Hello All!
My sincerest apologies for not posting the past few weeks (although i’m sure not many of you were too concerned) I have been swamped with schoolwork and ultimately, lifework. So what exactly have i been doing? Plenty of composing, plenty of playing music, plenty of changing/ figuring out long term plans.
It’s been pretty intense and confusing, living in the city, a student composer, no job, no real place to practice or play music without getting a car and driving an hour outside the city. It’s made me think a lot, about making music, going to school, trying to make it today in this world as a musician. And it’s made me come to a few conclusions:
1-) Music is everywhere. Musicians will NEVER be out of work. It just depends on how versatile you are as a musician. It also has to do with mindset, and if you are not accepting of different options, the offers will disappear and eventually you won’t be able to find work.
2-) You don’t have to be in the top 10 charts (and most of the time the top 10 isn’t exactly what I consider ‘success’ anyway) to be a respected and important musician/composer. Success is measured by how happy you are in your position, not your job title.
3-) The only thing that people need to express enthusiasm, excitement, and creativity is a place that is comfortable as well as the tools with which to do so. This is what has driven me CRAZY about going to school in the middle of a city that isn’t exactly reknown for its arts program and doesn’t provide a place to let loose and JUST PLAYYY with other musicians. More important to me than housing, more important to me than a comfortable place to go home and sleep, is this space, this art space. And I know there are so many people around me that feel the same way. I want to provide this space for the people around me that have amazing ideas and artistic visions so that we can collaborate and express ourselves in a way that sometimes is hard to do through school. No holds barred.
5- I want to be a performer as well as a composer and an engineer. (maybe even all at the same time). And even if i’m not a performer or composer, I want to be an engineer. I can’t explain what I feel like when i’m involved in a session, it just feels right.
So these things, how trivial and small they may seem to long term plans, are very important to me personally and in realizing my dreams. I’m not entirely sure what those dreams are yet, but I know when i’m heading in the right direction and getting this practice space is the first step of many in the right direction.
Next friday, Conversation Magnetique as well as the rest of my classmates most recent cello sonatas will be recorded in Shillman Hall.(finally) I will be running the session, and very excitedly so. Yesterday, I decided to sit in on and watch the first groups set of sonatas and I was blown away. The ideas and talent that are around me every day baffle me, its exhillirating because for a moment you feel like you could be apart of the history of how music is shaped.
Also been working hard on projects for school, namely my composition pieces. What I was calling “constrained time” is becoming somewhat of a different concept for a mixed media piece. No longer as much about the concept of “constrained time” and more about the use of silence and abstract images in audio and visual relationships. That is taking a while to get into, but i will be doing my best to get that going and finished before the end of the semester.
I’ll post next saturday after the recording on friday and i’ll let you all know how it went and post the recording for you all to listen to. Make sure you check back next week!!!
be sound,
-SF
P.S. Sometime during the week i’ll also post some more sessions from the live music archives: Thousands, Hangman’s Alphabet, Double Dragons, Theif Theif, Irepress, Maserati, Constants, and Junius.