Timing. It’s always the timing, dammit! … and not just with music, but in life in general, it seems … I’m one musician who has to really work at her timing. I admire anyone who appears to have a built-in metronome and can play anything smoothly and with ease from Reggae to Dave Brubeck (Just TRY to play his “Blue Rondo a la Turk!). By the way THAT particular number is in a 9/8+4/4 time signature. I dare you! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted smash my metronome … it’s always wrong, right? Riiiight!
Timing in life is kinda like that. You know as well as I do those artists who appear to have been “in the right place at the right time,” and they come out of nowhere and go huge big time. I don’t need to give you a list. But I also know artists that write, publish and stream the kind of incredible music day after day after day that when I hear it, I’m like, “DUDE! Why, oh, WHY hasn’t anyone picked you up yet?! Your material is wonderful!” As with anything, of course, there are hours upon hours of work and days upon days of practice and writing behind his songs. So, what does it take?
I don’t believe in “luck.” My dad used to tell me that people would comment on how lucky he was with his success in business. His reply was simply: “That’s odd … the harder I work the ‘luckier’ I get.” Now, I don’t want to oversimply the solution with “just work harder.” That’s so lame. No, there’s more to it. There’s something unseen; an intention of our being; our connection to the universe and being true to ourselves, our design … and dare I say our “fit” in space. There’s so much more I want to be doing musically and my little ADD brain is usually flitting from one thing to another. Then the jealousy slips in when see someone really nail it and then someone “gets the gig” that I KNOW should have been mine! All that is just “crazy making.”
So lately, I’ve settled into a posture of wanting to be content with who I am, that I am exactly who I want to be — growing technically as a musician, improving my vocals, improving my delivery and my ability to connect with an audience and basically just “staying in my lane.” I am learning to be happy with myself at this stage of my growth and accepting that no, I’ll never play and sing like Bonnie Raitt or Eric Clapton or Ziggy Marley, or even some of my peers. There is only one me, and absolutely no one in the universe can be me. I am the only “ME” that I know. And if I stay in my lane, my road will take me to where, well, to where it takes me. And that’s fine. At least for now.
