For the love of music

There were several things that I should have done around my house after class today.  I have a friend coming to stay with me tomorrow and I needed to do a small amount of cleaning to make it sanitary for him.

However, over the past few weeks I have been going pretty much non stop in order to get ready for my senior recital, other Belmont performances, school, and everything else I'm involved in.  Since I didn't have a rehearsal or much homework, I decided to be a slacker tonight.  I set up my amp, busted out a guitar, and for the first time in months, just played guitar for the sake of playing.  I wasn't trying to learn a song.  I wasn't stressed about having to perform for a grade.  I was simply playing for the fun of it again.

I fell in love with guitar all over again tonight.  It is amazing to me how much having to do guitar for school can stifle the joy playing can bring.  I hope that playing for a living is not the same as school.

A little later, I decided to attempt to write a song.  I had a little bit of an idea stirring around in my head and wanted to mess with it.  For those of you who don't know, I don't write much.  I let my perfectionism get in the way and can't get anything out.  But, with no particular pressure to write, I grabbed an acoustic and started playing.  

Shortly, I had a chord progression that I was happy with.  I decided to try a new method to help me write.  I grabbed my laptop, opened up Ableton Live, and started having it loop my progression back to me.  As the progression looped, I started singing.  Over and over I sang until I found melodies that I liked.  Then I added a few words before I had to leave my house.

The song isn't finished, but I have started something that I don't completely hate.  That's saying something for me.

It was so satisfying to make music for the love of doing it.  I hope that having a career in music allows me the freedom to have more days like today and less months like the past couple.