I Am a Composer
Yesterday, I came across some new videos at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Jazz Academy website. Actually, it was brought to my attention by Oliver Lake through his feed on Facebook. This past May, he had recorded some videos for the JALC website and now they're up. Check them out. In fact, spend some time looking around there. There's a lot of great stuff.
Oliver Lake is one of my favorite saxophonists and these videos are of him offering the kind of advice that I believe young players, really, anyone of us who have committed ourselves to this beautiful art form called Jazz, can benefit from. Among all the good things he said in his three videos there, one thing jumped out to me as something I particularly needed to hear. He said that he keeps a saying or phase posted near his computer and on a bulletin board. That saying is, "I am a composer." Yes, there it is. A man who is a creative powerhouse and undoubtedly a composer needs to have a reminder to keep him in that frame of mind! Fantastic!
I'm so happy about this because I need the same. Here I am. I've given up an entire life and career to pursue my first love, music. Here I am struggling to see that my work is of any value. Here I am doubting myself. In the midst of that I hear a man whose playing and music I have admired over the years saying that he needs that note to remind him and focus him on his work.
Titles like composer and writer or artist and musician can be so slippery. We live in a culture where it seems everything is exclusively measured by money or fame. So, am I an artist or a writer or a composer if I'm not a household name or if I don't have a major contract? The answer is, "Of course!" If you paint, write or compose you are an artist, a writer or a composer. Now, get to work!
Thank you, Oliver Lake. I needed that.
Oliver Lake is one of my favorite saxophonists and these videos are of him offering the kind of advice that I believe young players, really, anyone of us who have committed ourselves to this beautiful art form called Jazz, can benefit from. Among all the good things he said in his three videos there, one thing jumped out to me as something I particularly needed to hear. He said that he keeps a saying or phase posted near his computer and on a bulletin board. That saying is, "I am a composer." Yes, there it is. A man who is a creative powerhouse and undoubtedly a composer needs to have a reminder to keep him in that frame of mind! Fantastic!
I'm so happy about this because I need the same. Here I am. I've given up an entire life and career to pursue my first love, music. Here I am struggling to see that my work is of any value. Here I am doubting myself. In the midst of that I hear a man whose playing and music I have admired over the years saying that he needs that note to remind him and focus him on his work.
Titles like composer and writer or artist and musician can be so slippery. We live in a culture where it seems everything is exclusively measured by money or fame. So, am I an artist or a writer or a composer if I'm not a household name or if I don't have a major contract? The answer is, "Of course!" If you paint, write or compose you are an artist, a writer or a composer. Now, get to work!
Thank you, Oliver Lake. I needed that.
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