Why do you play what you play?

Songwriters are influenced by their heroes, by their favourite bands, by what is 'hot' right now, by musical history, and by political and social intent. How do you make music that stands out when so much of what we hear has been done before?

 

When the going gets tough

 

This question is a crucial one in terms of getting your direction and the business of your music kick-started. A lack of understanding of why you are doing what you are doing often leads to a crisis of motivation when the going gets tough. If you have no real idea of why you are embarked on a particular path, what will you do if things start to go wrong? Say you formed a reggae band and suddenly the world just totally goes off the stuff. What do you do? Stick to your guns? Modify your approach? Give up and go and work in a bank? 

 

An understanding of why you are playing what you are will assist you in dealing with these obstacles. To continue with the example, if you play reggae because you believe in Rastafari and see it as the one true path to personal salvation, nothing will make you deviate from playing that style of music. However, if you are a career commercial musician, you would obviously stop playing reggae and switch to something more commercially viable. And if you were only ever in it for a laugh and some kicks, then maybe the job in the bank was inevitable and this is now the time for it.

 

Setting up realistic goals

 

Further than this, understanding why you are playing the genre you are in will help you set up realistic goals for yourself and your band. It will give a clearer understanding of the challenges and what is possible. Taking the dynamics of the South African scene into account, how you would plan your career path as a kwaito singer will be fundamentally different to how you would plan your trajectory as a rock band. This has got nothing to do with anything other than recognising what you are playing, deciding what it is you want to achieve and planning accordingly. 

 

Clash of expectations

 

Essentially there is nothing wrong with not examining your motivations early on. It’s not going to stop you getting going. But it may well prevent you from continuing. And, unless you are a solo artist, the clash of expectations between band members is a massive factor that very often leads to the demise of otherwise promising projects. If your singer is in it for the girls, the drugs and the laughs until he turns 25, at which stage he will go and work for Dad, that is fine, as long as the rest of you know it and your motivations coincide. However, if your guitarist has no day job, lives to play and intends to make a living from his craft one way or another, it becomes clear that you have a massive conflict potential that should be addressed before you get going and it all ends in tears.

 

Originally published in David Chislett's One, Two, One, Two: A Step By Step Guide To The South African Music Industry. Download a free copy of the book at www.davidchislett.co.za.