I’m about to look at a beautiful sunset here in NYC, and it was approaching a welcome 70 today. Here’s a tune for that.
In this edition:
* A little lush sound.
* A touch o writing
* A pod recommend
* A GREAT cello video (by a musician I hope you’ll already know about.)
[getting ready for some big stuff...]
When you're making music, it's so easy to get caught in the pursuit of control.
When playing, we control so many things: our timing, our tuning, our tone, our volume. We have to listen and adjust constantly, and that's just us.
God forbid we might be playing with any other people! Then there's all kinds of other stuff going on that we can’t control.
It can feel like a party or a battle, depending on the moment.
(And let's also remember that we call it "playing". So control your attitude too - can't be overserious!)
My friends all know that I love practicing technique way more than I do actual material. I get a lot of joy from training my fingers where and when to go, more than I do from writing tunes or from learning repertoire. (But we all know that’s just resistance.)
Over time it's paid off in a calm feeling of control over my cello sound, which I only realized after the fact was a coping effort to deal with the normal, chronic lack of control over sound.
The human musical condition.
There's all kinds of stuff to control (just fire up a computer and you can literally create infinite knobs) but the music, at the end of the day, wants to liberate you from that compulsion.
The only thing we can control - and only some of the time - is our level of surrender.
Let the music play you. That’s more fun.
.
.
.
podcast recommendation:
For the music heads out there, I highly recommend Jamie Lidell’s podcast, “Hanging Out With Audiophiles”. It’s such a great hang and he brings the fun - if you’re the type of person who loves to geek out on the creative side of sound production. There’s always a segment at the top where he picks up a wierdo sound module and messes around with it, like a narrated “tour” of esoteric pieces of gear. [Check out HOWA]
something curated:
Back to my New Orleans love, there are a few fantastic cellists making good ol’ “American” music in NOLA. Here’s a video I recently re-saw and dig the crap out of. Don’t sleep on Leyla McCalla!
Thank you for reading and subscribing.
I appreciate you. Enjoy spring!
Love your ears,
Trevor
.
.
.
If you appreciate my work, it’s in these other places too. Please share:
* Listen to the “Trevor Exter Playlist” on Spotify
* Hear 18 episodes of: "Play It Like It's Music"
* You can hire me to produce your podcast.
* Or get supportive: visit Patreon
Get full access to "Play It Like It's Music" by Trevor Exter at playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com/subscribe