Playing Music for Its Own Sake

[matthewbrown]

I read THIS article in the NYT, "In Praise of Mediocrity" and it resonated with me. There's NOTHING WRONG with playing a musical instrument just for the fun of learning how to do it and for the joy of performing for the your own pleasure and the pleasure of your listeners. It is, after all, as the author points out, one important reason we have leisure time. I love my work. But one reason I work is so I can play music more and enjoy it more richly.

 

[bholder]

+1!

 

[Nashrakh]

Playing for the pleasure of the listener is not something I associate with mediocrity. Being a hack is, cutting corners, not practicing on your own time. I believe as long as you give a damn you're past mediocrity.

 

[Wanker_Joe]

Personally I just enjoy the act of creation. It reminds me of when I was a little kid drawing pictures with crayons at the kitchen table. No illusions of "making it", no goals and no reason other than just having fun exercising my imagination. Music is my "grown up" version of that same activity.

 

[Joedog]

I spent over 50 years working/getting paid for playing music. Now I do it at home (almost every day) just for the love of it. I'll stop when I'm 6' under.

 

[lowplaces]

I host an open mic on Wednesdays at a friend of mine's neighborhood bar.

I received no compensation but a couple of beers, and I had to purchase a small PA.

It's worth it to me just to get to play out.

I've been trying for 2 years now to get a Americana Originals project going but I can't find people willing to commit to a minimum of three rehearsals/sessions a week yet.

So in the meantime, hosting the open mic at least gets me out of the living room lol

 

[leftiebass]

There is what Pete Seeger and others called the folk process. He greatly encouraged playing one's own music, making one's own art and so on. Alone, and together with friends and family, whatever. The notion that music is for professionals is a distortion - nothing against professionals. (I confess to not reading the article - so I hope that I am not too off point. Someone once asked me why I create art? (I'm not professional), I thought and said that I COULD handle not being a 'very good' artist, but I could not handle NOT being an artist at all.

 

[Mushroo]

I host an open mic on Wednesdays at a friend of mine's neighborhood bar.

I received no compensation but a couple of beers, and I had to purchase a small PA.

It's worth it to me just to get to play out.

I've been trying for 2 years now to get a Americana Originals project going but I can't find people willing to commit to a minimum of three rehearsals/sessions a week yet.

So in the meantime, hosting the open mic at least gets me out of the living room lol

Yeah I think it's pretty unrealistic to ask for a 3x/week commitment for an originals band with no paying gigs lined up.

My suggestion instead is this: Hire some musicians to be your "house band" for the open mic night. Every week, get up and perform a couple of your original songs with the house band. Think of it as a paid rehearsal, with an audience. Over time, playing with the same group of people every week, you will get pretty tight, and then you can think about getting some additional gigs as a unit.

 

[Spin Doctor]

I've been trying for 2 years now to get a Americana Originals project going but I can't find people willing to commit to a minimum of three rehearsals/sessions a week yet.

The chances of you finding someone to do that is pretty much zero. As you may have noticed. Once a week is plenty.

 

[PaulJSmith]

My Wife plays piano, violin, and a little guitar. She has absolutely no desire to get on stage and play for an audience. We have the upstairs living room of our house dedicated as the "piano room." It has our baby grand, our viol family instruments, a couch, and two comfy chairs. That's where she plays (and I do as well sometimes). She loves it just like that. She plays for herself.

 

[mcarp555]

I gave up playing live, partly because I would rather write and record originals than be in a bar band, playing Margarettaville to tipsy patrons every weekend. So now I'm a one-man writer/player/engineer/producer. I post my songs online, make the odd video, and almost nobody listens. But as pointed out by many above, I do it for myself. Other than my offspring, it may be all I ever leave behind to posterity.

 

[G Aichele]

I belong to a small band -- 4 musicians, all retired teachers or social workers, no pro musicians. We play 20-25 gigs a year, mostly at nursing homes, retirement or senior centers, some busking. Today it was a soup kitchen, a week ago a nearby fall festival. We almost never charge to perform -- we play music that we like, just for the fun of it. Still we get donations and tips, and pay for any band expenses (recently a new PA speaker) out of that. If you ask me, it's well worth it.

 

[RichardW]

There's NOTHING WRONG with playing a musical instrument just for the fun of learning how to do it and for the joy of performing for the your own pleasure and the pleasure of your listeners.

Isn't this how virtually every musician starts out? Of course, 99.99% never go any further, which is fine. But even the greats started just as people who wanted to play just for the sheer pleasure of it.

 

[lowplaces]

The chances of you finding someone to do that is pretty much zero. As you may have noticed. Once a week is plenty.

Yeah I think it's pretty unrealistic to ask for a 3x/week commitment for an originals band with no paying gigs lined up.

My suggestion instead is this: Hire some musicians to be your "house band" for the open mic night. Every week, get up and perform a couple of your original songs with the house band. Think of it as a paid rehearsal, with an audience. Over time, playing with the same group of people every week, you will get pretty tight, and then you can think about getting some additional gigs as a unit.

Well, I do have an excellent fiddle player and an excellent drummer who will commit the time. But they both want me to find two or three other members first.

And I know they're serious because they stay in touch with me. They like my bass skills, vocals, and both are especially fond of my lyrics.

I need two guitarists who sing and we're set. And of course they have to have arrangement skills as well.

I'll find them. Just a matter of time.

As far as hiring people to back me up that's not going to happen. That would be getting into pay-to-play territory.

Anyhow, that once a week practice thing just isn't going to cut it for me. I saw it too often in the late 70s and early 80s in bands I was in. They all want to do it on the weekends and there's always somebody that has a birthday or something coming up and can't make it and then another band member or two decides unless everybody's going to be there we might as well wait till next week... Yada yada yada

 

[dan1952]

I host an open mic on Wednesdays at a friend of mine's neighborhood bar.

I received no compensation but a couple of beers, and I had to purchase a small PA.

It's worth it to me just to get to play out.

I've been trying for 2 years now to get a Americana Originals project going but I can't find people willing to commit to a minimum of three rehearsals/sessions a week yet.

So in the meantime, hosting the open mic at least gets me out of the living room lol

3 rehearsals a week for a band with no gigs is not a realistic thing to ask of anyone. Maybe once a week for a rehearsal band is the most you should ask.

 

[Ghook]

Ahhhh, music for the sake of music. It's therapy. It has no endpoint, just joy, distraction , progress.

 

[JDT36]

I saw the NYT article and drew the same conclusion. It's a wonderful thing to mentally compartmentalize (a) the relentless pursuit of achievement central to one's professional aspirations from (b) the satisfaction of simply engaging in the creative process for its own sake for one's personal ambitions and hobbies.

 

[vvvmmm]

If I didn't play, I'd drink more, mebbe drug again, and beat my kids.

OK, that's meant to be funny - just ask my kids.

But I'd certainly lose my little mind.

 

[Mili]

To me music for anything but music is not music. It's business... i don't give a rat's corpse to audiences generally.

 

[Ric5]

I read THIS article in the NYT, "In Praise of Mediocrity" and it resonated with me. There's NOTHING WRONG with playing a musical instrument just for the fun of learning how to do it and for the joy of performing for the your own pleasure and the pleasure of your listeners. It is, after all, as the author points out, one important reason we have leisure time. I love my work. But one reason I work is so I can play music more and enjoy it more richly.

playing music for music's sake does not have to be mediocrity … there are many very good musicians with good day jobs