to be poor and creative...and I'm talking hand to mouth here...than it is to have no creativity...no search for that truth that makes art... and lots of money...
Namaste,
Bobby