Mind over Music (pt. 2)

Now that you we’ve beaten the confidence/worthiness monster (Mind over Music pt.1), we have to get over the issue of geography. No matter where you live (save anywhere like NYC, Chicago or Nashville) you can lament over your town’s lack of culture and/or opportunity. That’s all fine and dandy but one issue remains- That’s where you are.

So, how do you deal with being in a town seemingly void of all things art and music? As I learned the hard way, there are three options.

1)      Shut down. Focus on one thing and one thing only, getting away from there.

2)      Play here and there but try not to get too involved because your main goal is to get the hell out of Dodge.

3)      Play/write/arrange/(insert whatever you want here)music. Basically, live music and have your musical goals take precedence over moving.

Let’s look at these in they’re listed order.

In number one, the main goal is to move. I really hope no one actually focuses so much on relocation that they don’t work on music but I want to be thorough. This could vary, though, to any degree of loss of practice or musical growth. DON’T DO THAT!! The overall goal should be to make music! Impeding musical progress is worse than being stuck in a suck-ass location.

As with number one, number two puts more emphasis on THE MOVE. While there is little practice missed, growth is still horribly affected. This was where I got stuck. With this approach, opportunities are not taken because of the fear of getting stuck in that town. I was actually afraid I would start to LIKE the town and the opportunities it DID have (no matter how few). This is just plain unhealthy. The (self inflicted) pressure to move was so great for me that I was scared to death of liking where I was. There is a word for that…it’s DUMB.

Finally, number three. With this one we see a shift of paradigm. THE MOVE is secondary to the music. The main focus is to make music and better yourself as a musician while making plans to get to a better place. There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to be in an environment that facilitates you being who you are.  Not only does this approach allow you to hone the skills you have but it can provide reference points for setting goals and deciding what you want to do. For instance, playing some local theatre may show you that you don’t want to play for Broadway after all! Plus, you can build up one hell of a resume that will help land jobs even quicker in a new city.

I know all of this may hit you as common sense but a lot of cats out there don’t see it broken down like this. I fell into thinking WHERE I lived defined me as a person and musician and, the fact is, that’s just not true. I am who I am, you know? I drink hot tea with milk and sugar (not very common in the South) and I listen to, write, and play jazz (also not very common). I wear a funny hat a lot of the time and I smoke a pipe…That’s just me. If life takes me back to New York or Atlanta or anywhere else, that’s fine but I’m not pushing it anymore. I make more money through music than I ever have and am happier than I have ever been…Coincidence? I don’t think so. I put the music first and the rest is whatever it wants to be.