Celebrate Who You Are

[Clay Anderson Johnson]

I have been watching Tom Morello’s course on Masterclass.com. One of his central themes is “Enhance your creativity by embracing your limitations.”

 

This is a concept I have always tried to practice without verbalizing it.

 

This year is the first time I have ever tried to record myself performing as a band playing all the instruments.  Of course I’ve made many home recordings on cassettes or 4 tracks of song demos which were me and a guitar.  However any band recording I have ever done has been in a studio with an engineer and other musicians.

 

People PM suggesting I should try this or that plugin or piece of equipment.  I certainly appreciate their support as I am not an audio engineer although this input is beyond both my knowledge and energy levels as well as my goals.  I am very proud of myself for actually learning to play the drums although I doubt Sheila E will lose any sleep from the competition.

 

My experience as a producer revolves around telling an engineer or other musician what to do as it is their specialty not mine.  Saying increase the echo but lower the overtones in the high end is a far cry from being at the board and actually knowing how to do it.  Skill sets differ.

 

The point I am making is we are still very much on the frontier of a movement from corporate dominated music to individuals creating an international marketplace for themselves. This is an intimidating undertaking to say the least.  We should all be very proud of what we are doing.  At the same time it would be constructive to keep everything in perspective and realize what is an unrealistic approach or goal for other people no matter how essential it may be for yourself

 

I have found SongStuff to be an exceptional forum for several reasons.  The largest one is most of the people who are here, regardless of their expertise level, are serious about what they are trying to do.  This is not filled with videos shot on phones of people attempting to promote something which will never, ever happen.  Celebrate yourself for who you are!

[Clay Anderson Johnson]

As an afterthought this afternoon I was in church for the first time in years for a remembrance observance for a friend's mother. This was held at the Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church in DC which has a magnificent pipe organ and outstanding acoustics.

 

The wonderful organ performance accompanied world class mezzo-soprano Amanda Fink. The simplicity of the performance in that hall was overwhelming. The sound quality and vibrance far exceeded any popular music concert I have ever witnessed.

 

Two people alone with minimal sound embellishment from the house system was earthshaking in its brilliance in the accomplishment of what great music is. 

[Clay Anderson Johnson]

2 hours ago, Popthree said:

>>This is not filled with videos shot on phones of people attempting to promote something which will never, ever happen.

 

you say that like there's something wrong with a songwriter sharing an intimate video performance.  i'll have to voice my disagreement.  I disagree.  there.  done.

 

Egalitarianism and lack of taste and judgement are two entirely different matters although no one has ever accused me of either of them.

Edited November 12, 2021 by Clay Anderson Johnson

[Mahesh]

Thank you for these thoughts @Clay Anderson Johnson. I highly resonate with it.

 

I agree with you that embracing limitations and short-comings is the quickest way to improve skill & creativity! I also think embracing limitations is the same as that of being in the awareness or acknowledgement of those limitations. And when you do that, you learn something from it. 

 

This is a constant reminder that I have for myself and more so, my vocal students as I teach them.

 

This reminded me of a class I had just this week.  It was a session with a vocal student who recently joined and we were going through a specific exercise that is supposed to help him recognise the muscle co-ordinations used in the voice for dealing with pitch. The intention of the exercise is to get him to relax instead of pushing excess pressure across the throat. 

 

When I initially guided him through the exercise, he noticed that his voice was 'flipping' awkwardly, particularly the kind where the pitching is all over the place. (Not exactly a sound you want to hear come out of you when your end destination is described to be 'good singing')

 

As soon as that started happening, he started pushing again trying to correct the sound/pitch. He was clearly embarrassed to make that mistake that's going to help him learn the correct way even if it means to sing the note properly with tension & pain.  Instead of realizing that the flip during the exercise was indicating that he was carrying way too much weight up into his range, he started doing the exact opposite.  The final destination had consumed him beyond wanting to learn differently which.  The flip was far more an informed limitation as opposed to hurting your voice but without acknowledging and maybe even welcoming the mistake, it is hard to understand the next healthy move forward. 

 

Moral of the story : Don't dream of the destination when you're job is to watch the highway, you're very likely to crash. Learn to be okay with (and as Clay pointed out, celebrate!) where you already are in order to reach where you want to get to. 

[Mahesh]

On 11/12/2021 at 8:39 PM, Popthree said:

you say that like there's something wrong with a songwriter sharing an intimate video performance

 

 To be honest, I didn't read @Clay Anderson Johnson's comment that way at all, @Popthree. 

 

I post a LOT of videos of intimate performances on the web. (Not all of them show up here but that's not because it is a phone video performance, it's cos I don't want to feel like I'm self-promoting all the time here).

 

Having said that, I think what he was trying to say (I maybe wrong since I'm not the one who said it) that even if you are to share an intimate video performance shot on a phone, it is important to understand what is working with that piece of performance video and what is not,  before tangibly expecting things from it with regards to promotion. (Which we try to address a lot around here with the efforts that we put in)

 

Obviously, it is clear that there is no disagreement here about working with what you have and making it work. Maybe it's about what you get out of it?  A couple of extra fans? A newly learned skill to edit videos and set up lighting better? Or is it a few likes and views that you would be happy about? Honestly, there's nothing wrong with any of these choices at all. Music is beautiful & welcoming that way. But perspectives surely change based on which one we're talking about. 

 

A lack of taste and judgement(or not) can be subjective ONLY until it gets tied to a set of goals such as reaching out to listeners & audiences, producing better content that can express your music more effectively or maybe even make money. A lot of people on the internet hope that they become successful or get to the end point just with a piece of video or similar ones. Which sets them up for more disappointment, lack of growth in skill & production value and more importantly the inspiration & motivation to move forward. 

 

Just because the artist believes that the performance is intimate and special doesn't give 'em a pass to expect all that they want from it. Well, they can but is it realistic? At the same time, it can be special without all of that.

 

We've just got to be equally be in awareness of what could be made better if desired. You can celebrate who you are FULLY only in the acknowledgement of your strengths and weaknesses so that you live to see a better day.

 

[Mahesh]

22 hours ago, Popthree said:

my view on it is, that a songwriter forum should be for people of all skill levels to be encouraged to create, share and get quality feedback. 

 

Given that we are speaking inside of a topic titled "Celebrate Who You Are", I think we can all agree with this point here @Popthree! You're absolutely right!

 

22 hours ago, Popthree said:

if people don't feel like this is a safe place to post a video of themselves, then the forum probably isn't going to have much hope of becoming more active.

 

I completely agree with that. And I don't think anything that's been said or expressed here in this forum by staff has gone against the sentiment you speak of either, bud.  Though it must clearly be said, Songstuff isn't intending to be a place where anything that's posted is lauded without offering useful suggestions or advice that can add value.  We are indeed a safe space; it is where we can openly discuss topics even if that may bring about disagreements. We are a safe space where we celebrate little successes & big all the while bringing in insight & learning in a respectful & healthy manner that can compound those accomplishments or desires. 

 

John has a beautiful post called "The Art of Giving Quality, Detailed Critique" which embraces the kind of safe place we've consistently chosen to be and will continue to move toward.

 

 

Does this approach mean a certain section of the people out there who may simply be looking for a few ears and hits on their links will tend not to post much around here? Sure! We acknowledge that and hope to positively assist them in other ways to help promote their music and offer them encouragement regardless of experience level. But it also means that another section of people are encouraged to post with a healthy sense of collective learning & individual growth. We truly believe in this at the core of what Songstuff is about, not just as a forum but also as a company hoping to assist independent musicians in what they want to do in years to come. 

[Mahesh]

Just to clarify, I'm agreeing with all that you've said but with a little nuance being expressed within it.