Hello again everyone,
There has been such a high level of positive feedback coming from you bloggers, musicians, and bassists out there, that it has fueled my motivation to reach out to you even further. It has also simultaneously spawned a lot of thought provoking conversations with myself in the car as I drive to a certain gig, rehearsal, recording session etc. Here is the formulated, "blah" that has come from my brain:
Do we all know what an ABY box is? No? If you don't its a useful little pedal / channel switcher that allows you to simultaneously have two instruments plugged into one amp and easily switch between them, or vice versa. But does our brain do this? How do we manage (for all you busy budding musicians) to be in the proper mindset when we are playing several different styles of music, managing multiple bands, and juggling the daunting task of being a composer, sideman, bassist, musician, promoter, booking agent, and more importantly, a human being? So back to my original query. Does our brain do this...? ... In my opinion... yes it does. It has to.
Personal scenario. I am in the process of playing in a musical, being a sideman to an R&B group, composing and writing new material for my group, as well as being a bassist, and managing feeding my dog, cleaning my apartment, going out with friends, and having a personal life. How do I do this. I mentally equate it to having the capacity to be multilingual and fluent in each language. After all, music is a language yes? Now, usually there is one underlying theme per post, an asops fable or a punchline / moral of the story, and that is....
...drum roll please....
Compartmentalization. The minute you stop trying to compare apples to oranges to eggs to elephants the more successful you will be at identifying the purpose and the role you play with each of those items. To translate this musically. It is CRUCIAL that you evaluate and become cognitive of what is you're doing, why you're doing it, and what can you do to maximize the success of your purpose, and plant the seed for future use of your talent.
More specifcally...
When I play in a pit orchestra, I only focus on playing the language of broadway, or musicals, vaudville, etc. I spent a couple rehearsals in the last week trying to figure out why I wasn't sounding like Nostros' bassist and bandleader... well... after vexing my brain with scrutiny and stupidity over an answer that was plain obvious reason, I realized, "I am not supposed to be Nostros' bassist right now." This wasn't my gig. This was a gig that I was called for and that I needed to be present, alert, and ready for the uncertainty that is musical theatre. I was not benefiting the nine other musicians in the pit by over analyzing whether or not my jazz chops were beginning to suffer because I had not been improvising over changes, or practicing and writing my own music. The minute this fog had been lifted I was more present and began enjoying the language that I was playing. Not comparing it to something that it had no relation to other than the fact that it was highly orchestrated music, and that there were a bunch of people in the room making sound. I found a deeper clarity and love of the music I was playing just because I had immersed myself in it, not analyzed the living crap out of it.
Shortly after giving the best performance yet of the six weeks this show will run, I had gotten back into my car and started mulling things over again as I was on the way to another rehearsal. This time... I was to be a sideman in an R&B band I play for... ...I'm sure you can see where this is going...
I immediately noticed that I brought the same bass, the bass that has flatwound strings on it, and is not normally the bass I use for this respective band... ...if this is the case, how was I able to bypass this using my pit bass, to sound like me, and sound like the sideman that the bandleaders had hired me and expected me to be. By compartmentalization. The minute I had walked in the door and set my gig bag down, I prepared myself to be more in the forefront of the band, to drive and support the other musicians to acheive overall success of the tune and maximize the productivity of the rehearsal.
So all in all, the moral of the story is to be ever present mentally, but more imperatively to be consistently conscious of what you're doing, who you're doing it with, and the reason why you're there... the minute that you're able to just be a musician and, "Wear the right jacket" so to speak, you will understand how important you really are to the music world, no matter the level or status of a player you are. We all dream big and dream of being the best bassist or musician out there... and truth is, in my extreme redundancy, and probably having said this in another post.... .... you don't have to THE BEST.... you just have to be, THE BEST AT BEING YOURSELF and giving the bandleader, composer, conductor, every bit of faith and reason that he made the right choice in calling you. Make sure you can switch channels in the ABY box of your brain, and you'll make a living on the circuit, retain artisitc satisfaction with your musicianship and more importantly, your hard work, dedication to greatness, and persistance on the road of personal growth is obligatory, but also rewarding.
Comment, like, tweet, post, share, and connect.
Sincerely and with all the best,
Keep swinging.
Andy