Xeno71
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4/13/2011 4:24:58 PM
my purpose
today has been a rough day. It has left me wondering what my purpose is. I know i have skill and your feedback means the world but besides you guys...I'm going no where. I submit demos, i enter contests, i seek small sound jobs but nothing. No doors open, no oppertunity.
I know i can't be the only one who has felt this way in their musical careers and am wondering if there are some other views or outlooks that i should be considering.
It gotta mean something that i feel this way but right now i can not grasp the bigger picture.
more so i guess i just need to know that my music is doing what i set out to have it do.
"change the harden hearts of humanity"
Thanks for letting me vent
Lance(xeno71)
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Stoneman
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4/13/2011 9:52:56 PM
I feel you on that Lance. There have been many times in my music career that I felt like I was going no where. That feeling is a strong part of what being a musician can often be like. I remember (I hope you don't mind if I share some old school sh#@ with ya) sending out about two hundred demo's via the snail mail in 1978 or 79 I think. I received over one hundred rejection letters while the rest apparently tossed my work in the trash. Man, it was a very depressing period of time for me. But I sifted through them all (reject letters) and began to discover important clues to why my music was being rejected. Every now and then I still pull them out and read them. I took those comments to heart man and I began to strive to get better. It's painful but you have to get back up and keep playing, writing and producing. Don't be discouraged by rejection or losing a contest. Look at it as an opportunity to get even better. Get so much better that the next judge, publisher/recording company that hears your work will be swayed in your direction. The race to success in the music industry is not about those who are great or the most talented. It's all about those who are strong enough to endure the pain of obscurity long enough to achieve recognition and success. In Nashville, L.A. and New York there are thousands and thousands of would be stars starving for a break. I have known so many people that could sing, write and play circles around me. But the big question is: where are they now? Most of them just gave up. But I am still here doing my thing man. I am not a household name or some great renowned artist. I am just Stoneman and everybody who knows me knows that I love music so much that I will be doing it until my very last breath. That's the big secret I am sharing with you. If you really love it, don't look at what you have accomplished. Look at how it makes you feel when you are doing it. Get lost in that and keep pushing it out there.
I think your music is absolutely great. It's not my style but I certainly can see the complexity in musicianship needed in order to do what you do. Be strong my musical friend. Get lost in the music and everything else will find you. When I was a little ghetto boy (hahahaha yeah, I'm going there) I remember the old blues guitar players who played on the Crenshaw strip in L.A. use to say. Boy, you ain't nothing unless you have had your heart broken by music. Those men had some really sad stories to tell. Yet, there they were sitting there playing like nothing ever happened. The joy in their hearts for music got them through it all. I use to sit there soaking it all in. The joy and the pain. We all know it well. Get use to it!
The first thing I ask my students is: How bad do you want to do this? When they say "real bad". I ask are you ready to study and work hard day and night for the rest of your life without making any money from it? Are you ready to be critiqued and possibly told you don't have anything special right now? Are you ready to face the fact that there are millions of people who sound as good or better than you who are trying to do the same things you want to do? And lastly, but most important of all, Are you ready to do music for the rest of your life just because you love it? Then I tell them that if they want to do music so bad that they are willing to do all those things, I am willing teach them everything I know about being an original music artist.
But I digress, as I was saying before. I had all those rejection letters and they made me more determined than ever to get better responses. So I worked hard on my music. I even went back to school and got credentials in both recording arts and music industry studies. Way back in the early 1980's I received my first contract for 3 songs (gospel). It was from a small Publishing company in Smyrna Georgia. It was my first glimmer of hope. Since then I have had a lot of songs in several genres signed to both domestic and international companies. Also, I have won a lot of contests. The key to it all is the fact that I stopped worrying about winning and started believing I am a winner regardless to what other people think. You want to make an impact and change the hardened hearts of humanity? Keep being you musically and you will eventually get there. Keep believing in yourself, your music and your cause. Soon others will start to believe. Ask yourself those questions that I ask my students and then live by your answers for the rest of your life. Yes, your venting does means something. It means that you are tired. Been there, still doing that. Do whatever it is that lifts you up. I use a variety of things to lift myself up. Prayer, church, spending time with my wife, concerts, movies, vacations, a joint, a glass of wine, my family etc. When you feel rejuvenated, get back to work on your music.
Be Strong And Faithful To You and.........Your Music!
Stoneman
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Xeno71
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4/14/2011 8:29:59 AM
first off thx guys. It really helps to know that what i been feeling is part of the norm of being an artist. And as both of you wrote about being rejected and turned down it made me realize something. I have never really been rejected...i just don't ever get a response back. Well except for the red bull academy thing, but that contest was rigged from the begining anyways. So i guess the point is to keep at it no matter what, but take breaks when i need to.
Stoneman... your words were real deep man and sunk in like a newly sharpen blade. I had already realized that i have to do this because its something i love, something that is so much a part of my being. I compare it to it being like another vital organ, something i will not be able to survive without. You have helped me realize that i need to relook at why i do this. I think i have been taking a lil wrong approach. yes it would be nice to get signed and make money but that i am starting to realize is; that should be the last reason why i do what i do. Fore most it should be about what i wrote...to reach the hearts of men and women, then to perform live, then about the money or getting signed. 12 years is a long time to work at something with little outside reward. but you've help put it into a better perspective...the time doesn't matter,the gigs don't matter, the money is nothing..all that should remain important is what the music does for me, how it makes me feel, grow and learn. and correct me if i am wrong but if i can finely hone that it will happen in time, my dream will be realized and destiny fufilled.
thx you both for your kind words about my music. like i have told some of my friends...its one thing to have someone who is into my genre comment on my music but the ones who are commenting from other genre of music hold more validity for me. well i must end my rant for now.
thx once again guys
Lance
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