Music

"A painter paints his pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence."

Leopold Stokowsky

 

I came across this beautiful quote the other day and while it may be familiar to many of you, it was new for me.

It's such a visual description of the beauty of music and also the beauty of how music is created.

As I've mentioned in earlier posts, creating music or lyrics in any form is not my gift at all. I can do it but, trust me,

I would singlehandedly bring the music business to a grinding halt if it got out.  Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, with some of the music on the radio, maybe I could be the next big thing. LOL 

 Not in the "under the radar" music world where real quality music lives however. That's where the best of music and it's creators are to be found. 

As the manager for "Sleeping At Last" I have had the privilege to meet so many of these beautifully creative people. People that truly love what they do and not just to become famous. Of course they would love that too but not for the reasons that some people do. They would love to see their music enjoyed by others and also to be able to support themselves but, they honestly LOVE what they do. The music and sometimes lyrics, just flow out of them like paint does from an artist's brush. AND, they don't write to impress people or to sell. They write because it's who they are and it's what they see and hear. As a listener, you can feel it too. Even if it's not your particular taste in music, there's a sincerity to it.

I have been to many shows over the past several years and seen various artists and there is a distinct difference between artists that love what they do and artists that are just there to "cash in". Did you ever notice that? When you're at the shows that are sincere, you have more fun. You get enveloped into the music and you experience it fully. When it's a "cash in" artist, the big elaborate sets and stage performances (I think) are there to mask the emptiness that is also there.  I just think that if the music is great and real, there's no need for the diversionary stuff. 

Music is such a personal thing. It touches everyone no matter who you are or where you live. No matter what age you are even. Even people that are deaf respond to it by feeling. Pregnant women report that their babies respond to it while still in the womb. If you think about it, the first few notes of a song can bring back a memory. Music can set the tone for your day. It can take you out of a bad mood and put you in a better one. It can mark your summer or your wedding, or your high school years. Elderly people can hear a song from decades ago and instantly be transported to their lives and feelings all of those decades ago. Certain songs, can make us feel peaceful during a stressful time or bring back our childhood. Some songs can make an entire stadium of people stand up and start singing along.

But the best songs are the ones that reach down into our hearts and souls and help us to feel or to articulate something that we just couldn't feel or describe otherwise. 

There's something about music that can reach a place in all of us that is unlike anything else.

I have been very blessed to have been at the birth of pretty much  every "Sleeping At Last" song that has ever been written. I've had a front row seat to the writing process and I've learned so much over the past several years about how it's done. Of course, everyone writes differently. I saw Elton John interviewed the other day and he writes the music after his lyricist sends him the lyrics for a song. He said that he looks over the lyrics and then comes up with the music for it. As a matter of fact, he says that he has never written a song with the lyricist in the room ever.

 I know that Ryan writes the melodies first and then the lyrics. Some artists write with other people and share both parts of the songwriting. Some get the vocal melody and then write the music and the lyrics from that. And then there's the artists that write music for commercials or movies. They watch the commercial or scene and then write what they feel fits. And some do a little of each of these varieties of writing.

Then there are the artists that don't write whole songs but play their instruments like they are beautiful works of art. I know that we have several friends that are such amazing artists with their instruments that when they play

they take a song to a new place that is all their own. You can feel their passion for their art in each note. I remember when the band was in the studio recording the "Ghosts" album and we were told that it would be too costly to have live string players play and maybe it would be good to consider synthetic strings. That was when we met Susan Voelz who has since become a good friend in addition to playing on each of the albums that Sleeping At Last has recorded so far. We were in the studio for months doing that album. It was a tense time and I can remember when Susan, Inger, Vannia and Alison showed up to record the string sections for the album. 

We were blown away. To watch them perform and hear the beauty of each note mesmerized everyone in the studio as we all came together to watch and listen. To watch their bows flying across the strings on their instruments and all in sync was amazing. I happened to glance over at the guys and saw them each smiling from ear to ear. 

 And then there's the vocalists. The people that open their mouths and effortlessly they are able to put a voice to lyrics that make it seem more meaningful than is possible with the spoken word. I know that as a listener of music, I tend to catch interest in a song and then without realizing it I'm following along with the vocals and in many cases, hoping that the melody will go in a particular direction and often it does and it feels so right. But then there's the times that a singer will take the melody to a new place that I couldn't have even dreamt of and it just takes your breath away. 

No matter how they do it, it's a beautiful and amazing process from my point of view. 

Because I've gotten to be behind the scenes of this world of music, I can honestly say that it really is just like someone creating a work of art. Little by little, all of the pieces come together to create these amazing "musical paintings" that touch us so deeply. 

Thanks so much to all of you musical painters for all of the great times that you've given us, the listeners. 

Thanks for sharing our deepest feelings and secrets. Thanks for the great memories. Thanks for being there when no one else was.Thanks for the fun times. And thanks for sharing every day of our lives with each of us.  

We LOVE what you do so please keep it coming. We can't wait to hear what you'll be creating for us next.