I feel like this is a lesson that gets "learned" in different ways throughout people's musical journey...effort doesn't
always guarantee "success" or get you artistic nirvana.
When I read this clip in the blog:
"I understand why it can be frustrating to practice and study for years only to compete with a DJ who calls himself a “producer”, or some Indie rocker who doesn’t understand a 13th chord."
This told me everything I needed to know about the author. Years of studying to try and achieve what he felt was something of value hasn't paid off the way he hoped it would. Later on after this in the article, he noted that:
"However, I have played with enough uncompromising jazz players to lay some of the blame at their feet"
His diatribe is mainly about those he's forced to play with in Jazz making it impossible for him to achieve what he wants to. However, to go back to the competition with DJs and Indie Rockers, I think good ol Vic touches on this in the following clip:
He's explained it in more detail in some of his workshops, but essentially if you know the English (or whatever language) like the back of your hand with perfect grammar, diction, and structure it doesn't guarantee people want to hear what you have to say. We could toss blame at society, pop music, record labels, yada yada, etc. but the core concept remains the same...if you don't have something interesting to say, nobody wants to listen to you.
While my esoteric indie song analogizing the search for love to a ship on the ocean, and a place amongst the stars being what we all strive for but never achieve, might be incredibly moving to me...there's a staunch chance that the folks in the crowd can't really relate on the same level. Do I get pissed off? Sure it could be that I didn't craft the song correctly and adequately express my feelings...or if could be that I'm just self-indulgent and not trying to make something they can latch onto and find meaning. Or maybe they just want to dance and don't care about relationships tonight.
Yes music is about expression, but you can express yourself in a room or garage all day long without any problems. If you want to hop on the stage and connect with people, you have to step outside
yourself and consider your audience.
If that's not at all what he meant then uhh...yay for sunburst+tort and tube watts?
