Music To My Ears

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Feeling real tired after a very difficult day, I walk up the stairs and head straight for my room. I slowly reach for the doorknob, turn it and push the door open. I slowly walk in, put my bad down on the floor, remove my watch from my wrist, put my wallet and hand phone on the table and as usual proceed to my computer. Upon turning on my computer, I would first log on to MSN after which I would then double click the green lmewire icon and play some music. And the moment the music starts pounding in my ears I feel a weird sense of calm engulf me as the music slowly seeps into the cores of my bones, eliminating all sense of anxiety, restlessness, tiredness. Replacing all of that with raw energy and a sense of euphoria. And that is me experiencing music as a listener. But as a musician, experiencing the joy of music is altogether a whole different ball game. But wait a minute. Isn't music the same to both listener and musician? Afterall, isn't music just the amalgamation of a bunch of instruments and some vocals? How could it be any different? If these are your worries, fear no more because, I will explain to you just why music is not just music to a musician.

Firstly, there is "The Choice". The Choice is every musicians first step to musician-hood. Because, this is the time where a potential musician chooses the instrument or instruments of their choice. It could be the piano, the guitar, the gamelan, the drums or just about any instrument under the sun. Heck, it could even be a bunch of garbage cans put together and it would still qualify as an instrument. Think of it as choosing the guy/girl of your dreams then taking them out on a date. So, after you have chosen your life's passion, you go ahead and take lessons on how to understand and fully exploit your instrument and this is the most important and often the most difficult part of it all. In fact it is this stage where many simply give up. Simply because understanding and mastering an instrument takes a whole lot of discipline and hard work. And it is this discipline and hard work that will give you a sense of appreciation for the various types of music and the challenges that it takes for them to exist. Therefore strengthening the understanding of a musician towards music. This is different from a mere listener because a listener does not have to choose and instrument neither do they have to spend long hours learning it. Therefore, limiting their appreciation for the technical and melodic challenges that is needed to create good music.

Then, there is the actual playing. This is the time where musicians would team up with their friends to form a band. And among all, this is my most favorite part of being a musician. Because, playing in a band is extremely fun. First you have to look for band mates which can be quite tricky because not everyone shares the same musical influence. In my band, all of us have very different musical influences so picking out songs to jam can be a challenge as well. And then, once you have finally found members for you band, you now face the daunting task of choosing a name for your band. Back when I had my first band, we took weeks to come up with a name. We eventually settled for Blacklisted. That was when I was 14. And even in my current band, we have had quite a few name changes. We had 3 different names for three different concerts. After the name choosing/squabbling, comes the day when you finally practice together as a band. I remember the very first time practicing as a band. It was back in 2002 and my band comprised of 5 people. Each of us had different musical influences and the only thing we shared in common was the love for punk music. Perfect no? Wrong! It was a complete mayhem from the get go. Each of us walked up to our instruments and played whatever we felt like playing. My brother who was on the drums justa banged away. Marv got into some punk rock riffs, Shiresh and I goofed around with the guitars and the vocalist went on a screaming rampage. And that's how it went for the entire hour. No, wait, for the rest of our jam sessions for the last two months of the entire year! What a perfect way to "spend" money! But after a two years, a couple of band mate changes and some discussion, things got better. We made it a point to discuss the songs which we would practice for the upcoming jam sessions and made sure that everyone knew their parts. Personally, and I am sure that I speak for many musicians out there, I feel that the best part about jamming is that we get to be the music. We get to express ourselves in so many ways in which the power of vocabulary simply cannot match up to. It is during these times that the world around you seems non existent and nothing else matters but you, your instrument and your bandmates. It is a feeling which is only describable by experience. Apart from that, through jamming I have made and reinforced many new and existing friendships. Friendships which last to this very day. Listeners often don't get this close to experiencing what we do.

Then, after all that practice, shouting at band mates over the phone and in the jamming studio, comes the day when you reveal yourself to the public. Think of it as introducing your partner to your parents or in other scenarios, having dinner with the potential in laws. Seriously! Playing to a crowd can be one of the most daunting task which can be thrown at musician. You either receive a face full of rotten eggs or a book full of phone numbers from members of the opposite sex. It is as simple as that. I have been in both situations. I remember the most hilarious performance of my entire life. It was back in high school. Our band was scheduled to play for a red cross event and the band which I had was more of a rag tag organization of 16 year old teenagers. We were "invited" to play just a few days earlier and we had completely no idea who would be in the lineup or what we would play for the gig. So, I , enthusiastic as ever, quickly grouped together a few friends and decided that we were going to play Hoobastank's "The Reason" and Oasis's "Wonderwall". So, we got home and immediately got down to practicing our parts. All, except the drummer. So, on the morning of the concert, we assembled at the school hall and tried our best to practice without the drummer thinking that he would not have much of a problem filling in during the concert. So, you can equate this to an impromptu speech. Then came D-Day. The hall was filling and it was filling fast. But we had another problem. Our lead singer was nowhere in sight and our slot was coming up real fast. But instead of asking the organizers to push our slot to a later time, we thought that we could handle it even without our lead singer. Shaun, the back up singer would do his job. Then, as we stood on stage, the curtain was slowly raised and we could hear very faint applause coming from the crowd. As soon as the curtains were raised, I started strumming and Shaun started to sing. But we had a glitch. The microphone did not work. We quickly got that fixed and went through the song effortlessly since it was only Shaun and I. Then came the moment of truth. Our second song. The one which needed the full band. I can still remember it quite clearly. As the rest of the band proceeded towards their instruments, I did the countdown and started to play the opening riff. And exactly at that moment, Shaun ran away and hid beneath the piano!! We were flabbergasted! But being musicians, we couldn't just stop so we continued to play on without a singer. And later, we found out that he was nervous and our original lead singer arrived late because he had tuition. So, with the blessings of the organizers we went up again and did it properly. What fun. But of course we did continue to have many performances after that. Some were great and some were not so good. But the most amazing thing about playing in front of a live audience is that you get to experience a sort of high. You feel as free as a bird and in some cases the music is just so compelling that you start jumping around the stage and do things which you wouldn't normally do on a normal day. Listeners, usually don't get to feel this feeling. While I admit that it can be very electrifying being in an active crowd, being an active musician and playing for a crowd is just immense. No other experience that I've had comes close to it. Plus in some cases, you do get calls or invites from members of the opposite sex. But this is not my main inspiration to play music.

So, do you now see why I think that experiencing music as a listener is so much more different than experiencing it from the shoes of a musician? Perhaps, you should pick up music as well. Who knows just what you might find in the amazing world of music?