Background music should be the bane of every musician's existence. It really gets under my skin, but then I'm guilty of it. I have this compulsion, every time I get in the car, to turn up the music ALL. THE. WAY. So that everyone can appreciate punk/ska and videogame remixes. You're welcome.
At home, too. I turn on a YouTube playlist to do just about anything. ALL. THE. WAY.
Sometimes, I am actively listening.
Not all the time, though.
Music should not be something we are trained to tune out, but that's what background music does to us. There's music playing, but you're focused on the ad, or what someone's trying to converse with you about, or...
What is it about silence that disturbs us so much?
Someone recently reminded me of that fundamental understanding, that music is given its weight by silence. A cacophony of sound does not equal music, necessarily. We need silent times and quiet times.
And I expand that into my life, because like the overly loud Streetlight Manifesto, I, too, live loudly with too many actions and too many commitments. The busyness has become a soothing buzz and now I have somewhat forgotten how to relax and lean into the cradle of silence.
How can notes have significance without silence to surround them?
How can my actions have significance if I only do them to do them? Because I don't know how to stop doing? To make a splash of noise in a noisy world?
Shhhhhhhh.
And forgive this random plot of thoughts. Hope you enjoyed them.
Showing posts with label busy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label busy. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Whoosh!
The last four days were a whirlwind. In fact, life from this point on until late August is going to be a complete cyclone.
(from toothpastefordinner.com)
A damselfly just landed next to me! So pretty. I'm outside enjoying my porch. It would be a much nicer porch if I had a couple beers and some friends over. Instead, I'm blogging and eating chocolate. Whatever.
Anyway, enough about domesticity. Back to the adventure! Because, as we all know, there is no adventure in domesticity. Which is something that has rather been affecting me in not a good way. Twice in the last week, I've had to truncate adventures due to my nice domestic lifestyle of having a job and a house to take care of.
RARGH
But anyway. I truly am grateful for what I have. Which is chocolate. And a blog.
OKAY, musics!
Thursday, I grabbed a five-song set at Mojo Main, rather accidentally, by which I mean, I didn't mean to. By which I mean, I showed up to hear the Paper Janes and Battleshy Youths and all of a sudden I'm onstage killing time until Glen shows up to drum for the Janes. Thanks to Michael for sneaking that in, all ninja-like, and for letting me borrer his guitar.
Friday, I show back up at Mojo to much suspicion. "Weren't you here last night??" "Yeah, I stayed overnight and ate something I found on the floor for breakfast." Anyway, that was fun. I like matinees at Mojo Main. This time, there were even some people there! Afterward, I got to scootch down Main Street to hear the Paper Janes play in the dark at Central Perk. ^^ Seriously, more shows should be played during power outages, just sayin'.
Saturday, down to the Dupont Nature Center for Peace, Love, and Horseshoe Crabs 2011. Shane was gracious enough to accompany me on the djembe. (He also helped to put a dent in the buffet table, which I think was much appreciated since they had WAY TOO MUCH!.) I missed the daytime portion of the festivities, but I had an awesome time singin' and playin' and carryin' on at the silent auction/dinner/benefit portion. The assistant superintendent of Lums Pond drafted a team of backup singers & dancers for the Horseshoe Crab song. ^^
Sunday, I actually didn't play anywhere, believe it or not.
Monday was Mojo Main's open mic, again, the best open mic in Newark, DE... I busted out a few songs that I don't ordinarily play. In fact, one I've hardly played at all since I wrote it for FAWM 2010.
And Tuesday was a lovely Palk Basement Show, where Michael and I played a pretty-good rendition of "Peter." I love that song. I really do. I honestly didn't practice at all before we went up. I should consider doing that sometimes. Unfortunately, I had to miss the last band 'cause I was basically a hot mess between feeling miserable in the stomach region, and therefore not having eaten, and then all the other life that was happening and me feeling bad and guilty for things, and I just felt like it would be a better idea for me to go home at that point.
So that's what I've been doing. This is actually my last week of teaching lessons for a month... work is promising to get really rough in the next month, and I'm just taking a little breather so I can focus and do things like... sleep. I do like teaching guitar. I only like teaching under certain circumstances... I've never been enamored with public schools. The idea of bringing homework to grade is so repulsive to me. I'd probably be the best teacher ever, actually.
Work is going just fine. I JUST got the summer concert series ALL booked up as of this week, so I'll start promoting that soon.
I gotta give a shoutout to the community of folks I've got around me right now. There are just a lot of musicians around me with really good spirits. I really am looking forward to seeing what is going to come out of this, 'cause I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.
(from toothpastefordinner.com)
A damselfly just landed next to me! So pretty. I'm outside enjoying my porch. It would be a much nicer porch if I had a couple beers and some friends over. Instead, I'm blogging and eating chocolate. Whatever.
Anyway, enough about domesticity. Back to the adventure! Because, as we all know, there is no adventure in domesticity. Which is something that has rather been affecting me in not a good way. Twice in the last week, I've had to truncate adventures due to my nice domestic lifestyle of having a job and a house to take care of.
RARGH
But anyway. I truly am grateful for what I have. Which is chocolate. And a blog.
OKAY, musics!
Thursday, I grabbed a five-song set at Mojo Main, rather accidentally, by which I mean, I didn't mean to. By which I mean, I showed up to hear the Paper Janes and Battleshy Youths and all of a sudden I'm onstage killing time until Glen shows up to drum for the Janes. Thanks to Michael for sneaking that in, all ninja-like, and for letting me borrer his guitar.
Friday, I show back up at Mojo to much suspicion. "Weren't you here last night??" "Yeah, I stayed overnight and ate something I found on the floor for breakfast." Anyway, that was fun. I like matinees at Mojo Main. This time, there were even some people there! Afterward, I got to scootch down Main Street to hear the Paper Janes play in the dark at Central Perk. ^^ Seriously, more shows should be played during power outages, just sayin'.
Saturday, down to the Dupont Nature Center for Peace, Love, and Horseshoe Crabs 2011. Shane was gracious enough to accompany me on the djembe. (He also helped to put a dent in the buffet table, which I think was much appreciated since they had WAY TOO MUCH!.) I missed the daytime portion of the festivities, but I had an awesome time singin' and playin' and carryin' on at the silent auction/dinner/benefit portion. The assistant superintendent of Lums Pond drafted a team of backup singers & dancers for the Horseshoe Crab song. ^^
Sunday, I actually didn't play anywhere, believe it or not.
Monday was Mojo Main's open mic, again, the best open mic in Newark, DE... I busted out a few songs that I don't ordinarily play. In fact, one I've hardly played at all since I wrote it for FAWM 2010.
And Tuesday was a lovely Palk Basement Show, where Michael and I played a pretty-good rendition of "Peter." I love that song. I really do. I honestly didn't practice at all before we went up. I should consider doing that sometimes. Unfortunately, I had to miss the last band 'cause I was basically a hot mess between feeling miserable in the stomach region, and therefore not having eaten, and then all the other life that was happening and me feeling bad and guilty for things, and I just felt like it would be a better idea for me to go home at that point.
So that's what I've been doing. This is actually my last week of teaching lessons for a month... work is promising to get really rough in the next month, and I'm just taking a little breather so I can focus and do things like... sleep. I do like teaching guitar. I only like teaching under certain circumstances... I've never been enamored with public schools. The idea of bringing homework to grade is so repulsive to me. I'd probably be the best teacher ever, actually.
Work is going just fine. I JUST got the summer concert series ALL booked up as of this week, so I'll start promoting that soon.
I gotta give a shoutout to the community of folks I've got around me right now. There are just a lot of musicians around me with really good spirits. I really am looking forward to seeing what is going to come out of this, 'cause I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Games & Gigs
Real quick, because I should definitely be in bed...
Wednesday, 3/30: Played at Mojo 13, along with the Paper Janes. Luckily a small audience of our friends amassed, thanks to no help from me, goodness gracious... I'm bad at this. How did I ever get to be a performer who didn't like her own performances enough to invite people to see them? Lord help me.
Saturday, 4/2: Played at the Barn's talent show, dressed like I was in the circus, had a ton of fun. I had the chance to play a couple of my family-oriented nature tunes. (They're not exactly suited for a bar crowd, so I'll take whatever opportunity I get.)
Monday, 4/4: David Bessent's videogame, MAwCiMs: Arena, came out on Kongregate. I had the privilege of writing the music for this awesome game.
Also, I played Mojo Main's open mic. Stefan Wolfe came along for the ride, showcasing his mad skillz at total improv. I covered "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz and had the whole place clappin'.
Tuesday, 4/5: I'm playing Mojo Main's very first acoustic matinee. Website says it starts at 7, booking agent says I play at 6, I say I'd better be done by 8 'cause I have other stuff to attend to! (Stupid of me to schedule something on kinship night without a contingency plan for kinship itself, which is hosted in my house. I made the broad assumption that the show would in fact occur at the time that the booking agent said it would. Right now, I doubt significantly that my assumption is correct, but God is good and He'll see me through this little snafu.)
A'course, my buddies The Paper Janes and Battleshy Youths will be playin' at the University of Delaware at the same time, and I would have liked to go see them, but such is life.
Saturday, 4/9: I'm playing Lums Pond State Park's Family Camping Weeekend. Assuming it doesn't get cancelled because of rain or something like that. Because right now, the forecast is rain for a week, no lie.
That plus my music students equals a very very busy two weeks. The honest confession: along with job stress, I'm starting to feel a little worn out. (Have I mentioned I haven't even done my taxes yet?) I'm working hard, playing hard, not sleeping, and not having a lot of feelings of success right now. I used to have said feelings a lot, it's just recently they seem to have up and vanished. It'll get better. I know. God is good. Even when (especially when) you just start to feel "blah."
Wednesday, 3/30: Played at Mojo 13, along with the Paper Janes. Luckily a small audience of our friends amassed, thanks to no help from me, goodness gracious... I'm bad at this. How did I ever get to be a performer who didn't like her own performances enough to invite people to see them? Lord help me.
Saturday, 4/2: Played at the Barn's talent show, dressed like I was in the circus, had a ton of fun. I had the chance to play a couple of my family-oriented nature tunes. (They're not exactly suited for a bar crowd, so I'll take whatever opportunity I get.)
Monday, 4/4: David Bessent's videogame, MAwCiMs: Arena, came out on Kongregate. I had the privilege of writing the music for this awesome game.
Also, I played Mojo Main's open mic. Stefan Wolfe came along for the ride, showcasing his mad skillz at total improv. I covered "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz and had the whole place clappin'.
Tuesday, 4/5: I'm playing Mojo Main's very first acoustic matinee. Website says it starts at 7, booking agent says I play at 6, I say I'd better be done by 8 'cause I have other stuff to attend to! (Stupid of me to schedule something on kinship night without a contingency plan for kinship itself, which is hosted in my house. I made the broad assumption that the show would in fact occur at the time that the booking agent said it would. Right now, I doubt significantly that my assumption is correct, but God is good and He'll see me through this little snafu.)
A'course, my buddies The Paper Janes and Battleshy Youths will be playin' at the University of Delaware at the same time, and I would have liked to go see them, but such is life.
Saturday, 4/9: I'm playing Lums Pond State Park's Family Camping Weeekend. Assuming it doesn't get cancelled because of rain or something like that. Because right now, the forecast is rain for a week, no lie.
That plus my music students equals a very very busy two weeks. The honest confession: along with job stress, I'm starting to feel a little worn out. (Have I mentioned I haven't even done my taxes yet?) I'm working hard, playing hard, not sleeping, and not having a lot of feelings of success right now. I used to have said feelings a lot, it's just recently they seem to have up and vanished. It'll get better. I know. God is good. Even when (especially when) you just start to feel "blah."
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Deleting my facebook: AHHHH
I am all kinds of tempted to get my facebook back.
"But I won't be able to talk to that nice guy I talked to a few days ago..."
"But I won't be able to organize get-togethers with my friends..."
"But I was admin for my kinship group and our open-mic group..."
Truthfully, yes, I use facebook for a lot of stuff. I'm surprised at how many things I use it for.
Unfortunately, I'm an addict. Very much an addict. I'd estimate that I spent 2-3 hours a day on facebook, all told. I do have a few other forms of social media, but none are so addicting as facebook. Typically, I'll check my profile, check my wall, then check some of my friends' music pages, maybe post a link or two, then do it all over again to see if anything changed in the last few seconds.
Basically, I'm doing a whole lot of nothing. I think I realized this after the Rebecca Black video came out. It was everywhere. Positively everywhere. And then there were remixes. And then somebody made a "Hitler's response." And I realized that the sum total of my time on facebook amounts to mental junk food. With an occasional apple or carrot to try to throw karma off a little.
I don't have time or energy for junk food. I've been busy writing music for Jed's videogame, teaching lessons, and, last night, playing a for-real gig for the first time up here in Delaware. I'm trying to think about recording, launching a website, commissioning music videos from my sister, developing better materials for my students, entering a songwriting competition... did I mention that my regular job is bumping up to 40 hours a week next week? To be honest, it hasn't even occurred to me that it means I'll have more cash -- all it's meant so far is "HOLY CARP HOW AM I GOING TO DO EVERYTHING!?"
So you see, there's no room for distraction. And on my own, I never would've chosen to turn from that distraction. My inspiration comes from the Bible. Because, yeah, I'm called to do this music mess. I know it. So engaging in distraction from this is, to me, sin. And it pretty explicitly says in several places to turn from sin. I'm thinking of the more graphic depiction where it actually says "if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off." (Man, I love the Bible... I love the rawness of it sometimes. Read that mess, there's nothing boring about it. Except for maybe Leviticus. Even my student Bible says it's the most boring book in the Bible.)
So, rawr, cutt'n my right hand off here. And I'm having temptations to try to reattach it, but for the most part I know that it's only temptation, God's got me, He'll move me however He needs me to move and He don't need no facebook to do it.
To be honest -- I don't know if I expect this to be forever -- at first I was sort of like, let's just see how long I can last without it. But I'm starting to feel more relaxed and focused, and I'm honestly quite enjoying that feeling...
"But I won't be able to talk to that nice guy I talked to a few days ago..."
"But I won't be able to organize get-togethers with my friends..."
"But I was admin for my kinship group and our open-mic group..."
Truthfully, yes, I use facebook for a lot of stuff. I'm surprised at how many things I use it for.
Unfortunately, I'm an addict. Very much an addict. I'd estimate that I spent 2-3 hours a day on facebook, all told. I do have a few other forms of social media, but none are so addicting as facebook. Typically, I'll check my profile, check my wall, then check some of my friends' music pages, maybe post a link or two, then do it all over again to see if anything changed in the last few seconds.
Basically, I'm doing a whole lot of nothing. I think I realized this after the Rebecca Black video came out. It was everywhere. Positively everywhere. And then there were remixes. And then somebody made a "Hitler's response." And I realized that the sum total of my time on facebook amounts to mental junk food. With an occasional apple or carrot to try to throw karma off a little.
I don't have time or energy for junk food. I've been busy writing music for Jed's videogame, teaching lessons, and, last night, playing a for-real gig for the first time up here in Delaware. I'm trying to think about recording, launching a website, commissioning music videos from my sister, developing better materials for my students, entering a songwriting competition... did I mention that my regular job is bumping up to 40 hours a week next week? To be honest, it hasn't even occurred to me that it means I'll have more cash -- all it's meant so far is "HOLY CARP HOW AM I GOING TO DO EVERYTHING!?"
So you see, there's no room for distraction. And on my own, I never would've chosen to turn from that distraction. My inspiration comes from the Bible. Because, yeah, I'm called to do this music mess. I know it. So engaging in distraction from this is, to me, sin. And it pretty explicitly says in several places to turn from sin. I'm thinking of the more graphic depiction where it actually says "if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off." (Man, I love the Bible... I love the rawness of it sometimes. Read that mess, there's nothing boring about it. Except for maybe Leviticus. Even my student Bible says it's the most boring book in the Bible.)
So, rawr, cutt'n my right hand off here. And I'm having temptations to try to reattach it, but for the most part I know that it's only temptation, God's got me, He'll move me however He needs me to move and He don't need no facebook to do it.
To be honest -- I don't know if I expect this to be forever -- at first I was sort of like, let's just see how long I can last without it. But I'm starting to feel more relaxed and focused, and I'm honestly quite enjoying that feeling...
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