Active Participant
Jan 12, 2009 what if?
I dunno, three, maybe four Saturdays ago, I was headed to South Charlotte for coffee and a co-write session at my friend Allen’s apartment. On the way there I heard two short interviews on NPR that impacted my perspective from that morning on.
The second (yeah, I know, what’s up with that?) interview was with the music director for the Baltimore Symphony (at least I believe that’s her role, and I can’t recall her name) on the compositions of Aaron Copeland. Now I studied composition in college a LONG time ago, and I certainly have an appreciation for symphonic works, but what grabbed me about the conversation is the fervor and freshness I sensed as she talked about Copeland’s work and approach to composition, in a manner reminiscent of songwriters sharing insights about Craig Wiseman, Carole King, Jimmy Webb, etc., the energy was infectious.
Previous to this conversation, the interview was with an artist who resides in Denver by the name of Bob Ragland. I’d never heard of him, but it was as though he was speaking to me. He talked about be a “non-starving” artist and his approach to making ends meet doing what he loves most — creating art. His attitude of perseverance spoke to me as a writer. Sure I’m not full time, and I’m not published, or have any songs on hold, but I have desire and love to make music and write songs.
Bob’s message: do the practical, do it every day, and do it well.
Simple, huh? I checked out the list he posted titled “The Stuff You Won’t learn in Art School“, and thought to myself, get at it! I mean, why not my music and songs? Get them out there, work at promoting, and sharing, and pitching and being ready to get something placed… why not me?!?!?
Last week one of the songs Allen and I wrote got real good feedback on a SongU critique session, and today we were notified the song is going to the NSAI luncheon for potential pitch to publisher. While the essence of all this amounts to welcome validation of the passion and craft we put into the song, it’s a step in the right direction — all because I chose to embrace the risk of being an active participant in promoting myself.
Tags: Bob Ragland, creativity, promotion