Recent Blogs

Blog Archive

Sunday, October 12th, 2008
Let the Music Take Your Mind

I've been playing music for more than half my life now, and sometimes take for granted how powerful it can be. I've spent years in bands and tended to listen to music that would influence or enhance that particular genre, and crap on just about everything else that my ears came into contact with. I've started to open up more and become slightly less of a snob, and I am truly amazed at how many incredibly talented people there are in the world. Some of it is new, some old, some just rediscovered, but I have moods occasionally that allow me to be amazed and impressed by lots of music that I might not normally be affected by. The more stress I take on, which has been a lot lately, the more I realize that music is truly a gift from God and allows me to release a bunch of that stress and anxiety.

I don't play gigs much anymore, maybe only once a month, so it's usually a Tuesday night or Sunday afternoon, which gets in the way of my 'normal' life enough to be inconvenient, and also completely necessary for my sanity. I can be tangled in stress and frustration from a long, tiring day, and have it all absolved with the first note I play. Suddenly it doesn't matter that I won't get to sleep until 1am on a school night, or that I made less than my bar tab playing for five people. I play music so I can live the rest of my normal, mostly non-creative life in peace. A few hours a month of playing cures me of my fear of being another boring guy with no passion for life. I can honestly say that part of the reason that I believe in God is because of music. Music to me is not about the linear form it takes when put on paper, or the theory of how to create that linear form, but is all about how it makes you feel. A good friend of mine was doing a radio interview a while back and after the interviewer commented on the depth and spiritual nature of the music, my friend replied, "Music is our religion. This is how we pray".

It can be a direct conversation with God and all of the other creative entities floating around out there, and has many times felt like a gift or blessing given to me for no other reason that being there and being open to it.
I've tried to meditate and exercise for mental and spiritual health, and although it helps me I can only stay disciplined for a few weeks. Music is so much easier. Pluck a few notes on my bass, sing in the shower, pop in the earbuds and I'm over it and on with my life within minutes. I don't know of anything else in life that is so effortless or instantly rewarding....unless it's terrible, commercialized, soul-less pop garbage. That tends to have the opposite effect.