Growing up as a musician in an orchestra, you learn that music has a lot of rules. A lot of rules. But what I’ve come to realize growing through music, is that most musicians don’t follow the rules at all.
This occurred to me listening to the song “Love Vamp” by Eric Lau. I was stoned, laying flat on my back on my yoga mat staring at the ceiling, imagining myself playing this drum beat.
I imagined moving my hands in an almost robotically precise way, relishing the vibration of sound with every impact. No, there’s no way that drummers follow a whole lot of rules. It is impossible I think, to restrain oneself to rules as you surrender to the rhythmic work of making music.
See, in my journey to find my identity as a musician, there was this obstacle acting as a stopper of my creative power. I realize its plainly just feelings of unworthiness, of inadequacy. Telling myself “you’re not trained enough,” “you are nothing compared to artists who took lessons,” “you don’t know enough music theory.”
But music theory is merely a language that we apply to sound. Music theory is how musicians communicate the beauty of music in a tangible way. It is not meant to restrict, but to provide connection. Music theory definitely deepened my attachment to music.
Today, take a moment to yourself to get lost in some melodic drum beat, a song that takes you to the heart of your feelings. Imagine yourself letting go of shackles and chains that constrain true self expression as you open your hands and raise them to the sky.
araw araw 