What's New

originality requires rethinking

Sun Blowin Bye - Dan Beck 2003 - digital painting

As an artist and musician and the person that I am - I always want to do things differently - do it my way - lay down my own tracks, as it were, and be a pioneer.

What I know as a teacher both of others and even myself - repetition is a necessity for being able to improve on the execution of the same subject matter or even new subject matter.

My goal for a new piece of music or artwork is to create something to live inside - but even then, I must keep playing the new work of music - keep painting some of the same old things - keep exploring the same ole medium - keep revisiting the same old works …

I need to see how I view or hear them from where I am today. There are never enough hours to be new and be revisiting - so though I am in a time where I have plenty of new work - though not recorded - plenty of old work - not yet shared - I am revisiting a song I have offered and a digital painting that I have had on my website…

because it is the way I am feeling today - and it is worth it for me to revisit it.

Listen or View

• Can’t Stand Still - original song - Dan Beck / 1danband - 2005 - music is a refuge and can take over - no matter what else is going on
• Original Print Options - for above digital painting - Sun Blowin Bye
• On Repetition - Supercharging Your Affirmations - perhaps even more necessary to repeat when what is learning requires some unlearning as well

slow release

Red Eye Recordings - cover art - digital art (painting) - Dan Beck 2007

There is no right moment and yet I find myself waiting.

If we find ourselves sick - we wonder what we were waiting for -

We can understand life is a gift - that the amount of time is limited - but none of us - including me - embrace it until we really feel the fear of death - we see ourselves immortal

we put off until tomorrow - how can we not?

I don’t know why it is time today to release - the music from last Spring - but I believe it is.

Free to listen, free to download - free to donate - I doubt that I will be able to put all the pieces in place today - but I have to start somewhere - and to quote … well Hillel as it turns out “If not now, when?”

proving once again - that one of the most innovative things about music is that melody helps us remember content.

Listen or View

• Red Eye Recordings - alone & contageous - Dan Beck | 1danband
  • Track 1 - Red Eye 1
    
  • Track 2 - Do What You Believe In
• If Not Now - acoustic guitar and vocals - video - Tracy Chapman - a beautiful melody and partly why I remember the phrase

Artist , Musician, Creativity, Listening, and Observing

The question of where the artist sits in relation to his work is an important aspect of the creative process and even the finished work.

I suspect it is different for different artists, but there are similarities that can be found as well. In some cases, people approach their work as the great shaper, not stopping until the piece is formed exactly as they imagined. In other cases, people approach their work with more give and take and find themselves going in the direction that the work or medium directs them.

My personal leaning is towards the latter. I like to start with intention, but am not opposed to going in the direction that the piece warrants and pulls me.

Similarly, in music one finds that the role of playing with other musicians requires that kind of subjugation to the overall sound. In an article in The Australian, renowned guitarist Ralph Towner states: " With a group, you have to find a role in the music … and of course the roles change too. You can be chameleon-like. There’s a lot of three-dimensional play. You have to adjust to the other people’s concept of rhythm and harmony and the way they negotiate musical space."

There are other ways in which one can be immersed. According to Emeka Udemba, in an article about Nigerian art breaking borders in the Daily Independent, “For as long as there have been urban environments, artists have found inspiration in them. Creative people have made meaning from the many layers of culture, changing technologies, sense of accelerated time, changes in the social polity and aesthetic allegiances within the cityscape.”

In short the immersion of oneself either in one’s environment or during the process of creating seems to be a great part of the creative process. This is one of the things which is so valuable about the creative process - it is a place one can be incredibly focused and in the moment. There are many who feel there is nothing more real than this being in the moment.

See Also

• The Australian
  Three can strum better than one
• Daily Independent
  Breaking borders through creative dialogue
• St. Petersburg Times Floridian - Coloring in the lines
  Another review of Matisse book - painting a picture of his immersion in his work