The Beauty of Music

15May08

     

     Today I’m writing on a wonderful, timeless topic which I both adore, cherrish, create and use personally. Music! 

     For just under twenty years now I’ve been a prolific musician, weaving my way through various styles and instruments to find my creative holy grail – that is, finding how to truly define myself as an original artist. It’s not uncommon that this the most difficult task that recording and/or performing artists have, as it requires introspection deeper than the Mariana Trench and years of experimentation. I say this to any artist who didn’t need to enter either of these psychological tournaments to find their grail - You my freind, are lucky. 

     Once the artistic grail of self-definition has been attained, it is one of the most enlightening experiences that the mind can appreciate. You’ve found who you are. You’ve discovered the style that reflects that person. It becomes clear now. You’re a creator. Setting out to inspire and conquer with your newfound genius. It’s real, infinate and cosmic. I cannot think of a more satisfying thing than to connect with a song in my soul and pour out its harmony, its magic and energy into the guitar, piano, microphone, into the drums or violin. It brings objects to life, if they ever were dead. It opens up the human spirit with every atom of its white hot brilliance which pulses and reverberates through the whole universe, then comes racing back into us like a sudden jolt of electricity into our veins.

     To me, that’s what music feels like.

     My mission as an artist is to communicate the most untrodden depths of the human mind to those who need to identify with that part of themselves. My creative nodes wrap tightly around my emotional vaults like vines, then pull them under like captured prey. I put them under a psychological microscope, then without allowing my busy mind any time whatsoever to create judgements about them, I write. I write, then sing them as they are. Not as my thoughts and preconceptions interpret them to be. This is my most cherrished gift. The ability to see beyond the fog.

     To anyone considering learning an instrument, learning how to sing, wanting to write songs or record music: do it. Not only does it make the road to finding out who you are shorter and less arduous, but it is infinately rewarding in the sense that it feeds your creative spirit and allows the sharing of our more mysterious human qualities. The lyrical genius Daniel Johnston knew this and utilized it to the absolute extreme. His childlike innocence shined through his songs and breathed fresh life into the music scene. It defined him, established him, and ultimately made him very, very famous. That dorky kid from Waller, Texas became Kurt Cobain’s musical idol, among dozens of other prominent artists. I cannot think of an artist since Daniel Johnston that has been able to access such a genuine conduit.

     Hopefully, some day my music will have its intended affect on a larger audience than it currently does. But until then, the magic flows steadily, steadily like a river to a larger body of water – the world.

     For any willing ears, my music can be heard at the below link

     www.myspace.com/bretthenebery

Kind regards,

-BJH

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