Tuesday Night Tunes – Andrew Bird
Had lunch with Mike Robertson last week and he turned me on to this guy.
Notice how his is the only one playing besides the bass guitar and the percussion guy. He is the only one singing too. Technology is a wonderful thing in the hands of an artist.
And it can be in some of the more interesting places too.
I remember another incident of being in a church (remember last week?). My friend Jim and I were in a church (I think it was this one) with a pipe organ and got to play a couple of great songs in that acoustically active chamber.
Here is one of them. Imagine this in an empty church about midnight in a small town with one sheriff. We made sure he was far enough out of town that we got enough time to play this and get away.
Then there was this song for the encore.
My favorite part is about 9 minutes in after the drum solo and where the organ comes back in . About 11 minutes in the guitar comes back with some amazing sound. The end comes about 15 minutes in where the whole band and vocals come back in. Just makes me smile.
Funny how I get down a rabbit trail, huh. That scene in the church with Andrew Bird took me right here. Flotsam and jetsam of the mind. Sorry.
Back to Andrew Bird, the thought in my head as I watch him layer one musical phrase on another is we can do a lot if we will focus on one thing at a time. He starts out with a strum on the violin and then a plucking and finally a bow but he adds a whistle, a guitar and vocals. All layered one on the other as we listen amazed at the depth one guy can create with a couple of instruments and a little time. Oh, and a lot of talent / skill.
We are all really good at something. We can develop skills to help in the places where the gifts might be lacking and then practice, practice and practice some more. Eliminate distractions and focus on the important things.
What are you good at? Where are you gifted? What skills do you need to build up? We are all blessed with the same amount of time and how we spend it determines where we go and what we achieve while we are here. We can be like JS Bach and do great music or perhaps a one hit wonder like Iron Butterfly but we get to choose and if you don’t choose them the choice is made for you.
Have a great week and let me know what you think. Would love to hear from you.
Thanks for listening,
Jerry Robertson
678-231-1578 Cell