Making connections
A friend with an interest in jazz music -- she's a singer, and voice teacher -- remarked last night how difficult it is to find people to make music with in Vancouver. I agreed, having had a similar experience trying to find people to make music with even on a casual basis. Others have made similar observations to me, so it seems a pretty common phenomenon. As one woman told Pieta Woolley a few years ago for Vancouver's Georgia Straight, "People in Vancouver, they're all in their own little scene. ... It's about acceptance. If you're in a scene, like the music scene or the arts scene, you're automatically accepted, whether you're a 'poseur' or you're really into it." Or, as my friend said, I should just get out to the open-mike nights if I want to perform and strut my stuff.
It sounds good, but to play with others requires more than just showing up. I've been there, done that. What's harder to do is to engage with other people, be part of something more than your own show. It's about making connections that expand the creative circle.
During an interview I did this past summer for the next issue of Amphora, a small thrice-yearly journal I edit, a local book designer remarked that many of her students are busy strutting their stuff in the hope of being the next rock star. Design for them is about standing out rather than being part of a broader community that will influence them and shape the impact they have on the world through their work. Being the next rock star designer, with its fame and moment of glory, is what it's all about.
Something more than performance is required, however. There's something more to playing with others than simply being one of a number of performers at the mic on open-mic night, something more to real impact than being a sensation on account of your work. My summer interview sees her work standing in a tradition of book design extending back centuries, one from which she continues to learn even as she applies it to new, award-winning projects. Similarly, the Greek poet Odysseas Elytis told Sam Hamill that any real poet needs "an audience of three" -- two friends, and a third person whose interest in the poet's work confirms that it has transcended the boundaries of the poet's own immediate circle.
One of the hopes I have for my own writing is that it isn't just performance, that it does find an audience beyond those predisposed to appreciate it, maybe that new relationships -- professional, personal, it doesn't matter which -- come to be because of it. Good work should contribute to the community, however we define that.
Are we rock stars, or stars giving light to others? The two aren't mutually exclusive, of course, but my hunch is one star will shine longer than the other.
It sounds good, but to play with others requires more than just showing up. I've been there, done that. What's harder to do is to engage with other people, be part of something more than your own show. It's about making connections that expand the creative circle.
During an interview I did this past summer for the next issue of Amphora, a small thrice-yearly journal I edit, a local book designer remarked that many of her students are busy strutting their stuff in the hope of being the next rock star. Design for them is about standing out rather than being part of a broader community that will influence them and shape the impact they have on the world through their work. Being the next rock star designer, with its fame and moment of glory, is what it's all about.
Something more than performance is required, however. There's something more to playing with others than simply being one of a number of performers at the mic on open-mic night, something more to real impact than being a sensation on account of your work. My summer interview sees her work standing in a tradition of book design extending back centuries, one from which she continues to learn even as she applies it to new, award-winning projects. Similarly, the Greek poet Odysseas Elytis told Sam Hamill that any real poet needs "an audience of three" -- two friends, and a third person whose interest in the poet's work confirms that it has transcended the boundaries of the poet's own immediate circle.
One of the hopes I have for my own writing is that it isn't just performance, that it does find an audience beyond those predisposed to appreciate it, maybe that new relationships -- professional, personal, it doesn't matter which -- come to be because of it. Good work should contribute to the community, however we define that.
Are we rock stars, or stars giving light to others? The two aren't mutually exclusive, of course, but my hunch is one star will shine longer than the other.
posted by Peter Mitham at 9:29 PM
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