The Power of Live Music

A small mythpunk concert I went to the other night with S.J. Tucker, Sharon Knight, Betsy Tinny, and The Nathaniel Johnstone Band. (You should check them out!)

Music is the language of the heart. It has a way of bypassing our brain and striking at our core. In our modern life music has never been more accessible. With the click of a button we can listen to thousands of artists from around the world. It has opened up a world of music; and I am very thankful. There are many artists I never would have found without the internet.

But in our modern world of easy access and mega stars we loose something. There is  power to live music that you can’t find in a recording. It’s a conversation between the artist and the audience, a sharing of hearts. This can happen at home listening to music on your (Insert Preferred Musical Gateway), but there’s something raw and organic when it’s live and the artist is reading the room and the atmosphere and is adjusting for the audience. That is something a recording can never give you. That said, my favorite live performances are in small intimate settings. Places where there are no barriers between musician and audience. Where we all feel like friends, instead of part of a faceless mob. When it feels like a conversation between artist and audience instead of a worship service to an idol on a stage. Not that big concerts can’t be amazing–They can be glorious! But it’s harder to feel that connection.

To me the intimate settings are how music was meant to be shared. These are the settings where your local artists play. The people who may never be famous. Never “Make It,” according to the world’s views of success, but they still play. And despite what the world says they will touch many lives in those small intimate settings. They won’t just have fans, who follow, but never truly know them, they will make friends and allies. There will be sharing, feedback, and life will happen.

The beauty of small local artists is the give and take relationship we share. They’re like the bards of old. They travel, spreading music, and speaking to us on a level beyond common speech, often times expressing our feelings better than we can ourselves. And in return we give our support and love. We take what we need from the music and return the favor in kind words, a hug, a piece of art, buying their CD, or donating money. They need us and we need them. Without musicians, artists, and writers, the world would be a sad dull place. We are meant to create and be part of a community and it’s a beautiful sight when we see all the different parts working together.

There’s nothing wrong with loving popular music, I know I do. But we should also support our local artists, because I can guarantee the heart to heart of music in an intimate setting with friends is far sweeter than the hype and excitement of a mega concert.

~Lady of the Pen~

“I know the murmur of music reveals
The things no human heart could comprehend”

– Emilie Autumn – Alas (the Knight)

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Unique Beauty

I stumbled across a video the other day which showed an acrobat dancing inside a spinning ring. This is called a cyr ring and was reinvented by a man called Daniel Cyr, who developed it for use in the circus at the end of the 20th century.

Please enjoy these videos. I found them moving in their simple beauty and grace. It’s incredible what humans are capable of when they put their minds to it.

Three Hobbies

I found this quote awhile ago. “Find three hobbies you love: one to make you money, one to keep you in shape, and one to be creative.” That quote has stuck with me ever since. I can see the importance of having variety in my passions. My hobby to be creative (hopefully one day my career) is writing. But if I only focus on writing than I’ll be sitting in front of a computer screen all day and that’s not healthy. That’s where my hobby for keeping me in shape comes in. I’ve been practicing martial arts since I was 13. I took a 2 year break and have recently gotten back into it, but it’s made a huge difference in my life. I’d decided that I’d just focus on my writing and sure I might miss martial arts, but I don’t really have time or money for it. Well some doors recently opened up, by the grace of God, and I’m back into it and I’m a lot happier for it. It’s important to exercise both the body and the mind. As for a hobby for money…well I’m still working on that one. I hope that writing will one day be my hobby of creativity and money, but I’ve also played with the idea of photography or making jewelry as a side gig to bring in a little extra cash.

Whatever your hobbies may be, it’s important to have duality and balance in our lives, it makes us healthier more rounded people.

~~Lady of the Pen~~

Distractions

Writing regularly is a challenge. People who are serious about writing have to treat it like a job, a fun, amazing job which lets you create worlds and people, but a job nonetheless. When you have a job, even if it’s one you love, there will always be days when you don’t want to go in, days you’d rather watch Tv or hang out with friends. With most jobs you shrug off these feelings, because you have a boss and it’s not acceptable to just not show up because you didn’t feel like it.

In writing, or many of the arts, we don’t have the luxury of someone standing over us cracking the whip. At least not when we’re first starting out. Later on we might have agents and publishers breathing down our necks to meet a deadline. But starting out all we have is our self discipline and our dreams to keep us going. So many days, even though we want to create, it’s easier to get caught up in the immediate. But the problem is that if you’re a writer and want to get published you have to put the time in and that’s not easy. Somedays it’s the last thing you want to do. But the question becomes do you want to look back in ten, twenty years and say you watched a lot of tv and wasted time? Or do you want to look back and see a trail of books–or art–that you created through the years?

I, for one, have so many ideas running through my head that I know I’m going to have to writing more and faster if I’m ever going to keep up with them. I have ups and downs with my writing, as do we all, but rarely am I writing as much as I know I should. I know that I need to start treating my writing as a priority if I’m ever going to capture all those delightful–sometimes dark, sometimes beautiful, perhaps a little twisted–ideas running rampant in my head.

I hope that all of us, in the coming year, can say no more often to the distractions and yes to The Work.

~~Lady of the Pen~~

The Gift of Boredom

In today’s fast pace society we rarely have time to be bored. There’s always something going on, something to do, something to watch or listen to. We avoid boredom and silence like the plague. But we forget that boredom can be a gift, it forces us to get creative. Forces us to think outside the box. When I was a child boredom fueled my imagination. There are few things as horrible as being bored when you’re a kid, so you make things up, you build things, and you imagine new worlds, anything to keep boredom at bay.
I’ve found that a little boredom is good for my creative life. It can be hard to take time to sit down and thinking about my writing, but a few hours of repetitive cleaning at work can really stir up my creative juices. A long walk gives my brain the silence it needs to work problems out, and come up with new ideas, long drives usually send my mind wandering in interesting directions too.
We need to allow ourselves the chance to slow down, to be bored and let our brain do its thing without a lot of over stimulation.

~Lady of the Pen~