What Keeps You Going?

[Mark L]

What's your motivation?

[Mats Nermark]

I just feel good when sitting down playing my guitar or writing a tune. That feeling is highly addictive.

 

Cheers,

 

Mats N

[philboking]

^^^^ What he said

[1001gear]

I'm a compulsive respirator.

[Anderton]

A desire to leave the world in a better place than when I entered it.

[blue2blue]

Why does the caged bird sing?

[Ernest Buckley]

What's your motivation?

 

I`ve reached the point where I no longer care about making my own music.

 

Over the last 2-3 years, I have hardly written anything. Most of the work that I have done is other peoples projects which I find more interesting than what I`m doing. I can definitely see myself producing more as I get older and working on other peoples music rather than my own.

 

Part of my detachment is due to the fact that no one really cares about what I have to say. I realized that after my first CD was released and no one really gave a damn. Maybe the music sucks? Or maybe it doesn`t but the fact is that no one purchased the record. I sold a couple of copies over the years but to be completely honest, no one was coming out to shows except the 6-10 regulars.... brother, sister, parents, etc... the fan base was not growing. CD sales were non-existent, and website visitors... nada.

 

So whats the point? I was writing and recording my own songs as therapy.

 

That`s really it and now I`m at the point where I would rather just direct my skills towards projects that make me $$$ and produce artists I actually enjoy.

 

At the end of the day, I have said what I needed to say. I have one more album that I will release very soon that will pretty much be my last in that genre. Lyrically, it says all I need to say and I feel it completes my first 42 years of life and perhaps beyond.... it even touches on subjects such as death, war/terrorism, poverty, and love/sex. Its my last opus and if I die after its release, I know I said everything I need to say.

 

I`ve approached my solo albums from the perspective of a father talking to his sons. Thats who I am. I`m not really concerned about myself at this point in life, its more about my kids and the future they will inherit.

 

Also, I find that as I get older, I value the arts much more because I realize that is where humanity really soars. Its in architecture, poetry, sculptures, art, music, dance, etc... where humanity leaves its most lasting impressions. Thats where humans connect most. I live in NYC and have lots of access to museums, concerts, and more people that share my interests but looking at the future... I find that there is little interest from the youth in learning about these things.

 

The youth are more interesting in themselves and I guess thats just human. However, I find that even adults my age have lost their attention span and simply cannot drive in the car for 20 minutes without changing the station 10x. Its disturbing... Something has been lost in the last 25 years with the dawn of the Internet and social media. We are less compassionate, less caring, less present... and thats not a world I want to be part of so the arts keep me present, they keep me human.

 

With all that said, I`ve been a professional Church Musician for 25 years now and my motivation at this point in my Church career is more of a ministerial one. Whether you believe in God or not, I realize many people are hurting and they come to Church for comfort, inspiration, peace, etc... that motivates me at this juncture in my life.

 

As I get older, I realize my own interests are really not that important. I mean, I take care of my health and my family, but my own artistic endeavors have taken a back seat for altruism. It took a while but after dealing with the results of my first record, I went into a serious depression. All my life I was told I wrote good songs and that I should "record them for the world to hear" but the world doesn`t really care. After that harsh realization set in, I realized I add value where I have been since 1990... in Church. People appreciate what I do and they actually buy my CDs there. Its not about money, never was. I make a good living doing what I do but I could definitely make a lot more if I choose a more common course as many of my contemporaries have: IT, attorney, civil worker, etc...

 

So yeah, helping others through music is what motivates me. I realize now that there is nothing wrong with writing my own music and recording it and having no one buy it. That is failure to some but to me, its about self discovery. I realize that NOW. My intentions were and are good but at the end of the day, it really comes down to self-discovery. My kids will find what motivates them as well in time. As for me, the music will end one day and what will motivate me at the point will probably be my relentless pursuit of discovering myself in the art of another or sitting in stillness and silence.

 

EDIT: I`ll just add... having done this for 25 years, I`m seeing kids I once taught now becoming musicians and they thank me and even work with me at times. Its a strange trip but it reminds me that what may seem like unimportant moments in my life are big to someone else. So you never know... you have to live each day to the best of your ability. Sometimes we fall, sometimes it takes years to realize the impact we`re having.

[UstadKhanAli]

What's your motivation?

 

Creating and gratitude.

[Hard Truth]

My motive for playing music: I enjoy playing, especially with other people. Without the comradery and musical conversation, I would not be motivated to play nearly as much these days. My motives for playing have changed at various times in my life, there was a time when I was ambitious, but the enjoyment of playing with others has been a common thread since the first time I found compatible players.

[AlamoJoe]

My blood pressure medicine and the desire to die debt free.

[MrKnobs]

What's your motivation?

 

Great question!

 

As for me, I don't know. My motivation was the same as Craigs, make the world a better place. I wanted to put my little bricks in the wall of human knowledge, making sure they're sound so the next generation of scientists don't have to tear out my part of the all and start over. Too bad research is not that simple when you add in the cold blooded politics and always begging for money.

 

I got tired of having to compromise my integrity to get money, tired of having to watch my back with all the politics, so I retired. Why keep piling up more money than I need for the remainder of my life when I don't even have kids? What dollar figure on your bank statement is finally enough?

 

Music? Well,I love music but the reality of being a musician for probably 95+ percent is a meager life full of smashed dreams, filthy bars, alcohol and drugs. So for me, at least, music is best kept a hobby. It actually looks a lot like being a scientist minus the money and health care. What am I talking about? Read above! Backstabbing, grubbing for money, compromise of your art and slow death of your dreams. (I typed "integrity" instead of dreams a few times, but I don't even know if integrity applies to music.)

 

I want to re-meet my spouse unit. Both of us have been changed by life, by working, by playing the corporate / academic game for so many years. Who IS she now? Who am *I* now? Do we still have much in common? Do we still have dreams and do they fit together?

 

I think best when I'm walking high up in the mountains, 15 miles a day for weeks. Everything is cleared away except the crisp blue sky, the endless trail in front and behind, the simple equation of keep moving or die.

 

We're going to do a lot more of that and see what nature forges from us.

 

 

Terry D.

 

 

 

 

[rasputin1963]

I think humankind has a collective intelligence body, to which each of us contribute, and which none of us escapes. I want to learn as much as I can, so I can, if possible, leaven the weight of human intelligence, if only in a small degree... Alleviate human misery.

[Idunno]

Well, I was speaking with Bill Congreve the other day discussing this very thing. In my case, I am the poster boy for what he said, and I quote:

 

"Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast,

To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.

I've read, that things inanimate have mov'd,

And, as with living Souls, have been inform'd,

By Magick Numbers and persuasive Sound.

What then am I? Am I more senseless grown

Than Trees, or Flint? O force of constant Woe!

'Tis not in Harmony to calm my Griefs.

Anselmo sleeps, and is at Peace; last Night

The silent Tomb receiv'd the good Old King;

He and his Sorrows now are safely lodg'd

Within its cold, but hospitable Bosom.

Why am not I at Peace?"

 

Music, for me, is my ticket to solace.

[nat whilk II]

No one thing.

 

People are depending on me.

 

Habit.

 

I love working. Oh, not all work situations, of course. But leaving aside bad working environments, just give me a topic to research, a puzzle to solve, a ditch to dig, a tree to trim, a room to paint, a song to write, a chord to learn, a poem to analyze, a class to study for, new software to figure out, a gizmo to fix, a trail to hike, even a stack of dirty dishes to wash....I love it all, I find a zone. Entertainment is nice, but working is far better.

 

Will I make the world a better place? If I work at making myself a better person, maybe, I hope. But it's really not for me to judge, my mark on the world and so on.

 

Musically, I never really believed in my talent much until the last maybe 5 years. So I've got a bit of a musical vision, something to say, a body of work to hopefully hammer out. It's self-propelled, really. All I have to do is put in the time. Which means making it a priority. That's the rub. But I'm getting somewhere....just hope I don't run out of time.

 

When all is said and done, I simply love life and I love people. Imperfectly, so there's a goal, not a steady state.

 

I could go on about personal belief and such, but some things run deeper than beliefs.

 

nat whilk ii

 

 

 

[Anderton]

As to why I do music, it's a biological imperative. It doesn't matter if a million people hear it or only I hear it. I do it for myself, and if others like it, so much the better.

 

I did taste enough of fame that I realized I don't have the kind of personality that's compatible with it. I was lucky to find that out at an early age.

[onelife]

I don't know about "leaving the world a better place…" for me because that implies some sort of measurement and comparison. I just try to be the best that I can be and in service to the music.

 

A close friend of mine told me a couple of years ago that I "have to give it back" and that's what motivates me now.

[Beck]

My motivation has always been some girl. Seriously, when I stop and think about it I feel motivated when I have a love interest and not so much when I don't. That has not changed since I was 17. Except for certain times in my life like when I was first into Christian rock and I was a new Christian... then I was motivated by something other than women... until I discovered that born again Christian girls were even more fun than any other kind. Then it was back to feeling creative when I had a love interest and then feeling like I was on hold... on ice in between love interests. I don't like it that way because I wasted a lot of time. It's just the way it is.

[sirfun]

enthusiasm !! )

[James Clausen]

I have PTSD and music has always been the best therapy that I have encountered. I can say things with my music that I can not with my words.