(Bono…and maybe Voltaire)
Doing the Work
As a musician or performer, have you ever found yourself deeply and intently focused on your material as you prepare for that “really important gig”? Have you worked and re-worked your musical chops, putting in mammoth practice sessions? Perhaps you’ve experimented with all the latest ideas and technologies that might improve your performance? Have you taken a leaf from the 10 000 hours movement about practising so that you optimize the way you lay down those all-important myelin-coated neural pathways? Perhaps you’ve explored the world of “neuroplasticity” and the exciting breakthroughs in accelerated learning offered by stimulating the motor cortex as in Halo Sport? Maybe you’ve recorded or videoed your rehearsals and studied them looking for ways to improve aspects of your playing or performance? If the answer to any (or indeed all) of the above is an emphatic “Yes”, then I salute you. (We should get T-Shirts ‘cos it looks like we are all members of the same club already).
“Why doesn’t the stage melt?” (punter at a Nizlopi gig)
Road Warrior
During those many long years on the road as a manager and (not to get above myself) travelling dogs-body, I had a lot of time to witness and ponder the nature, the impact, and the power of the art of performance. This is what I learned.
Between Two Worlds
There is an infinitesimally small moment, just before the artist sings that first note or strikes that first chord. A moment so seemingly inconsequential that you miss it if you blink. It’s a fleeting moment of infinite possibilities, a window into a liminal space between two worlds. It’s a moment I know from my martial arts practice. It’s a moment I know has great power if the musician or artist accepts the challenge of stepping into that Warrior-space. That musician-space. Blending the two! It’s a moment before what they have learned, or what they have practised, emerges from them into the space between artist and audience. It’s a moment that can define the whole gig or indeed their whole career. It’s a moment that tells you all you need to know about them. It tells you where their music is coming from.
