Select Page

Artistic Demands

by | Dec 7, 2010 | Music | 4 comments

I realized it about halfway through the second service  at our church this past Sunday: I love playing drums.

Nothing new there of course, I’ve been playing since before I could walk and spent a good portion of my adult life as a professional musician. But still, there are times when it just…hits. It hits me that I know how to play and that I enjoy knowing how to play. It’s fun to “go for it,” pull it off,  turn the heads of everyone involved and put a smile on their faces. Nice.

I don’t have anything profound to share – and in fact, I wasn’t going to write about this except for two things that crossed my path yesterday. Both of them HAD to be shared.

First was a note from a Facebook friend:

For 47 years I have believed that a life without music is one that lacks color, flavor, or soul.  Though I am something of a wordsmith in my work, I’ve never been able to find the words to truly and fully express how I feel when I’m playing.  Fortunately, a 5th grader at my Central Valley Elementary did.  This little girl wrote:

“When I play my music, I am in my own little world, playing in a music symphony.  I am going for the gold, reaching high standards, and I have a passion for it in a way that words can’t describe.  I get that feeling when you feel that you’re in the right place in the right time and you keep going and going until you stop when you are as good as ever and when I play, the world gets beautiful, better, and interesting.

But when I don’t play, the world is ugly, plain and boring.  Music is my passion and if I do it forever, then the world will be gleaming with joy and will be filled with music.  If not, than the world will be as emply as a bottomless pit.  Music has a huge effect on me and making me stop will just cause a severe sadness.  That is what music is like from my point of view.”

I couldn’t agree more or have said it better myself!

The second was a post from a dear, and dearly talented friend entitled Come On Baby, Light My Fire. Here’s a quote:

“If you’re an artistic soul, you speak the language of ignition. That ability, that gift, is volatile and powerful, and it demands declaration.”

Read the whole inspirational thing and enjoy the snow too (Yes, it’s snowing on her blog).

So what about you, what do you do that makes the world “beautiful, better, and interesting?” What is it you have that “demands declaration?” What are doing with it?

  • Frank N. Stein

    Well said my friend. As both a musician and as a trial lawyer, I understand the “language of ignition” reference. Several years ago, I was talking with a law school classmate of mine who suddenly asked “do you realize how far we’ve come with our wordcraft? How we’ve developed the ability to, using nothing more than our particular style of written or spoken word, make others think about and consider things they otherwise wouldn’t?” He’s right – we speak the “language of ignition” and I realized its true in so many aspects of my life – whether I am igniting a jury to think like I need them to, igniting a room full of people to clap and sing along with me, or igniting another good deed by doing one for someone else, it feels good and, in fact, it IS good to be a person who motivates others and does so with (I hope) positive results.

  • Pingback: Tweets that mention Art Must Be Expressed | whyifailed.com Blog -- Topsy.com()

  • Anonymous

    Thanks Frank – for sharing this and for sharing your student’s insights in the first place.

  • IndyInk

    Funny, you played drums on one of my favorite albums ever… India.Arie’s Acoustic Soul. I’d listened to it for years and later realized you were on it when I was at your house one day and read the liner notes.

    That music inspired a lot of my own creations.

    Way to burn.

    Indy

  • Anonymous

    Thanks for the kind words Teri – and to have contributed to anything you’ve done is an honor!