A MUSICIAN FINDING INSPIRATION IN ISOLATION - Jeff Coffin
When I came back to Nashville in early March from playing music in NYC, businesses were just beginning to close there. Broadway theaters had just shut down and TV shows were closing, restaurants were shutting their doors, and the subways were getting threadbare. I was glad to leave but felt bad for all my friends who were having to shelter in place. Nashville followed soon after as did most places.
Initially, my time was spent in my home studio with my saxophone. Everyday I worked on new material and re-discovered older tunes I had worked on but had never quite finished. I was sending out audio files to friends to record on and I was writing at a fever pitch. Finally, I had time on my hands to really concentrate on things I had neglected for so long.
My wife and I decided that we would hunker down and self isolate to the fullest extent possible and not see anyone, not go anywhere except to shop, and we would not have anyone into our home for the foreseeable future. Masks, lots of hand washing, the whole deal.
INSPIRATION
For me, I find great inspiration in calm, silence, quiet, and solitude. There is a peacefulness there that excites and invites the muse. There is a quality there that allows me to find something hidden in the cracks of the notes. There is mystery and malaise. There is comfort and connectivity.
What we do as musicians necessitates that we are selfish as well as selfless if we are to take our art to the extreme. Selfish in that we have to spend countless hours alone working on our craft and carving out our vision for how we see and hear things. Selfless in the way we share and present and give to the people we are playing with and for.
SERVICE
I believe music is a service industry no matter the level of success. We serve the music first, then the musicians we are playing with, then we serve the audience. So there has to be a balance of sorts. In this balance is where inspiration creeps in, gently grabs us by the throat, and demands that we listen to her.
There are infinite ways to create. There are infinite ways to write. There are infinite sounds to choose from. There are infinite rhythms to groove to. There are infinite melodies to write and play. There are infinite harmonic possibilities. How can you ever get bored with such variety?
TOOLS
What are some of the ways to maintain a level of creativity when you feel isolated from your fellow musicians with no real timetable for being able to make music together again?
How do you find creative ways of being creative in the midst of such turmoil, upheaval, and challenge?
Being a musician is about making decisions and moving forward with them. Being a musician means we have to take chances. Being a musician means we have to dig deep inside ourselves to find out what is really going on emotionally. Being a musician means being brave.
We have to be willing to try things that will likely not work the first or second time. We have to be willing to embrace the unknown. We have to be ok with failure. We have to be able to take rejection.We have to be able to persevere. We have to believe in ourselves. If we don’t know how to do that already, we have to learn.
COMPOSE
One of the many things I do to be creative and inspired is compose music. It doesn’t have to be groundbreaking, and usually isn’t, it just has to be done. You’ve likely heard this before, Just Write!!
I’ll sometimes just see what is literally within arms reach to see what I can do with a limited amount of instruments at my disposal. Music is about sound, so exploring sound is something i love to do. There is no end to the possibilities and, with a little bit of creative thought and focus, you can come up with something interesting. It may not necessarily be for public consumption but it will move you in some kind of direction, and some movement is better than no movement. I play a lot of woodwind instruments so I usually go to those to find some interesting musical ideas, colors, and timbres to work with.
PASSION
Maybe your passion is for writing words or drawing or poetry or collage or planting things in a garden…whatever it may be, I would encourage you to do it! Finding something that moves you, literally and figuratively, is important and I think it’s important to follow your muse.
As Joseph Campbell said so eloquently “Follow your bliss.” I think the only way to find your bliss is to explore your options. What is it you have always wanted to do but have never gotten around to it?
Maybe now is the time to look long term for inspiration and for something that can change the way you see things for yourself. I’m not saying you have to abandon what you are doing professionally, all I am saying is that this sort of ‘reset’ could benefit you in ways you can’t even imagine right now. Think of how a ripple on a pond can affect the shoreline. It may seem tiny at first but it makes a difference over time.
Find a calm state of being and think about what you want. You can will it into existence! Even the act of finding a calm state of being can be a challenge these days with all the negativity going around and people being sequestered in their homes and away from work, etc…but you can do it!
A couple of the many things I work on with students is I have them write out 5 strengths and 5 weaknesses in their playing. You can transfer this to your personal strengths and weaknesses. I also have them write out 10 characteristics they want to have in their playing and improvisation. If they are composers, I have them do the same for their compositions. This begins an evaluation process and re-evaluation process. It’s important and can help you recognize the things you do well and things you need to work on. You can apply this exercise to anything you do.
Staying inspired is about hard work every day. It’s about doing things that are challenging and sometimes frustrating. You’ll have to turn off the 24 hour news, shut down social media for a bit, find some quiet, and just listen to yourself. Be inspired. Be creative. Let your life intertwine with your imagination and create just for the sake of creating.