You Never Know It All

I'm just returning from playing a Jazz festival in Umea, Sweden with guitar legend Jody Williams. Before doing the show, I knew a little about Mr. Williams but once I got a chance to spend some time with him and talk, I discovered that he was one of the main session musicians at Chess Records. He worked with Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf. Mr. Williams and Bo Diddley grew up together. I learned so much from just sitting and listening to him talk about his history and of course you know I had a bunch of questions. The whole experience just served to remind me that you never know it all. The show we played was a mixture of Jazz and Blues. I wrote my charts but once we had rehearsal we were able to personalize the groove a bit. It meant a lot to me to be able to talk to him and find out a bit about his thought process and history. It is important as musicians and people that we ALWAYS remain open to allow room for things to come in. No matter how smart we think we are or how good we think we can play, we must remain humble and open to serve the music. We must also never forsake how important it is to sit at the feet of our elders and just listen to their stories. There are so many lessons to be learned. From each of my tours I learn so much about personalities, business, music, etiquette and life. It is my goal to stay grounded and understand that I can never know it all. Everyday we have an opportunity to teach and be taught something new. It is truly ALL about the journey. As you continue to build your career, never take anything for granted and be sure to cherish and pass on all you learn. Enjoy the journey.

The Truth

All Rights Reserved by Airtight Productions 2011

You Are Always On Stage

One of the things that has gone lacking in the current industry is artist development. There was a time when every label had some kind of artist development team. Motown Records was the most successful at developing the whole artists. The thing I think a lot of new artists miss is that being on stage is an honor, privilege and responsibility. It doesn't just end when your performance is over. When you choose a career in show business you have to understand that you are always on stage. We are blessed to get to make a living by sharing our musical gifts with people and we can never forsake how our actions can affect and influence our fans. I don't mean that you have to try to be who others want you to be but it is important to set a standard for yourself. An artist should always carry him/herself like a star at all times. This doesn't mean that you walk around with an ego but you have to understand that you are always marketing or selling who you are. It may not seem fair but people buy into our images and they don't want to see us walking around the grocery store looking crusty. Just always be aware of your appearance and how you speak and carry yourself in public. Another issue I have with some artists in public drinking, especially when you are on stage. Now I know we are adults but the stage should be treated with respect. It's OK to take a sip here and there but to turn the stage into a bar area makes you too common. The stage is suppose to create a fantasy for people. That's why we dress like stars and act like stars on stage as oppose to just looking and acting like everybody else. Most people don't have the courage to get on stage and do what we do so we must maintain a level of quality in our presentations. It is also important that we know how to carry ourselves in interviews, restaurants, parties, galas, award shows . . . etc. We should be well read and able to have intelligent conversation about a number of topics. Don't allow people to relegate you to just being THE TALENT. Since we are performers people will sometimes take for granted that we are ignorant to anything other than what we do. This why it is critical that we carry ourselves in the best way possible when off the performance stage. As I stated earlier we are always on stage. So always dress to impress with class and style. Speak to everyone with respect and humility. Be the best artist and person you can be AT ALL TIMES. The stage lights NEVER dim. Someone is ALWAYS watching. Enjoy the journey.

The Truth

All Rights Reserved by Airtight Productions 2011

Just Keep Working

The biggest think you need to have in this industry is faith. The only way to not succeed is to give up. Everyone seems to think that one day they will get their big break and once it shows up they can start to really work. Well here's a news flash. There is no BIG break. When preparation meets opportunity then you have success. You have to just keep working and preparing ALL the time knowing that you are prepared for every opportunity that comes your way. If you stay ready then you never have to get ready. Success is all about small consistent pieces coming together to make a whole. You have to know that by working , getting better and more knowledgeable about what you do makes you a success. When the door opens for you it's to late to get prepared. I've heard so many stories of how producers and writers got a hit and offers started pouring in so fast that they spent most of their time doing business and not making music. They were able to survive because for years before that hit they were always working so they had a catalogue of material that was already done. They were ready! That is exactly what you have to do. Don't be too concerned about when or where your opportunity will come. Just know that it WILL come and your job is to be prepared to take advantage of it. Stay encouraged and focused on continuing to develop your craft. They say opportunity only knocks once. I disagree . . . it knocks everyday. You just have to answer buy doing the work. Enjoy the journey.

The Truth

All Rights Reserved By Airtight Productions 2011

It's About Music, Not Money

Have you noticed that when people talk about the music industry, all they seem to mention is how much money you can make. The industry is now run by money managers that know absolutely nothing about music. How many execs at today's top companies have actually had to invest their OWN money in the company? I will tell you. . .NONE. They have not had to depend on developing great music to succeed. It's been all about hype and money for them. I submit to you that it's about music, not money. Now I know a lot of you will say that we have to make money to be successful. You are only right to a degree. We become successful when the money we make works for US, not when we have to work for it. Let me explain. To have a long successful music career you have to make great music first. This has to be your main focus not money. If you make great music and pay your dues by going out and building a loyal fan base across the world then the money you make will work for you because people are buying into who YOU are and what YOUR music is about. They are not buying into your marketing scheme. In today's music industry it's more about marketing that content. If we are to truly succeed we have to make music that doesn't sound like anything else we are listening to on the radio right now. That music is all about the money managers and being under their control. This is YOUR music. Make the music you like and go about finding a fan base that will support you and then you are in control because you are the only YOU around. Now finding your niche may take some trial and error but you can't give up and sell out to the machine. Once you find you niche and establish YOUR zone, then success is all yours. The money will then come the RIGHT way and you will not be a slave to it or anyone. Remember. . . It's about music, not money. Enjoy the journey.

The Truth

All Rights Reserved by Airtight Productions 2011

Don't Be Afraid To Just Be YOU

Relationships and music are so very much a like. It takes honesty, commitment, patience and love to be successful at both. A friend of mine said something about people in relationships being afraid to be their REAL selves for fear of loosing the person they are in love with. This conversation struck me because I have experienced that same feeling as a musician all my life. Let me explain, I have always known who I am as an artist and the music I create truly comes from within the REAL me but I have often found myself trying create things based on trying to please people around me. Now I have the ability to do anything I want. It's just that the way I hear things is most of the times beautiful but just a little left of center. I have always dealt with people that felt a need to change what is naturally beautiful about me and my creative being and sad to say but I allowed it to happen. The fact is there is no real freedom in compliance. Don't ever be afraid to just be you. I've discovered that the best thing for me to do is to trust my heart and inspiration even if those around me don't get it. True love, whether in a musical situation or personal relationship is not constricting. It is freeing. There is no better feeling that to have God plant the seed of an idea in your mind and for you to birth that idea into something beautiful and tangible that can be shared with others. As artists and just people we have to not be afraid to explore and share the realest parts of who we are. It takes a lot of energy to be fake or to try to be what you think others want you to be. The funny thing is when you finally decide to just be yourself, you discover that the world will open up and grant you all you want, need and deserve because everything about you is walking in truth. Now that doesn't mean we are perfect. We all have our quirks but I believe that it is our quirks that make us individually beautiful and artistically unique. I guess you can say it makes us imperfectly perfect. So the next time you sit down to create, just free your mind of any outside demands or opinions and just create what's in YOUR heart and I know that you will find it amazing. Stay true to YOU and by doing this you are guaranteed success in both your musical and personal lives. Please enjoy the journey.

The Truth

All Rights Reserved by Airtight Productions 2011

Please Understand

OK once again let me try to impart something very important to all aspiring and veteran artists. Success in this industry is based on having the right material, plan and team. If you are afraid to spend money or invest in yourself, then just quit now. You can not expect something for nothing. Please understand how this works. If you have a really great project, don't sell it short by not investing fully in it. Everybody specializes in this industry. You need a publicist to get you interviews, reviews and just known. The publicist's job is to let as many people know who you are and what you do as possible. The publicist is not a manager or booking agent. A booking agent is responsible for getting you paid shows. It's not the booking agents responsibility to manage you. The manager is suppose to help you reach your career goals by putting you in the right situations to make things happen. Now all of these people may occasionally be able to cross a line and work outside of their specialty but don't expect it often. Mangers and booking agents work on a percentage basis, so if you don't get paid they don't get paid. A publicist is paid up front. It is vital to keep your music promoted and exposed. The price of publicist may vary based on their Rolodex of connections. I've found that having a great publicist is worth it's weight in gold. It may seem like a lot of money to invest but you will reap that investment three times over. I'm just tired of artists saying they want to be successful but they are not willing to put it ALL on the line. Again if you can't afford to play the game the right way then just give it up. It really doesn't take that much. You can save a little money from each gig over a period of time to help pay for a publicist or whatever you need. You must first have a clear cut plan. Now go check your plan and do some research on hiring a publicist to fit your needs and budget. Enjoy the journey.

The Truth

All Rights Reserved by Airtight Productions 2011

Internet Boundaries

One of the most powerful tools in networking today is the Internet. Particularly the various social sites with Facebook being one of the most popular right now. This site can be very useful and addictive. The original premise as I understand it was to have a site where you and your personal friends could share and dialogue about whatever things you have in common. Once you reach five thousand friends you are automatically switched over to what's called a fan page. This is usually only done by artists or musicians. The thing that we have to be careful about as musicians is that we don't become a victim of this medium. We have to have well defined Internet boundaries. Most of us use Facebook as a place to build a fan base. I mean come on, how many people do you know that can say they REALLY have five thousand friends. It is important that we keep our posts and information focused on what we are marketing and we have to always understand that a lot of people don't really know us and will try all sorts of things on line. I recently received a rather vulgar comment from a woman that has purchased every CD I've put out and produced. She was admitted as a friend because she supported the music but she then began to make advances and vulgar inbox comments so I defriended her. After a time she continued to buy my music and sent me a message via one of my other websites asking to be reinstated so I gave her the ground rules and allowed her access again. Low and behold to only walk in a find that she had began to send me the inboxes again and my significant other saw it and was quite understandably upset. I have now had to go through and purge my friends list. This happened to me and all I ever post about is this business. The Internet creates fantasy for a lot of people. They can be who they want to be and they can include whoever they want to in their fantasy. As artist it is important that we realize that we can be targets of some one's imagination. I mean we are in the business of creating surreal states that help people escape their lives for a moment. The only thing is with the Internet the boundaries can become blurred and people can misread our intentions and disregard our boundaries. Let's just be aware that social networking for us is just another part of the job. We should only put things on the web that pertain to the music or art we are marketing. I know it can be tempting to bare your soul on your posts but resist it. Just write a song about. Mind your Internet boundaries. Enjoy the journey.

The Truth

All Rights Reserved by Airtight Productions 2011

Educate Yourself

Along with writing my own blog, I read quite a few written by industry pros and the most amazing thing to me is that probably sixty percent or more of the people pursing a career in this industry have no clue. I consult artists and musicians daily and I take for granted that we all know certain basic things. Well I find out everyday that I'm wrong. It is important and vital to educate yourself on this business. I keep saying this is the NEW music business and even though you may think that you know something about copyrights or publishing, if you are not reading the weekly updates and changes that are occurring then you are lost. I recently spoke with an artist on how to get his CD released and he was going on and on about what to do and having money to spend. My advice to him was to just release an Internet single via CD Baby and allow that to help him build a fan base because most people now consume music via Internet downloads/streaming and it is much less expensive to release music in this medium. Now he had no real knowledge of how music is bought or sold on the Internet, even though he spends hours on the Internet everyday. He then says well if you say so because you know about this and I don't. I then tell him that I can help him but he will have to pay for my input. What I am going to do is try to teach him how to help himself by getting him to understand that success in this industry is about education. Those that know or take the time to learn will always be in control. It doesn't cost you anything but time to read and educate yourself. There is so much FREE information available at a keystroke but you have to go find it. The new music industry is about independence. This is a musical and business revolution. This is the time to learn as much as you can so that you can contribute to where this thing is going and not just stand on the sidelines waiting to be told what to do. As an aspiring music business pro you should spend all of your Internet time learning what people like or dislike, how they like to consume music or other products and how you can use this information to your advantage. It's all about creating something that people feel they can't live without. Give them one GREAT experience and they will return for another. Now go study, read and learn all you can about this NEW game. Enjoy the journey.

The Truth

All Rights Reserved by Airtight Productions 2011

Facing A Hard Truth

Being blessed with a gift and the passion to pursue it can sometimes seem like a blessing and a curse. No matter how self motivated we are, we always want to feel like there is someone or something we can count on. The closer we get to achieving our goals, especially the extraordinary ones, the harder it gets and we begin to find out the truth about the people around us. We would all like to think that everyone wants to help us and see us succeed but that is far from reality. I've found that achieving success involves facing a hard truth and that truth is not many people are truly blessed or courageous enough to pursue their heart's desires and when they see someone who isn't afraid, it only reminds them of their own failure so they do all they can to stand in your way. Most may say that this is just being paranoid but it isn't. The hard thing about having a gift is that you realize that you were only given this gift to share it with the world but there are a lot of jealous, selfish and egotistical people in the world. The thing I've realized is that it's all part of a larger test. We have to be able to stay focused and committed in spite of anything or anyone that we may THINK is against us. We have the power to control everything in our world and people can only hurt you if you give them the power to do so. So the real truth is we have to always stay connected to the higher power that blessed us with our gifts and give no attention to anything that doesn't contribute to us achieving our goals. It is truly mind and heart over matter. Never be bitter or allow a situation or person to make you become negative. It's all about maintaining a pure heart and focus. Don't ever look outside of yourself for validation or acceptance. You have to trust and believe then so it will be. Not everyone will understand so just don't include them. Stay connected, inspired and let nothing negative infiltrate your heart. Enjoy the journey.

The Truth

All Rights Reserved by Airtight Productions 2011

Take Control

The road to success in this industry can seem very elusive. It is vital that we slow down sometimes and take stock of our actions. In order to build wealth or sustain a higher quality of life we must assess how and where we invest our time. We have to be willing to take control of our own destiny and career. It is rare to become wealthy by just being the hired talent. Whether as a sideman or artist it's just next to impossible because we have no real say so or control over what happens with our career. We have to position ourselves to be in places of authority. We need to be booking our own events for ourselves and others. It's all about duplicating ourselves and diversifying our talents. I've grown tired of touring with artists that make $10,000 to $75,000 a show and don't want to pay me any more than $500 to $1000. Now most musicians will say man I would be happy with that. Well you can't become wealthy just making that kind of money. I'm putting myself in the position to be the one making the $10,000 to $75,000 or even more. Now this takes shouldering more responsibility and working hard but hey I work hard anyway so I might as well be properly compensated. As musicians we are always forced to take the table scraps. Whether it's by promoters or club owners, we are always being under compensated. It's time to take control. This is not for everyone because you have to be willing to say no and walk away from situations. I don't mean make stupid decisions. Sometimes we have to do things for less money to get to a certain level but we have to set a limit and not allow people to pimp us. We also need to be aware of how to use our other skill sets to make money. Think about how much free advice we give to people to help them build their wealth. How many times have any of those people come back to you with a check after they made money using your advice. I don't know about you but I have yet to experience that one. (LOL) So let's just take control and do it ourselves. We have the know how and where with all to book shows and events. We don't always have to be on the bottom of the pile. From today forward start to seek every opportunity you can to take control of your own destiny and career. Enjoy the journey.

The Truth

All Rights Reserved by Airtight Productions 2011

Motives

The music industry is really all about psychology or mind games. It's very easy to become jaded if you are naive and try to take everything and everyone at face value. It's all about a person's motives. We have to be able to become quick judges of character and people's intentions. Some may say that this will take years of getting burned and going through bad situations to gain this type of discernment. I disagree. Being successful and keeping your spirit is all about education. It is important that we all read and study as much as we can about the basic components of the music industry. We should also read and study about the most successful people in the game and how they became who they are. Armed with this information and a little common sense, we will be prepared to size up anything and anyone that is coming at us. It is very important for us to decide what we want out of this business. It is only when people see that you are unsure about what you want that they begin to take advantage of you by selling you dreams and promising you things that are always just out of your reach. This is called carrot dangling but if you have your own plan and agenda laid forth for your career, then you won't waste as much time chasing lies and empty promises from people. Let me give you an example that I've just dealt with. I work with a lot of artists that tour the world. It's always a negotiation game. Now in one case I worked with an artist that I consider to be a mentor and we toured for almost half a year around the world. I didn't do the tour for my normal price because he said that if we did the tour at a lower price the first time around that we would be able to make more money the next year as a result of the ground work we would have laid. Well I did it mostly because I trusted him to look out for all of our interests. Now the next touring season rolled around and this guy has gotten booked all over the place but he didn't call us to do ANY of the dates with him and he just gave me a bunch of excuses about budget and this and that. What I learned was that his motive was to use anyone he could to get himself to where he wanted to be. This was cool because I made money and connections from working with him so I was still able to benefit form it but it just taught me not to get too involved or concerned about anyone Else's goals that don't line up with mine. I give you this same advice. Always beware of people that constantly make you promises that never come true. Even if you think of them as a friend. Remember that actions speak louder than words. Don't EVER take it personal just be sure to make every decision based on what is best for YOU and if you decide to help someone and they take advantage of your kindness, you still come out a winner because you were able to learn the truth about who they are. Stay inspired and don't allow anything to crush your spirit or jade you. Enjoy the journey.

The Truth

All Rights Reserved by Airtight Productions 2011

Chasing The Dream

I had the pleasure of attending a fair talent show this past weekend. I don't usually go in for talent shows but it's always cool to see young and inspired children chasing the dream. The only thing that was painfully obvious is most of them are going in the wrong direction. These types of events can be great experiences for young talent but in the end they just end up being huge money makers for the organizers. Even though there are cash prizes involved most of the talent involved would not even break even with what they've invested in costumes and lessons to prepare for this one event. I spoke to a few of the parents and I was blown away at how still mislead people are when it comes to breaking their children into the business. The music industry has changed forever. It has always been hard for children to make it because of all of the legal issues involved and labels just don't like paying what it costs to develop an artist, especially now. The good thing is, with the right information, you can develop the artist yourself. Let's take the latest great child success Justin Bieber. He first of all has a great amount of drive and passion for what he does but he was able to find some one who believed in him enough to walk him through the trenches. Not by spending money at these cattle call events where you pay to be so called discovered but by developing a career for him. Having the look, charisma and talent all means nothing if you don't have the right vehicle. Justin's manager created such a vehicle with his first single. They knew they had a hit so they just invested in getting Justin and the song heard and seen by as many radio stations and venues as possible. Not to mention that it was Justin's YouTube vids that brought him to his managers attention. I guess what I'm saying is stop chasing a dream and make it a reality by taking things into your own hands. As a young artist, once you discover your thing, nurture it. Make quality music and vids to help you build a fan base. Having a fan base gives you clout and companies will be coming after you because they will see that you have already established your presence. You have to invest your time and money wisely. Don't spend thousands of dollars on seminars to dance and sing in front of people just because they are from a certain city or record company. Invest your time and money in getting your songs, vids, website, photos and marketing together as well as studying the music business. All of these things will insure that those people will eventually know about you. Stop spending money in vain chasing the dream and make the dream a reality by taking control of your own career. It can be done. Enjoy the journey.

The Truth

All Rights Reserved by Airtight Productions 2011

Let's Get Real!

I had a conversation with an associate recently where he described a request he had received from a promoter. It seems that this promoter was representing a larger entity and they were sponsoring an event which included dignitaries from Europe as well as some VIPs from the US. The promoter goes into how the entertainment they originally booked had backed out and they needed a replacement. What was funny was the reason the original guy backed out was because they told him they were not going to pay him. They were expecting him to do it for exposure. LOL. Now they call my friend and ask him to do it for free as well and tried to make it seem like they were doing him a favor by saying that he would be seen by people from other countries and it could create great opportunities. Now let's keep in mind that this is a guy that has his own records out and he tours the world all the time and everyone else involved with the event was getting paid but there was no money for the entertainment. This kind of thing goes on all the time. I have just three words for promoters like this . . . Let's Get Real! As musicians we understand that we need promotion and exposure but there is a difference between being exposed and exploited. It is always amazing to me how people can book events and have a line item in the budget for everything under the sun but they always seem to run out of money when it comes to the entertainment. They then expect us to understand THEIR situation and just do it for whatever they have left and then they try to sell us on how this will be such great exposure. Now keep in mind that no one else at these events is asked to work for free. This is just blatant disrespect and it is our responsibility to inform these people of their error. As I have stated before, we deserve the same respect as any other professional. You wouldn't ask your doctor to operate on you for free promotion. LOL If you don't pay him, then you don't get treated. That's where we stand as musicians. If you can't pay us then don't call us. Don't get me wrong, there are times that we will and should do things to promote ourselves that may not be attached to immediate money but we can decide for ourselves when those times are. And we should not be the only one's there being charitable. If we are expected to give up something so should you Mr or Ms promoter. It's a new day. Lets get real about this thing. We have to make a living just as you do and we can't pay bills and build wealth by playing for free and hoping for EXPOSURE. In the words of my good friend C. Davis, "You can keep the pie in the sky, I'd rather have my pie on the plate." No more exploitation of artists and musicians. Enjoy the journey.

The Truth

All Rights Reserved by Airtight Productions 2011

Wake UP!!!!!!!

Seeking success can be a very interesting journey. Sometimes you end up going the long way around just to find that everything you needed has always been in your possession. Most of us are sleep walking through our careers. We are going through the motions and playing the game by someone else's rules. I say that it is time for us to wake up. This requires changing the game and your point of view. We have to wake up to the fact that we have to create the success WE want. Certain people would have us think that we need to follow a certain tradition or methodology and that it just not true. We have to realize that not everyone has the IT factor. The IT factor is that intangible thing that makes a star a star. It goes beyond just having talent or being good at something. The thing about having this gift is it's not something you can practice or learn . . . either you have it or you don't. There are more people that don't have it than do and most of the time the rules a made by the people that don't have it. So a lot of us that possess the IT factor end up in situations that just don't serve us well. The only way off of this tread mill is to wake up to the fact that we have to ALWAYS look at ourselves as an independent entity. It's ok to lend our services to others sometimes but we need to spend the bulk of our time focusing on our own pursuits. Not everyone can understand a gift and if we don't seize the value of our own gift and nurture it, then we will continue to sleep walk into mediocrity, so for everything you contribute to anyone else's situation just make sure that you are doing at least the same for yourself. You might find that developing your thing is the way to open doors for all those around you. When you have the IT factor it is paramount that you learn to create and lead your own situations. BY the way, there is no ego in accepting the fact that you have IT. Others already know it. It's time that you HUMBLY accept it as well and step up to the plate to do what you know you should be doing. Enjoy the journey.

The Truth

All Rights Reserved by Airtight Productions 2011

Don't Speed Ball!

In this age of instant gratification the thought of being patient and working for something seems to be a lost concept. The Internet has leveled the playing in this new music industry but it has also made certain bad habits worse. The only thing about artists now having this freedom to put up as much music as they want and market themselves is that there seems to be no quality control in place. In the old music industry you had an A&R department that stood as an objective opinion on what should or should not be released and the artist really had very little say because they were not paying for the record. What we have to understand about all this new freedom is that it is even more important now that we focus on making great music FIRST and DON'T SPEED BALL. That simply means don't rush or be in such a hurry to get your music on the Internet or in public especially when it is not ready. Yes, the playing field has been leveled but the competition has gotten stronger. Consumers are being bombarded with so much new music that they won't waste time on crap and you only have one chance to impress them. If you move to fast by putting out music that is not produced, mixed and mastered up to a certain standard, you are simply shooting yourself in the foot. Word of mouth travels even faster on the Internet and all it takes is for the word to get out that the quality of your music sucks and that's it. The same goes for your visual image. Now that everyone has access to a digital camera they think they are photographers. Well let me tell you that they are not. Capturing a great photo is an art. The right photo can make or break you. Your visual image is as important as the music because most of the time people will see the photo before they hear the music. You should take time to be sure that your photos are a visual match for your music. Don't just throw up a shot from anywhere as your promo picture. Success is ALL about planning and making sound business decisions. The only way to win is to TAKE YOUR TIME. You only have one chance to go out right. You can't release a CD and then go back and make excuses about. It's too late. If it is not ready, then just wait until it is ready. Don't listen to your homeboys hyping you up. They won't by your records anyway and why listen to people that have no experience or success doing this? Slow down and always focus on quality first. I know it can be frustrating to have to wait sometimes but in the end you and your career will be better off for it. Just DON'T SPEED BALL. Take your time and enjoy the journey.

The Truth

All Rights Reserved by Airtight Productions 2011

Listening Is Learning

I have the pleasure of playing with a lot of musicians from all around the world. I also get a chance to play all kinds of musical styles. One of the cool things about music is that you can take people who have never played together and if they share a certain vibe and level of professionalism they can sound like they have been together forever. I grew up listening to all kinds of music from classical to country and everything in between. The more I play I finally understand that listening is learning. I have to play a lot of music and most of the times it's music I've heard but never played. What I have found is all those years of listening to music was really beneficial because I actually learned the song just from hearing it a lot. I mean I spent hours listening to jazz standards, Motown, funk, r&b, country . . . etc. I was just a fan of great lyrics and melody so if I've heard it I can play it. Listening is as important as practicing probably more so because playing or practicing is like speaking and listening is like thinking and we all know that you should think before you speak, therefor you should listen before you play. It is also amazing how still segregated we all are in our musical tastes. Listening to music that is from a different culture and experience than yours can only help to broaden your world view and understanding of different people and their cultures. When I was in college I had a music history teacher, Dr. Dollye Robinson, who would always warn against becoming ethnocentric, which she defined as thinking that the music you knew from your culture was all there is. She said it was important to embrace music from everywhere and especially as music majors we should be listening to music ALL the time. She was so right. For all musicians, it is important that we expose ourselves to all kinds of music. This only helps improve our skills and our worth. I can't tell you how many calls I get just because I can play so many styles of music. I can only do so because I listen to everything I can find. Even now I still like listening to a lot of music. I dig a lot of new stuff as well as I enjoy revisiting music I've listened to for years. What I find is that as you mature so do your listening skills. When I listen now, I'm hearing things I didn't hear when I was a teenager. I think they call that life experience. LOL. Remember listening IS learning. Never forsake it. Enjoy the journey.

The Truth

All Rights Reserved by Airtight Productions 2011