Become A Magician
A good friend, Salvatore Geloso, said this:
"I am not a musician, I am a magician."
Since I first started learning drums, it has seemed to be about learning the drums and not the music. When it had been about the music, it was about the notes and not the sounds. When it was about the sounds, no one discussed the affect of the sounds.
Music is magic.
The amount of information that we learn on our instruments is immense but the understanding of any of this information is limited.
In a way, through understanding these sounds and their meaning, you are discovering yourself and your voice. Everyone attaches different meaning to sounds and words. Even though this is true, we are still able to communicate with one-another. Words have a common meaning despite each person's individual relation to them. We may say them in a happy or sad tone but the word remains the same.
Music is taught through reading rather than hearing. Since my very first music class, we learned the names of the notes and what they looked like on paper. I don't understand why music is taught in this way. I feel the need to express with great intensity how much this process alone stifled my understanding of music and sound. Reading books wouldn't be the same if you didn't hear people speak the language around you.
The more I play with songwriters who have an extremely close relation with their words, their rhythm, their melody, and their harmony, the more I hear the magic. Knowing the human behind the music helps me connect to the music being produced. Hearing where they keep things the same and where they change things. The more I write music, the more I discover my own magical projection and why I am playing. We all have unique magic to contribute, but can we communicate it?
Relate oneself to the magic we know and love. The performances we witness, hear and are a part of.
