For Whom Do You Sing?
We are all, in one way or another a one man band.
For whom do you play your music? Whatever it is you do, whatever it is you have to offer, it’s really no different from the street corner musician, is it? You may be part of a little band of musicians, but let’s just say it’s your music for the moment. For whom do you play and why?
Do you play for an audience of passersby, each there but for a moment, only to hear the smallest dose of what it is you have to sing? If you’re to get a coin in your case you’d best be at the top of your game for that moment, and you’d best be playing your very tip top stuff. Indeed, you are likely to play a very limited repertoire in that scenario, eh? Kind of like the salesperson in a big commercial gym, armed with a stress-tested script with little opportunity to ad lib, but capable of successfully performing that script better than others and thereby achieving a measure of success. Some coinage.
Or do you rather play for a much smaller audience, one that lingers to hear the greater range of your catalog? The person who represents that tiny percentage of aficionados who not only UNDERSTAND your music, but have actually been trying find it, whether they knew that or not. This kind of music can be kinda messy, an experiment in expression, and it may not prompt all that many people to pause at your corner as they stroll through the iTunes of their lives. Indeed, even those who DO pause may find your music too difficult, too much of a challenge, too long in the ‘sinking in’ to appreciate. You get excited to have an audience only to be brought down when they walk on.
This sounds a bit more like Crossfit. The music of Crossfit.
(N.B. I read something from Seth Godin that mentioned the metaphor here.)
This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 1st, 2011 at 9:08 am and is filed under Crossfit, Random Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.