Fiona’s enthusiasm is infectious here—it’s inspiring to see someone so excited about music. Clearly, despite her enormous success, Fiona’s in it for the right reasons. Here are some points that I picked out of this video.
Play musical games. At parties. With your kids. With your cousins, your nieces, your friends, your family. Children and adults love silly musical games. Fiona did. If you engage with people in this kind of play, you might awaken a spark within them. “I want all of my communications to feel like that,” Fiona says. If only!
Recapture childhood dedication to your art. Fiona describes being absorbed in writing when she was a girl, not wanting to tear herself away even for dinner. Did you write as a child? How have your motivations and attitude toward art changed since then?
Relationships with collaborators and listeners. Music is indeed an amazing way to make friends and connect with people who share your love of making noise, writing songs, performing.
After a song ends, it’s like waking up from a “delicious nap.” What a great description. I’ve gotten that feeling as a performer, “waking up” out of the very strange mental state that sometimes comes from focusing hard while listening, performing, or improvising.
Music is about interlocking or “braiding together” with people. This is a wake-up call for me. I’m something of a loner by nature and I’ve always tended to shy away from connections with other people, musical or otherwise. I tend to dig inward rather than reach outward—but at the same time, I often fantasize about being involved in some kind of improvisational project—either conducting or being conducted, relying on my wits and my musical ears to figure out what’s going on sonically and how to respond to it, giving or taking orders. And I think there’s something really beautiful about the idea of being a great accompanist, one who improvises in response to a singer, supports her with chords, entwines bass lines and melodies with her voice.
If only I had the time and connections to do all of these things every day…
Here’s what I’m curious to know about you.
- Why do you play music? What do you get out of it?
- Did you write or do other creative things as a child? How have your motives and work habits changed?
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Like Fiona, I didn’t know what I wanted to be later when I was young. In fact I still don’t know (and I am not young anymore). I was very creative when I was young, and I still try to recapture that spirit (despite a science study and a retail desk job). I think creativity is the way to go. I can’t draw, there are already many many authors, and movie making is too expensive, so I stick to making music.
BTW Fiona’s new album is on the way. In general I find looking at a list of yet unheard songs of a favourite artist very inspirational, since you start fantasising about how these songs will sound.
Day jobs can be creative, too—but I’m glad you’re making music, Rob. 🙂
Yeah, not long now until we’ve got a new Fiona record! I’m hoping to hear her branch out a little, reach beyond her comfort zones—as much as I love the work she’s done within those comfort zones.