This morning, for
the first time in a good few years really, I got my acoustic out and
sang a few of my old songs - and get this: it felt great.
It’s mad that I’ve not done it for so long, when music was what defined me for so many years; there was a time when all I wanted to be was a songwriter and musician, recording with my band or on my own, yet somewhere down the line, my priorities changed and I moved on to different things. I’d still sing and play - the various actor / muso gigs I did made sure of that - but the actively creating musician inside me was obscured, which is a huge shame really.
I’m not sure what it was that made me do it today, though a combination of the music I listened to while getting ready and the fact that Mark Morriss played at Mostly Comedy last week (thus inadvertently reminding me of what I used to do) saw me extricate my jumbo acoustic from its dusty lair* and run through my old repertoire. It was not without pain - the tips of the fingers of my left hand revealed how long it had been since I’d played or restrung it - but a couple of songs into my impromptu set it felt like a bay window opened in my head and a load of fresh air streamed in; there’s a lot to be said for the imprint music leaves on your muscle memory.
It was like doing a good gig, when everything falls into place with no room for overthinking it. I know I’m out of practise, but the essentials are still there. I should give it more time again. Perhaps I can do a short set at Mostly soon, if only as an excuse to exercise that part of brain. One day, I’ll get to writing new songs and recording them.
It’s mad that I’ve not done it for so long, when music was what defined me for so many years; there was a time when all I wanted to be was a songwriter and musician, recording with my band or on my own, yet somewhere down the line, my priorities changed and I moved on to different things. I’d still sing and play - the various actor / muso gigs I did made sure of that - but the actively creating musician inside me was obscured, which is a huge shame really.
I’m not sure what it was that made me do it today, though a combination of the music I listened to while getting ready and the fact that Mark Morriss played at Mostly Comedy last week (thus inadvertently reminding me of what I used to do) saw me extricate my jumbo acoustic from its dusty lair* and run through my old repertoire. It was not without pain - the tips of the fingers of my left hand revealed how long it had been since I’d played or restrung it - but a couple of songs into my impromptu set it felt like a bay window opened in my head and a load of fresh air streamed in; there’s a lot to be said for the imprint music leaves on your muscle memory.
It was like doing a good gig, when everything falls into place with no room for overthinking it. I know I’m out of practise, but the essentials are still there. I should give it more time again. Perhaps I can do a short set at Mostly soon, if only as an excuse to exercise that part of brain. One day, I’ll get to writing new songs and recording them.
(*not a euphemism.)