Analytical blog Sept 20th
So far in my book, I have learnt a lot about the early life of Eric Clapton. When reading about these events in his early life, I have found myself thinking about an essential question that I had written at the beginning of this book. The essential question that I am thinking of is ,"What effect does the events in ones early life have on their later life?" I started relating a lot of what I read to this essential question due to the simple fact that Clapton made the same relation. One event that really spoke to me from Clapton's early life was when he dropped out of school and began to work for his grandfather. His grandfather was a master handyman of many different trades. According to Clapton, he was also a large perfectionist. This mentality was something that rubbed off largely on Clapton. He too found that personal trait in himself and largely applied it to his life. In addition, he also learnt the significance of hard work. His grandfather would have him carry over 50 lbs of brick and mortar up a ladder as fast as he could in order to keep things running effectively and efficiently.
When becoming a professional musician, this is something that Clapton could use quite effectively. There is one thing to be a good musician who produces good music in their free time. It is another thing to be a musician who puts the effort in to give their fans the best work that they can. All of the musicians that have run their music this way have been the most successful. Another thing that Clapton clearly used in his music was the drive to be effective and efficient. Clapton was well known for only doing work with people who could benefit his music the most. Any other person who would not be effective in his music, Clapton did not use. To put into perspective just how effective he was with producing quality music, in the 60s, there was a small movement of people who graffiti "Clapton is god" all throughout London. Today, he is just as well known as he was then.
I can relate to this with what I see in the music industry today as well as my own small amount of success. Over the last four years, I have put a huge amount of my own time into my music. I have worried at times weather all of the time that I put into my music was worth it, or if it was a waste of time that I could have spent putting into my school work and my friends. Due to this, I decided that since I have come so far with how much time I have put into my work, I better make sure my music is perfect. With this mindset, I am always looking for critique as well as a search to learn as much as I possibly can. This summer at the Berklee College Of Music Guitar Sessions it all paid off. I spent the week with Tomo Fujita, John Mayer's guitar teacher, learning from him and working with him in my blues ensemble. At the end of the week, I received a scholarship to attend Berklee in the fall of next year. In addition, Tomo asked me to be his student. I gratefully accepted. I believe that, if not for all of the hard work that I had put into music going into that week, I would not have had the same outcome.
Here is me playing Tomo Fujita's Kyoto In the blues ensemble that I was part of .
When becoming a professional musician, this is something that Clapton could use quite effectively. There is one thing to be a good musician who produces good music in their free time. It is another thing to be a musician who puts the effort in to give their fans the best work that they can. All of the musicians that have run their music this way have been the most successful. Another thing that Clapton clearly used in his music was the drive to be effective and efficient. Clapton was well known for only doing work with people who could benefit his music the most. Any other person who would not be effective in his music, Clapton did not use. To put into perspective just how effective he was with producing quality music, in the 60s, there was a small movement of people who graffiti "Clapton is god" all throughout London. Today, he is just as well known as he was then.
I can relate to this with what I see in the music industry today as well as my own small amount of success. Over the last four years, I have put a huge amount of my own time into my music. I have worried at times weather all of the time that I put into my music was worth it, or if it was a waste of time that I could have spent putting into my school work and my friends. Due to this, I decided that since I have come so far with how much time I have put into my work, I better make sure my music is perfect. With this mindset, I am always looking for critique as well as a search to learn as much as I possibly can. This summer at the Berklee College Of Music Guitar Sessions it all paid off. I spent the week with Tomo Fujita, John Mayer's guitar teacher, learning from him and working with him in my blues ensemble. At the end of the week, I received a scholarship to attend Berklee in the fall of next year. In addition, Tomo asked me to be his student. I gratefully accepted. I believe that, if not for all of the hard work that I had put into music going into that week, I would not have had the same outcome.
Here is me playing Tomo Fujita's Kyoto In the blues ensemble that I was part of .
That's really neat! So you are already committed to going to Berklee next year? Was that what you had planned/hoped to do all along? You must be excited to have this connection already.
ReplyDeleteWhat are your goals beyond college that you think continuing to learn about these musicians will help you achieve?
Beyond college I plan to either become a music teacher that does session music in my free time, or do something in the music marketing field. To be more specific, something like social media marketing for musicians.
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