Musical Inspirations Versus Influences
This is an essay/account/story/I don't really know about how and why my musical influences are much different than my musical inspirations.
I have listened to classical music all of my life. It is, I very much think, my biggest musical influence. From preschool to fifth grade, I would spend the 20 minute car ride to school listening to WCPE, The Classical Station, and after school, I would be picked up and listen to it again. I went to concerts. I learned to play classical violin. I joined an orchestra. A quartet. Et cetera.
The point is, I’ve been playing music from these classical composers all my life, and I listen to other people playing it too, at concerts. They have influenced my musical style far more than anyone else. But do these composers and musicians inspire me to make my own music, play my own songs?
Absolutely not.
They were geniuses, legends, prodigies; lived a hundred years ago, thousands of miles away. Practiced forty hours a day. Composed for kings and queens. Became famous for their music, or performance, or both.
I don’t have that amount of talent, that amount of dedication. I’m just a middle-class teen with a Eastman 200 violin, 9 years of lessons, a phone with a microphone and recording app, 6 months of musical improvisation classes, and a bit of creativity. Who am I compared to Bach, Mozart, Hilary Hahn?
But I know people who started with about the same things as I did. Maybe they started with Garageband instead of a violin, samples instead of a microphone. Still, they discovered a passion for music, and decided to follow it where it lead. Watched tutorials on YouTube, posted songs on there. Didn’t become famous- just had fun, improved, shared their creations, and a few people listened. Jack Shore, SammyGoodTunes (if you’re reading this, yes, you do count), AegisSan, Vocasy, Skylike.
These people, and others like them, are my musical inspirations. Two of those people (both not on the previously mentioned list) live less than an hour away from me. All of them are living right now, all of them I could contact if I wanted, through the web of incredible connection we call the Internet, some of them I already have. They don’t make the same kind of music that I do, certainly, but they are the people that have inspired me to chase this thing I love. They’re the people I would like to say this to:
“Thank you.”
I have listened to classical music all of my life. It is, I very much think, my biggest musical influence. From preschool to fifth grade, I would spend the 20 minute car ride to school listening to WCPE, The Classical Station, and after school, I would be picked up and listen to it again. I went to concerts. I learned to play classical violin. I joined an orchestra. A quartet. Et cetera.
The point is, I’ve been playing music from these classical composers all my life, and I listen to other people playing it too, at concerts. They have influenced my musical style far more than anyone else. But do these composers and musicians inspire me to make my own music, play my own songs?
Absolutely not.
They were geniuses, legends, prodigies; lived a hundred years ago, thousands of miles away. Practiced forty hours a day. Composed for kings and queens. Became famous for their music, or performance, or both.
I don’t have that amount of talent, that amount of dedication. I’m just a middle-class teen with a Eastman 200 violin, 9 years of lessons, a phone with a microphone and recording app, 6 months of musical improvisation classes, and a bit of creativity. Who am I compared to Bach, Mozart, Hilary Hahn?
But I know people who started with about the same things as I did. Maybe they started with Garageband instead of a violin, samples instead of a microphone. Still, they discovered a passion for music, and decided to follow it where it lead. Watched tutorials on YouTube, posted songs on there. Didn’t become famous- just had fun, improved, shared their creations, and a few people listened. Jack Shore, SammyGoodTunes (if you’re reading this, yes, you do count), AegisSan, Vocasy, Skylike.
These people, and others like them, are my musical inspirations. Two of those people (both not on the previously mentioned list) live less than an hour away from me. All of them are living right now, all of them I could contact if I wanted, through the web of incredible connection we call the Internet, some of them I already have. They don’t make the same kind of music that I do, certainly, but they are the people that have inspired me to chase this thing I love. They’re the people I would like to say this to:
“Thank you.”
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