Finding Joy in Music Without the Pressure to Perform
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[00:00:30] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: So I got to thinking about some things recently. I just got back from a vacation. We went to a beach town here in New Jersey and during that time, a Karate Dojo brother, who is actually a full-time musician. Was playing in the town that we were in, twice.
And we decided to go watch him play, have some dinner and just [00:01:00] enjoy it for, for a night. So we did. And during that time, while he was performing on stage, he remembered that I was a musician and he asked me to go on stage and play. I said no because for one, I haven't played in front of anybody but family in years.
Like I have not performed live in years. Two, my brain's not in theremembering how to play certain songs mindset, right? I don't remember each note and whatnot, like on the fly, I have to look at the chords and the lyrics in order to play a song. And that's just be from lack of, of performing practice.
That's lack of playing with a band practice. And [00:02:00] so I, I typically, these days when I pick up my guitar and I start playing, it's using, it's, I'm looking at Ultimate Guitar. That's what I'm looking at. I'm looking at the actual chords along with the words. And I'm literally singing and playing and it's sort of my like, relaxation, right?
So I didn't go on stage, but it made me think like, I don't have to, right? I don't have to because I enjoy the amount of music I'm doing these days. Because it is my sort of zen period, right? At that point. The other thing that came up recently was I was listening to Smartless and the episode with John Mayer.
And if you're not familiar with John Mayer, his background, he, very smart guy and he went to Berklee College of Music just like I did. I know the requirements, the pressure that Berklee College of [00:03:00] Music puts on you.
What's really interesting is during that conversation, John Mayer actually told the guys from Smartless that he does not know how to read sheet music. John Mayer is in his forties. He's one of the most successful musicians of all time, one of the best songwriters of all time. Fantastic guitar player. He can play a lot of instruments, but he can't read sheet music.
And what's, what that got me to thinking is that I used to be able to read sheet music, but again, I haven't since high school and college, so it's been that long since I've read sheet music that if you were to put it in front of me, I wouldn't know what to do. I'm sure it's like riding a bike. I would need it.
It would, it's there, right? It's in my head. But I would need a one hour refresher for it to all come back to me. [00:04:00] And when it did come back to me, I'm sure I'd be able to play. Same thing with the clarinet. I grew up playing clarinet. You put that in front of me. I still have my clarinets. You put it in front of me.
I won't remember what, where my fingers go, which keys are for which notes, which combination. But a one hour refresher, it'll all come back. It's like riding a bike, right? So it just got me thinking like there's no pressure for me to perform. There's no pressure for me to relearn sheet music. John Mayer, he may not have perfect pitch.
He's pretty darn close, but he can just listen to a song and start playing. That's how actually he learned all the Grateful Dead songs when. He was asked to join The Dead, right? he spent, I think he said, 10 days before their first practice to just learn all the Grateful Dead [00:05:00] songs. No sheet music, just listening and playing.
Now I'm not talented enough to listen and just play for the most part. I can do, I can get by, but, show me the chords, show me the words, let me listen to the song, put it all together. I can play. There's no pressure. And I enjoy the lack of pressure. I enjoy doing it for me. So if you're a photographer, if you're a videographer, and you play music and you've got that urge to play more, just remember there's no pressure.
If you wanna do it for you, do it for you. Thanks for listening to this episode of Lenses, & Lyrics.