Riley~ Other Side
People who have the capability and capacity to compose works of art from the depths of their soul give me the chills. And I love being in the presence of such talented, creative beings. I have met drummers, guitarists, violinists, singers, cellists, pianists, saxophonists, and dancers that have blown me away with their range of motion and use of their instrument/voice/body. Such art is captivating and enchanting. There are people who play music and then there are those who live it, breathe it. And I am such a wannabe. I want to be just like Karen Briggs, playing that violin with such poise, intensity, and just RAWNESS where you hear, feel, taste, and touch the music in that 4-dimensional way. It comes ALIVE.
Apparently, there is a lot of hidden talent at my work place. And I was talking to an associate after discovering what a crazy-awesome guitarist he is and he made a suggestion that, simple as it was, was like a smack on my forehead. “Have you ever tried it?” And that was a question posed to my statement about my not being able to play music by ear. He went on to explain how when he plays the guitar, he plays purely on emotion (which is exactly the kind of music I love). I walked away from that conversation totally absorbed in that one question posed at my doubt in my own creative capabilities. I read notes…and at a beginners level at that. I have never truly tried playing by ear. I’ve always limited my abilities to my capacity to sight read. And sight reading is super, duper hard for me. Yeah, I’m so hard on myself.
But now I’m thinking, if I really stuck at it…if I really learned everything there is to know about my instrument, I just might be able to master all it’s tones enough to hear a melody and know where every note of that melody is on my piano or violin. When you know the emotion, the movements, the flow in a particular song, it could be just that easy to replicate that on the instrument if you’re just as familiar with your instrument. Now I’m really motivated to purchase my own full size keyboard with the weighted keys and really dive into this idea. Really test and challenge myself. Besides, it’s a great possibility that hiding underneath my musical insecurities is a Christina Perri or dare I say…..Yanni? My brothers and sisters are self taught musicians…I can’t have fallen that far from the tree now, can I? Hehe.
Anywho!! Music is da bomb, yo!! Get some in your life!
