The walls in my house are experts at providing me with inspiration. We’re quite a team, in fact- my walls and I.
I like to hang quotes on my walls.
I have a list of Steve Job’s quotes sitting right next to me. There’s a list titled “The 5 Simple Rules for Happiness” to my right and in my practice studio I have a sign that says “No
boundaries!” The walls here like to hold
these small pieces of inspiration. My
house is fairly artistic and staying inspired is one of the top five concerns
for any artist.
Actually, there are quite a few concerns of any artist. Also appearing somewhere on the ‘Top Five
List of Artistic Concerns’ is usually jealousy; performers and musicians
specifically. I just got into a
conversation the other day with an eighteen year old dancer who explained that she
hated going to see professional dancers because she sits in the audience, a
white knuckled grip on her seat, staring at these people who are phenomenally
better than she is. Instead of enjoying
the show, she’s stuck thinking about how she can’t kick that high or move that
fast.
When I first started playing, I was the same way. I’d listen to a guitarist and get angry about
his (or her) performance. It’s easy to
sit there and judge other people’s performance and it was a fabulous past
time. Becoming jealous lead to a
plethora of problems within myself- the first one starting with my
self-esteem. The more jealous I became,
the more scared I got of playing in front of people. Knowing there are more talented guitarists
out there is intimidating, and I started to avoid playing with people whenever
I could for fear that they would judge me the same way I judge everyone else.
A few years ago a fellow artist was talking about this exact
problem. He was a bit older and had been
through the game before. When he noticed
my jealousy problem he said, “There is no better, only different.” A light bulb clicked and I had an ‘aha’
moment.
Each artist reaches a point in their career where they are competent at
their craft. Adele can sing. So can Marilyn Manson. Stick them next to each other and try to
figure out who’s better. You can’t,
because it’s apples and oranges. They’re
both competent at what they do. One isn’t
better than the other, they’re just different.
So it goes with art. One person
can’t be better at another because art is expression. Art is the manifestation of human
emotion. How can one person’s emotion be
better than another’s? (Okay, a pitch-corrected studio cut or a lip-synched
performance soooo doesn’t count as art.) Since
we live in America, where cultures, religions, languages, and people come from
all different kinds of backgrounds, we’re already predisposed to accepting
everyone’s different expressions. (Or so I should hope.)
Next time you’re feeling down on yourself for not being as good as
someone else, just remember there is no better.
Only different.
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Till next time,
Lindy D.
Till next time,
Lindy D.
