Writing original music isn’t for the faint of heart. Somehow, you have to find the vulnerable parts of yourself that allow you to bare your deep feelings and thoughts while still keeping it together enough to contain the musical execution–the structure and form of the piece.

Although many artists may take this balancing act for granted, the marriage of vulnerability and strength is not a matter of luck, talent, or character. It is a skill that can be developed and expanded upon. So how do we do it and who teaches this skill?

In my years of teaching music, I have found that songwriters, performing musicians, and recording artists can model the way that actors are trained in their approach to making music. Take Al Pacino, for example. He has the ability to simultaneously express strength of character in his body while exposing tremendous vulnerability and human frailty on his face. Have you ever felt the freedom of mastering the mechanics of a song performance while surrendering to the emotional content at the same time?

Marrying personal dignity and artistic vulnerability is more than just posturing or wearing your heart on your sleeve. Embodying these two poles of the human experience involves emotional surrender and mental focus.

Listen to this SOS podcast as the craft of musical expression and execution is explored from a fresh perspective.

 

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When you make your music, who do you do it for?

Is it for your audience–a selfless gift of sharing your art with others who can derive nourishment from the expression that springs forth from your soul?

Is it for yourself–an act of relief, giving form to the whims of your imagination and reveling in the fun of the creative process?

For many, the question of who the the music is being made for opens up what may seem like a competition between selfishness and generosity. The issue can grow even more complex when you factor in making a profit from your art.

On the one hand, we are taught that it is better to give than to receive. At the same time, there seems to be an undeniable part of our nature that is self-focused, self-centered, and self-interested.

So is it one or the other? Are we to chose between modeling Mother Theresa or Gene Simmons?

Listen to this podcast as several solutions are provided for achieving greater balance between selfishness and compassion in the life of the professional artist.

This part 5 of the 5-part “Prosperous Musician” series of SOS podcasts.

 

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Have you ever experienced tension between your physical experience and your mental state? How about your ideas and your reality?   

If you stop to think about it, music can be understood as an interplay between opposing, yet complimentary energies: the electrical charge that comes from the ether and the grounding support that comes from the material world. If you have ever experienced the challenges that come from trying to manage these poles of the human experience, join this SOS podcast as JP explores ways to balance the artistic with the practical, the intangible with the material, and the emotional with the physical in the arts of songwriting and performance. 

 

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