music and intention

In her song Stones in the River, Carrie Newcomer sings


...today I’ll drop stones into the river.
And the current takes them out into forever.
And the truth is most of us will never know,
Where our best intentions go.
Still I’ll drop another stone.

Intention is always a subject for reflection and contemplation and question, in music and in other parts of life. Then there’s the whole aspect of the space between intention and action -- and the spaces around both of those. No accident, I think, that Newcomer chose to place this song on the album she named Before & After.

What does all this have to do with music? Ideas about that

Music is a handed on thing, a shared art, from composer to performer to those who listen -- even those at times that may be all the same person.

Every person who goes to a concert has a different experience. In part that holds because of what each brings to the time, and in part that is because of what each hears, and what each takes away.

What each remembers comes into it too. Songwriters -- any sort of writers, really -- know they cannot control how someone will take what they have written, how they will understand it, and what they will make of it. It is as Newcomer suggests in her song, a balance between creating and letting go. Leaving space for whoever receives your art make it part of his or her own life.

Try this: think of the last three songs (or if you prefer, other things you have read or heard) and write down one thing that you remember most from each. How has that become part of your life? What do you learn from thinking about that?

photograph of stones is copyrighted. thank you for respecting that.

here is a video of Newcomer singing Stones in the River



you may also wish to see
Music Road: India to Indiana: Everything Is Everywhere from Carrie Newcomer
Music Road: reflections with Adrienne Young
Music Road: Shadow and Light: Irish Music from John Doyle

-->If you'd like to support my creative work at Music Road,
here is a way to do that, through PayPal. Note that you do not have to have a PayPal account to do this. Thank you.

15 blogs to explore, and a blog award

A classical violinist, three chefs, a reporter who has made freelancing in the digital age her beat, an essayist who writes about cooking, gardening, and India, an Irish American musician who thinks in metaphor, two Scottish songwriters -- and a partridge in a pear tree? Well, not exactly. Vera Marie Badertscher, who writes the blog A Traveler’s Library, recently honored Music Road with an award as ‘A Lovely Blog.’ Turns out this is a bit of a tag team event -- if you are given such an award, one of the conditions is that you then pass along the recognition to recently discovered blogs you enjoy. Some of these aren’t exactly new discoveries for me, and a few of them stretch the definition of blog a bit, but they are each worth checking out.

Leap Little Frog is an occasional series of thought provoking musings, sometimes funny, sometimes reflective, sometimes poetic, and sometimes all those at once, by Irish American musician Shannon Heaton

Hilary Hahn: journal Hilary Hahn travels the world as a classical violinist. Look in on what she thinks about music, life, and the places she visits.

Blog: Speaking of Faith Speaking of Faith is, to borrow from their tagline, public radio’s conversation about religion and why it matters. In the blog, the show's producers, staff, and the host, Krista Tippett, talk about what goes on behind the scenes, how they make their decisions, and other ideas related to what they learn while working on the show.

Mary Pat Kelly is the author of the book Galway Bay,
a novel based on her family’s history. Here she writes about what she’s learning and experiencing while promoting the book.

Joel Carillet photography and thoughts from travel writer Joel Carillet, about his journeys in southeast Asia, the middle east, and elsewhere.

Word Count: freelancing in the digital age Michelle Rafter is a west coast based reporter who makes the intersection of reporting and electronic media her beat -- how freelancers work in this world, what they think about it, what’s going on now, what might be next.

Laurie Niles at Violinist Laurie Niles is also a journalist, and a classical violinist. She reports on and thinks about the world of music and music education through those perspectives

A Life Divided Sue Dickman lives in western Massachusetts, when she’s not in India. She writes about both those places, along with cooking, gardening, and other subjects.

A Year in Bread Farmgirl Susan, Kevin Weeks, and The KitchenMage trade recipes, tips, and ideas about all sorts of baking.

Emily Smith, a singer and songwriter and accordion player from Dumfriesshire in Scotland, writes about her life and music career with insight and humor at this blog on her myspace page

Flyover America travel writers Jenna Schnuer and Sophia Dembling trade observations and insights from their travels through the US between the coasts

About Last Night Terry Teachout writes about the arts, mostly but not always drama, mostly but not always in New York City

The Artful Manager Andrew Taylor writes about the business of the arts

Eddi Reader is a folk based muscian whose work has ranged from rock to Robert Burns. At the blog on her myspace page, she shares news about her music and gigs as well as thoughts about life which are often funny, offbeat, and poetic. not unlike her music.

IrishBlogs.ie is actually a blog aggregator -- ‘what Ireland is talking about today’ is one of its taglines. well, maybe not -- except when they feature Music Road, of course. still, varied views on all sorts of topics from the Emerald Isle including a section about Irish people on Twitter, and a section of blogs as Gaelige


you may also want to see

here's Badertscher’s list

Music Road: Reflections: five of the best

Four ideas: songwriting

* Have a conversation. “I wouldn’t want to co-write with somebody I couldn’t have a good conversation with,” says Grammy award winner Tim O'Brien. Tim O’Brien, The nashville based bluegrass, country, and old time jack of all instruments adds, “Listening to conversations is a good way to get song ideas.”

*Go fishing. Boston based bluesman Chris Smither says, “I don’t always write everyday, but I spend some time in my writing mind, my writing head, every day. It’s like fishing: you have to keep your line out there in the water...”

*Take a nap. “That sounds so bogus,” says Gretchen Peters,
whose songs have ben recorded by Faith Hill, Patty Loveless, George Strait, and others. “But when a song a isn’t working, taking a nap is the best thing. I wake up, and a lot of times the solution in right there.”

*Make space. Irish American singer and songwriter Cathie Ryan says “Songs come in all different ways, of course. I had the song In My Tribe come all at once, while I was out hiking in Monument Valley. .I think the reason it came that way is that I was away from all the cell phones and schedules and business you often have to deal with as a musician.”

What are your best tips on the creative process? and do you enjoy this sort of article? please comment below, and thanks.

you may also want to see

ten songs

creative practice: laughter

fourth sunday in advent: community

-->Your support for Music Road is welcome and needed. If you are able to chip in, here is a way to do that, through PayPal. Note that you do not have to have a PayPal account to do this. Thank you.

creative practice: about music

I was reading something by Aaron Copeland a while back, in passing in a bookstore so I’ve not the quote or the book to reference. He was talking about a man who wrote about classical music, though, and made the comment that, for that writer, the music he wrote about was as important and felt as deeply, and often in the same way, as brought up from the center, as it was for those who made it. Yes.