I’m my favorite player

[rintincop]

This is us a repost from musician Garry Meeks:

“Hi everyone!

When one of my students asked me the other day..”Who’s your favorite Saxophone player?” I said “I am”. There were a couple of others around. They just kind of looked at me with a strange bewildered look. I said “I’d better be my favorite because I’m the one that I have to hear all the time! I’ve been working to develop this voice my whole life. It’s the only one I have, and I love it! Do I think I’m the best? No, but without a doubt, I’m the best in the world at playing like me”. They all smiled. They got it.


It took me a long time to accept my voice. I tried all kinds of things. Different setups like crazy. I made them all sound like me. Couldn’t help it. I used to try to imitate my idols. I learned a lot by doing that. One thing I learned was that a player’s sound is the sum total of his own personal life experience. In order to achieve the goal of playing like someone else, I’d have to BE someone else. Of course that’s impossible and you wouldn’t want it to be possible anyway.


I had to somehow come to accept, and later on, to love my own voice. Then and only then can I express myself in an authentic way. I can really hear the difference when I’m not being authentic. I don’t dig it so it’s pretty rare now, because I catch myself before I do it. What I don’t play is sometimes more important than what I do. Crazy!!


The notes are almost secondary. The feeling being expressed is first. I believe, that my note choice springs from the feeling. That’s also why I’m always trying to feel my fingers so they know what they are doing. It’s all connected to expression. Expression is what art is all about!


I hope some of this makes sense and maybe resonates with you.


These are challenging times. Thank God Im a musician!


Have a safe weekend and stay well??”

Garry Meeks

[Djang]

Deep!

[pauln]

It takes a while to even approach describing deep truths.
Unless you have already been there... then you know...

"There is only one song"

"All music is an illusion"

"I'm my favorite player"

[bonsritmos]

you have to be the main protaganist in the movie of your life..

[Litterick]

This thread needs an inspirational poster.

[neatomic]

how about an inspirational gif?



cheers

[Thumpalumpacus]

Be the song you want to hear.

[Rob MacKillop]

I've had my own voice since as far back as I can remember, and have spent my life trying to stop people telling me to take on someone else's voice. "Be more like Clapton". "Be more like John Williams". "Be more like Joe Pass". I'm strong enough now to resist, but there were some moments...

[RayBan]

As Keith Moon said of himself, "I am the best Keith Moon-style drummer in the world."

[PMB]

Pat Metheny:

“There was a little bit of a vibe on the bandstand one day from a guy in town, a good player, and he said, ‘Hey man, what are you doing Wes’s thing for?’ And I was like ‘Yeah, I love Wes so much, why would I do that? I don’t want to do what Wes did, I want to do what Wes did!’”

[Mark Kleinhaut]

Thanks for this. Made me smile for the first time today.