Everyone has that thing that touches them in a way that can evoke every emotion possible. I have never experienced something as powerful as music. It has been a part of my life, in some form, since I was born. It's a constant. No matter who comes and goes, music is a companion that has stayed by my side through everything.
For most of you, as people who enjoy listening to music, you understand this thought process. But there are things that we musicians rarely talk about because it is such a profound experience for us. It is primal. It is beautiful and ugly at the same time. It is a constant work of art that we never really perfect but can still feel proud of.
It is expression in its rawest form...and you, the listeners, get a glimpse of our very soul.
The process of writing music sometimes comes easily. There are pieces that fit together with ease. Then there are those pieces of music that we can work on for years, adding to them, changing them.. all variables that can shift on a moment to moment basis. Lifelong works that no one will ever hear. They are ours. We hold them near to our heart like an infant to it's mother's breast. We nurture them. Sometimes, we put them down for a bit because we need the space from the intensity. We look at them with love and frustration.
When an artist is standing in front of you, you may feel the driving beat, the clarity in a voice, words that touch you in some way that's very relative to what you are experiencing in your life. What you see and feel and what we see and feel are very different.
We are baring ourselves to you. Each note, a part of a living and breathing thing that we are trusting you with in that moment. We are essentially saying, "here, hold my baby..the love of my life..and appreciate it as much as I do." And that's an impossibility, because no one can ever truly appreciate your own creation..but we try anyway, because it is our gift to the world. It is our part of a tightly woven fabric that is the universe in it's entirety.
Music, to us, is as essential as breathing. Our bodies may not die from the lack of it, but our spirits will..and that is worse. Taking away our ability to create would render a musician powerless on so many levels that we would essentially lose a passion that fuels us to keep going. We would become hollow shells of our true selves.
Live music is highly underappreciated. We see each performance as a chance to stand in front of others, naked, and hope that in some small way..we move you. There is a knowing that we may not reach people. We accept that as part of it. It is not a matter of wanting the satisfaction of hearing someone say, "YOU made me feel this way." It is a need. Performing for others is as much for us as it is for you. You hear a song...we hear each note and beat as it's own unique entity.
We exist to express our inner most selves to the world in a way that is unmatched. There is no replacement or balm that soothes our soul more.
Next time you have the opportunity to see a musician or musicians perform, remember these things. Not for our sake, but so you can truly immerse yourself in our world. There is beauty in knowing that a drummer's muscles are so perfectly sculpted that they can give you that driving beat, and that rhythm is also beating along with their heart. A guitarist's or bass guitarist's hands have honed their skill to a point of muscle memory, yet they are still trying to find new ways to push themselves into a different mode. A singer has poured over novels of words and has learned to use their voice as a way of conveying the deep meaning of them. Each note, bent and sustained to give them power.
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