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My all-time favorite line about
musician's My father
acted and directed in local theater, sang in chorale groups, wrote stories
and poetry. . . I learned to read music as a kid by one-noting out the
Steven Foster songs my grandmother played on the piano, and looking
in the book to see how they wrote it down. . . |
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There's also a chunk of credit due to some less tangible influences, who live in that mysterious place songs come from. . . Ask any musician: the way we write the stuff is, we hear voices-- vocal and instrumental alike. But if that's true-- if I'm listening (and I am-- I never heard that song before)-- who's singing? Who's playing that melody running in my head that I like so much I'm going to learn it too? I mean, if that was me, I'd already know how to play it. . . wouldn't I?. . . (God bless soundmen like John there by the lightpost.) |
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So I listen, and try to get the good stuff written down before it flies out the other ear, and then rewrite the lyrics, and work on the melody and the chords and the picking 'til it sounds like what I heard. . . Saying "I" wrote it ends up really just a convenience; it doesn't begin to tell you the magic in how the music happens. Truth be told, some kind of "we" wrote it-- but they gave me the song, not their names. One more thing: |
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It's not complicated. Songs are my favorite sandbox, the words and melodies and instruments my favorite toys-- and the graffiti on the playground gate says: Unless ye become as little
children, |
![]() (The dobro in surgery -- it needed a voicelift.) |
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