Having grown up in a music store I’ve been
around music all my life, performing professionally for over two decades now. I
use the term ‘professionally’ quite loosely as a lot of my performances have
been as a hobby; but hey, I got paid! Along the way I picked up a lesson or two
in life through music. Lessons that have made me who I am today.
Growing up, I was fortunate enough to learn
music from some of the best teachers, but it wasn’t until I played in an orchestra
that I learned some of the main lessons in music. Learning to play your part
well wasn’t enough. You had to then play along with other musicians and their
parts, while playing your part loud or softly as the piece demanded. Making
music involves a lot of teamwork.
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I also learned the value of timing whilst
one day playing the trumpet at orchestra practice. We were all building into
this loud part that had an abrupt stop. I started a count late and in the noisy
buildup of 20 plus instruments I didn’t realise I was late. It was a beautiful
buildup and perfect stop by the entire orchestra followed by a loud ‘BLAAAAA’
by me and my trumpet. Needless to say the entire orchestra was in splits and I
was sent home to practice my parts.
A few years later I joined a band, and do
believe me when I say that we were bad. Of course we didn’t know how bad we
were back then. We got gigs, played for stage shows and even a few weddings but
best of all, people danced!! We were rock stars! That’s when I learned about
the ability of alcohol to make people dance and trust me they must have needed
it back then. Over the years we got better as a band, played for more gigs and
people were dancing to our music and drinking to quench their thirst. Either
way I think the bar sales were good.
As time passed band members moved on due to
work commitments or to join other bands and we had to adapt to new musicians
and their styles of playing. Yet the music only got better. The newer styles
and the experiences combined to make better music. Sometimes you just have to
mix things up to get the best out of it.
Technological advances also made a huge
impact in the music we played, and the music we made. It was a steep learning
curve in the beginning. Understanding sound and all its settings. How to
balance the sound of the band, where to kick the amplifier when it stopped
working to get it started again, so on and so forth. Over time I also learned
how not to blow speakers and equipment.
It never ceases to amaze me that while
there are only 12 notes repeating themselves across octaves, one can mix and
match them to make infinite melodies ranging from soulful love songs to the
assorted collection of car engine noises that make up some genres of music
today. They all follow some basic sets of rules like time signatures, scale and
song structure. Get the combination right and you have a song that can make
people dance, feel, love, cry, laugh or break out into horse riding dance
steps. Music is constantly evolving, and with it so am I.
