LARP'ing Feelings
I am bassist in a Grateful Dead cover band. I do a lot of DJing. I'm a utility guy in a variety show (that sadly ends this month). And I also do synths and drum programming in an '80s-style band.
It feels like a lot, and it feels like it should = me as a middling generalist, but that's not at all the case. It all seems to be going somewhere, and I don't know where, and I'm real good with that.
I think I'm doing a good job in all aspects, and if I wasn't, I'd quit the band, whichever situation it was. But I'm translating how I feel in every situation or am adding to that, right? It's typically, I'm as a bassist, we're always having support roles. I'm helping get across the general feeling.
So it's kind of like live action participating in the subconscious realm, where you're translating feelings not through words, not through actions, but through sound, aurally.
And that's something a lot of people don't get to experience, and it's kind of too bad.
Where it's most prevalent is when you're writing, and the stuff just kind of falls out of the air onto your lap, which is a really amazing thing. It's never lost on me.
Last night I was at a rehearsal for the variety show, and I was asked to do some drumming, which isn't my strongest thing in the world, but I did it among two drummers in the band, and I got the feel right. Execution wasn't always on point, but we got a couple weeks before the gig, so whatever, I'll get there.
But it's that kind of thing where you can join in the feeling on an instrument that is far from your primary instrument. You know, it's not one that I'm very good at, but those moments really stick with me.
And although I'm not looking around for a big "why" in this whole musical journey, it's nice to get reassured sometimes that it's not a waste of time, and the person who's put the show together figures out that you can do generally what's asked of you and deliver it better than they thought it could be.
Nice.