New Years Eve. Not a big holiday for me, but a good time to reflect. I prefer a quite night on the 31st of December, having used up my share of rowdy party crazy New Years Eves by the time I was 25.... Heres a re-post of an essay I was asked to write for CD Baby, in the spirit of the Rilke Letters To A Young Poet. If youve not read those letters, I highly suggest them, they are timeless and beautiful. Heres my Letter To A Young Songwriter. “Nearly everything that matters is a challenge, and everything matters.” — Rilke You’ve watched your musical heroes take the stage to thunderous applause, adulation and love, and you burn for that, for yourself, and you want to be a professional writer of songs. The songwriting call has whispered in your ears for years now, and you’ve decided to answer it. You are ready to embrace it, to begin your journey as a songwriter. I congratulate you, and would offer you a few considerations (if you are open to hearing from someone who has trudged this path for decades now). Warning: a songwriter’s life is not what you think it is. Music is more than a bouquet of sweet vibrations; it is something from a higher world, which we humans have been given the power to invoke. Artists are alchemists, with our hands in the holy. The Sacred. Yes, there is great power in creating music, but also great danger. The journey of the artist is filled with pitfalls. Where there is great beauty and the power to move millions on this path, there is always great risk. Songwriting is a noble calling that requires more than talent and perseverance. It requires courage. If you are willing to face yourself and honestly reveal in your songs what you’ve seen in that unveiling of yourself, then you have a chance of writing songs that will outlive you. What can we gain by walking on the moon and planets if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? This is the most important of all voyages, and it is the job of the artist. The object of art is not to make salable products. It is to save one’s self, and to be a part of saving us all. Either we tell our story, or our story tells us. And know this: A half-truth is a whole lie. Character, like integrity, is much easier kept than recovered. So write from your true self, not the self you think you should be. Do not try to impress us, and do not hide behind thin walls and smoke screens. It will only bore us. Brutal self -honesty is your challenge, and will reward you with much more than you can yet imagine..... read more by clicking below:
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 17:04:19 +0000
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