Bishops West

Category: Philosophy

  • Happy International Artists Day!

    Happy International Artists Day! (Why does it have to be “International”? Why not just Artists Day?) Take a minute to admire a piece of art, or even better, to make a piece of art.

    And for my fellow music producers, here’s an idea: Choose a famous piece of art and let it inspire you. What’s the mood of the artwork? Can you match that mood with your music? And something even more fun: Can you create music that contrasts the mood of the artwork?

    For example, I’m going to use Georges Seurat’s A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, but I’m going to try adding something haunting or spooky to see if I can change the whole story of the painting.

    Artist Georges-Pierre Seurat Year 1884–1886 Type Oil on canvas Subject People relaxing at la Grande Jatte, Paris Dimensions 207.6 cm × 308 cm (81.7 in × 121.25 in) Location Art Institute of Chicago[1] Public Domain — 04George

    Have fun, and enjoy the day!

  • Random Acts of Poetry Day

    So apparently there’s such a thing as the “Random Acts of Poetry Day.” Who knew? And yes, it’s today, October 4th.

    So, to celebrate, I thought I’d offer you some original poetry, by yours truly, to use as fodder for your musicking. Feel free to use it as is, or to mangle it beyond all recognition… take it wherever your inspiration leads you.

    Autumn Moon

    Round, plump, gorged on lovers’ dreams
    Bright fruit of a Summer’s debauchery
    Hazy with the stupor of indolence
    Shining with gluttonous pride

    Chang E’s courage and sorrow
    Reunion a balm given once a year
    But too short the night, alas! cruel fate
    Luminous exile remains

  • Resilience

    My daughter is the smartest 12 year old I know. I mean, I did okay in school, but she’s amazing. She consistently scores in the 90th percentile or higher on her state standardized testing, and she’s in her school district’s gifted and talented program.

    So when she got selected as student of the month from all the band students, that was no surprise. And when she got selected to represent her class in the school spelling bee, again, no surprise.

    But…

    On the day of the spelling bee, the teachers gave the kids a practice round, and they all did great. But when they started the first round and she got up to the mic, my daughter did the unimaginable, the unthinkable, the impossible: she misspelled her word. And as soon as she had finished, she knew what she had done. The pain and disappointment were written across her face, and she had to fight back the tears until the round was finished and she could leave the front of the room. And when she was finally able to come sit with us, my shoulder was wet with her tears, and my father’s heart broke for her.

    Here’s the thing, though, that I hope she’ll take away from this: We all make mistakes. Heaven knows I’ve made some really stupid ones. What really counts is what happens after the mistake. Do we slink away and promise ourselves that we’ll never embarrass ourselves again, or do we try again until we get it right?

    When my daughter’s band teacher sent the email saying that she had been selected as student of the month, one of the character traits that she pointed out was resilience, that ability to bounce back. After the crying was finished, I showed that email to my daughter to encourage her to keep taking risks. And I know that she will, because that’s just who she is.

    Now, it’s my turn. where have I hidden myself away, afraid of what people may say if I screw up? Am I afraid of what my Facebook friends or family will think of this weird music I’m making? Maybe it’s time to exercise my “resilience muscle” and let go of imagined fears. Maybe this is the time to put myself out there and take more risks.

    What about you?

  • Happy (Really Late) New Year

    I’m really behind on my reading. Like, really behind. I have magazines and books that have been sitting in my bedroom for well over a year. One of these is Success magazine… and what’s sad is that it’s not even a monthly magazine any more – it arrives in my mailbox quarterly.

    So I’m not exactly proud to let you know that when I’m reading articles about how to make the new year better, they’re actually about 2019. Yeah, I’m a little bit behind.

    Anyway, one of those articles is about the importance of reputation. The authors, Rory and AJ Vaden, define reputation as “results + reach = reputation.” And as I was reflecting on that, I realized that those are the two things, results and reach, that I’m trying to achieve with Bishops West.

    Results: I think of this as very similar to (if not synonymous with) integrity. It’s making a commitment to do something, and then doing it. For us as musicians, it’s about actually making music, instead of just reading about it, talking about it, watching videos about it.

    Reach: To me, this means community and influence. How big is your community, and what are you doing to build each person in your community? How is your music influencing and serving your community?

    So, I’m going to take a little bit of a risk and put my commitments out into the world, knowing that doing so means I’ll be held accountable. Here are my commitments for 2020:

    First, I commit to making more music. I started using Bitwig Studio in part because I have very limited time, and Bitwig makes a lot of the process fast and easy, especially grouping tracks, routing effects, etc. In 2020 I’ll put the knowledge that I’ve gained over the past few months into practice to create more music. Will some of it be trash? Absolutely. But that’s the only way to get better. (I’ll be posting under the ArcaynWays moniker; feel free to follow my progress at https://soundcloud.com/user-351735435.)

    Second, I commit to expanding my reach. That sounds selfish and ambitious, but as I said above, my real aim is to build and serve a community. That means getting back to making YouTube videos, as well as blog posts, emails, and whatever other communication makes sense. I have a small group of people who have entrusted my with their email addresses, and 218 people who have subscribed to my YouTube channel; I owe it to all of you to continue supporting you in your music-making.

    Third and finally, I commit to doing this while maintaining balance with my ultimate goals, priorities, and responsibilities. For me, that means God, family, and health come first. Please hold me to that! 😊

    There you have it. This year has the potential to be amazing, far surpassing everything that has gone before… for all of us. I wish you the best in this New Year, and I invite you to join me in building something incredible.

    Sincerely,

    Russ