Exactly who am I trying to reach?
I knew it would happen eventually. It’s like anything else, I suppose. Stay in the game long enough, and the call is going to come in. As a parent and a musician/everything else, I am standing at the crossroads between sensible, gainful employment and true happiness. I stare down each path with question, wonder, and more questions. I know what I have done in the last 4 decades of playing music. Now, my job is to explain all of this to 10 and 11 year olds. That’s right.
Career Day at Elementary School.
How does one convey the euphoric feeling of bliss when the band is on fire? The groove is so tight that no one is thinking and there is almost a vacuum happening on the ‘1’ because there is no differential in kick drum and the bass note? Or the feeling of standing on a stage just before downbeat knowing how powerful that first note will be?
Or do I tell them about the down side. The other 22 hours in the day spent in self-doubt, relative poverty, and making poor food choices? Do I try to explain how much pressure there is for a follow up record after the first one took your whole life to write? Do I need to explain a ‘360 deal’, where the label owns most of what you earn?
Maybe the kids thrive on anxiety? Maybe they need to hear about all the late night arguments over the direction of the band or who has to drive the van next? If it’s chaos they want, try explaining the reason some bands make it and others don’t. Or how drugs, alcohol, and evil leech into every corner of the business. Yeah, this is a happy place for sure.
Alas, it really is. Really.
I heard my musical idol Sting once say ‘Music is its own reward.’ He’s right. My musician friends will agree and attest to this statement. Nothing helps a down day or makes a great day better than music. It sets the tone for anything. Don’t believe me? OK then why does your favorite song suddenly make you smile? Ah HA!
But what about playing music? I mean, the feel of the instrument under your fingers. The soft squeak of the strings as you change chords, or the inner beats on the snare while playing a slick rock pattern. These are a few of my favorite things…
There’s really nothing like it. OK, there are lots of things like it. Sculptors love the touch of marble, the dust collecting on their fingernails. Painters love the power of a broad, passionate stroke across canvas. Mechanics feel the vibration of a well-tuned engine and smile with a sense of accomplishment.
When asked about giving a career day, my wife said ‘Are you sure you should be doing this?’ I mean, it’s a valid question. I came off the road in September of ’22, and I am not grinding out several days a week like I used to, but music has never left my life. I have 3 records in the works for this year, all of which are completely different and amazing. And these three records are like glimpses into various stages of my musical life. So yeah, I’m gonna talk to the kids.
I want to tell them how much music can mean to them. I want to tell them how incredibly amazing it is to just walk into a store and try new instruments. I want to tell them how it feels to sit around a notebook with a couple of friends and write a song, or come up with a band name, or schedule a band practice in someone’s garage. I also want to tell them that anything is possible. Anything.
I may tell them about playing for 70,000 people. I may tell them about playing on TV, or having songs on the radio. I may tell them I played an empty arena with an audience of just Taylor Swift and her Mom. I may tell them how someone came to my class when I was 8 and offered up to teach strings to us. I wanted to do it because The Devil Went Down to Georgia was the biggest song on the radio. I may tell the kids I went on to play that song with Charlie Daniels. I may just keep it light and basic and tell them that, just like in life, practice will get you far.
I’ll be talking to 4th and 5th graders. The 4th graders are sweet. The 5th graders think they have it all figured out. Heck, I think I have it all figured out, then it all changes. Maybe I need to follow my own career day advice. My biggest hope is to get one kid to actually listen and ask questions. If that happens, it will be worth it for me. Maybe I’m that kid.
I’ll keep you posted.
